WYOMING — On April 11, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved the 732 mile TransWest Express Project, a transmission line that will help transport renewable energy through Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Nevada and create over 1,000 jobs and 3,000 megawatts of new transmission capacity.
According to the BLM, the TransWest Express Project will carry electricity generated by the over 3-gigawatt Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project in Carbon County, Wyoming, from south-central Wyoming through northwestern Colorado and central Utah before ending in southern Nevada.
The BLM explains that the delivery of up to 3,000 megawatts of renewable energy would “provide sustainable power for more than one million homes while avoiding 4.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year – the equivalent of taking 890,000 cars off the nation’s highways.”
The project area encompasses lands managed by the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, various state agencies, Native American tribes, municipalities and private parties.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project outlines high concern for impacts to sage-grouse and to big game migration and winter/spring range habitat for elk, mule deer and pronghorn in Wyoming and Colorado. Habitat loss for raptors and migratory bird species and increased bird collisions with transmission lines are also a concern along the entire project.
Construction is scheduled for 2023 through 2027, but the commencement date is yet to be determined.
Wyoming has been seeing a shift towards renewable energy and the BLM approved transmission line is just one of a number of new projects.
