Advocacy groups are raising concerns over a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to alter a power line route in Nevada to avoid interfering with a potential mining site, but not move the line to avoid a national monument in its path.
The proposed route of the 470-mile-long Greenlink West transmission line along Nevada’s western boundary, from Las Vegas north to Reno, has been controversial since BLM last year issued a draft review routing the line across a section of the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Nevada-based Basin and Range Watch on Tuesday released documents and emails that show BLM’s preferred route now includes altering a 3-mile section of the path of the power line to avoid interfering with lands where South African-based AngloGold Ashanti wants to explore for gold.
The documents include a BLM map that shows a new alternative route — marked as Alternative L — that alters the route east of the proposed pathway to avoid the mining exploration lands.
