Map shows the 728-mile route of the newly approved Transwest Express power line.
Lincoln County Oversight Program Coordinator Connie Simkins reported at the last county commission meeting that Transwest Express Transmission Project, a Wyoming company seeking to put in a new power line in eastern rural Nevada, has been granted a right of way by the Bureau of Land Management.
Simkins said Transwest Express was granted the 728-mile route out of Wyoming using BLM’s preferred route, which “basically comes on the west side of I-15 until it reaches Cedar City, Utah, from there to Modena, Utah and into Nevada, where it will follow the Union Pacific Railroad until they get down to near Barclay and then goes over closer to the state line and on down to hit the big transmission line near Mesquite and on into Las Vegas.”
She said the county commissioners had recommended a route more involved in Lincoln County, “which could and help us considerably with tax revenues, but it was not seriously considered.”
The TWE website notes the project “will provide the transmission infrastructure and 3,000 MW of capacity necessary to reliably and cost-effectively deliver approximately 20,000 GWh/yr of clean and sustainable electric energy generated in Wyoming to the Desert Southwest region, which for the purposes of the project is Arizona, Nevada and southern California.”
The project will make Wyoming’s wind-generated electricity available to utilities to serve citizens in more densely populated regions.
Simkins noted that before construction can take place, “there must be 24 resource management plans written by the people who want to build it and accepted by the BLM before a Notice to Proceed order can be issued. She thought that process would take about two years.
She further explained the reason for more of Lincoln County not being selected for the route was to avoid going down through Rainbow Canyon.
