Asking the pikas politely…
The USDA Forest Service (lead agency) in cooperation with USDI Bureau of Land Management and the USDA Rural Utilities Service is considering applications to construct a 115kV transmission line in southwestern Colorado. The total length of the line is approximately 57 miles. The objectives of the project are to provide loop transmission to the Telluride, Colorado service area; improve the quality of electric service to the Norwood, Colorado service area; improve the service to the substations between Sunshine and Hesperus; and provide another interconnection to the Nucla generation plant. The uncertain reliability of the Telluride electric service will pose a health and safety hazard in the near future, if not corrected. The severe winter conditions of the area require reliable electric service to assure safe living conditions. The project is designed to meet this immediate human health and safety issue, and provide other benefits to rural electric users at the same time. Preliminary issues related to potential direct and indirect resource effects include: visual resource impacts in a recreational setting; cultural resource encounters and accompanying mitigation steps; habitat alterations where special status species occur including the Gunnison sage grouse Mexican spotted owl, bald eagle and southwestern willow flycatcher; and perceived public health and safety concerns related to high voltage transmission facilities. Three public workshops have been held to gain a perspective on the range of issues. Alternatives include: rebuilding an existing 69kV line for a large portion of the distance with new construction tieing to the Telluride substation; and relocation alternatives which will focus on minimizing residence and transmission line intersections, improving line location related to resource impacts and combining facility corridors.
Knowledge graph centered on Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Fore with 48 nodes and 87 connections. Top connected: United States Department of the Interior, USDA Forest Service (Uncompahgre National Forest), United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Salix lucida subsp. lasiandra, Gunnison County.
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