The Biden administration announced the completion Thursday of an environmental review of a multistate power line project in Utah and Nevada, and the advance of a proposed utility-scale solar project in Nevada that would rank among North America’s largest.
The Bureau of Land Management’s final environmental impact statement for the Cross-Tie Transmission Line shoves forward the 500-kV high-tower line that would carry electricity from wind and solar projects and nonrenewable energy sources across 214 miles of mostly federal tracts between central Utah and east-central Nevada.
BLM could issue a record of decision approving the power line as early as next month. The Forest Service would also need to issue a special-use permit because about 8 miles of the line would cross the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada.
Michael Gates, manager of BLM’s West Desert District in Utah, said in a statement the project is aimed at “helping better deliver electricity reliably across the West.”
