Department of Energy August 21, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

DOE announces its decision to issue a Presidential Permit that would authorize Generadora del Desierto SA de C.V. (GDD) to construct, operate, maintain, and connect a new double-circuit 230,000-volt (230- kV) electric transmission line across the U.S.-Mexico border into Yuma County, southeast of San Luis, Arizona. The environmental impacts that would be associated with the line were analyzed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the San Luis Rio Colorado Project (DOE/EIS- 0395, SLRC EIS). The transmission line, known as the San Luis Rio Colorado (SLRC) Project, would extend from a new gas-fired electric power plant, known as the SLRC Power Center (to be constructed by GDD approximately one mile south of the U.S.-Mexico border in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico), cross the U.S.-Mexico border, extend approximately 21 miles north, and connect to the existing Gila Substation that is owned and operated by the Western Area Power Administration (Western), an organizational element within DOE. From the Gila Substation, the line would extend an additional five miles north and connect to the existing North Gila Substation that is owned and operated by the Arizona Public Service Company (APS). In reaching this decision, DOE considered the low environmental impacts in the United States from constructing, operating, maintaining, and connecting the proposed international transmission line and from the construction and operation of the SLRC Power Center, the absence of adverse impacts to the reliability of the U.S. electric power supply system, and the absence of major issues of concern to the public. On October 12, 2007, Western issued a ROD (72 FR 58074) in which it decided to allow the proposed international transmission line and the SLRC Power Center to interconnect with Western's transmission system at the Gila Substation. DOE has prepared this ROD and Floodplain Statement of Findings in accordance with the regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), DOE's NEPA Implementing Procedures (10 CFR Part 1021), and DOE's Compliance with Floodplain and Wetland Environmental Review Requirements (10 CFR Part 1022).