The BLM signed the Record of Decision for the Ten West Link Transmission Line Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA), approving Alternative 2, the BLM Utility Corridor Route, with some route segment modifications, on 11/21/2019.  

The Record of Decision (ROD) approves the Agency Preferred Alternative (Alternative 2: BLM Utility Corridor Route), as described in the Final Environmental Impact Statement and the Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendments (Final EIS/Proposed RMP Amendments).

This decision authorizes a 200-foot-wide, 50-year right-of-way (ROW) grant to DCR Transmission, LLC, (DCRT) to construct, operate, and maintain a 500-kilovolt (kV) alternating current overhead transmission line, known as the Ten West Link Project. The Project would be 126 miles long, beginning at the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) Delaney Substation near Tonopah, Arizona, and terminating at the Southern California Edison (SCE) Colorado River Substation near Blythe, California; approximately 104 miles of the route is in Arizona, and 22 miles is in California. 

The Project will include a series compensation station (SCS), and an overhead 12kV electric distribution line to service the SCS, located approximately in the middle of the route. The Project is designed to transmit 3,200 megawatts of electricity (MW) and provide connection capability for new energy projects in the region.

This decision amends the Yuma Field Office Resource Management Plan (RMP) and California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan.

The Yuma RMP decision LR-031 is amended to state: To the extent possible, locate new ROWs within or parallel to existing ROWs or ROW Corridors to minimize resource impacts. Consider ROWs outside of corridors on a case-by-case basis through project-specific analysis.

The CDCA Plan is amended to state: The CDCA Plan of 1980, as amended, is further amended to authorize construction of the Ten West Link Project within 0.25-mile of occurrences of Harwood’s eriastrum, provided that a Rare Plant Linear ROW Protection Plan for Harwood’s eriastrum is developed and approved by the BLM California State Director. The Rare Plant Linear ROW Protection Plan would meet the DRECP [Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan] goal of promotion of the ecological processes in the BLM Decision Area that sustain vegetation types of Focus and BLM Special Status Species and their habitat. The Rare Plant Linear ROW Protection Plan would have the objectives of:

   · Avoidance of take of Harwood’s eriastrum individuals to the maximum extent practical; and

   · Avoidance of impacts to Harwood’s eriastrum suitable habitat to the maximum extent practical.

This ROD applies only to BLM-administered lands. Other agencies are responsible for issuing their own permits and applicable authorizations for the project. The ROW grant is subject to the terms, conditions, stipulations, environmental protection measures, Best Management Practices (BMPs), and mitigation measures included in the Plan of Development (POD) and Appendices 2 and 2A of the Final EIS.

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