Department of Energy October 26, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has decided to offer Great Basin Transmission, LLC (Great Basin), a conditional commitment for a Federal loan guarantee for partial financing of the 235-mile southern portion of the Southwest Intertie Project (SWIP), a proposed 500- kilovolt (kV) transmission line that would extend from southern Nevada to southern Idaho. This Record of Decision (ROD) is based on the analysis in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Project Financing for Southwest Intertie ProjectSouth (SWIP South) (DOE/EIS- 0443, January 2010) (DOE FEIS). The DOE FEIS consists of a cover sheet for the January 2010 adoption of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 1993 Southwest Intertie Project Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Plan Amendment (SWIP EIS) and the BLM 2008 Environmental Assessment for the Southwest Intertie Project Southern Portion NV-040- 07-048 (SWIP South EA). This ROD also reflects minor modifications to the Great Basin proposal and new information developed since DOE issued its FEIS. DOE's offer of a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee for SWIP South is authorized under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as amended by Section 406 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). This conditional commitment to provide a Federal loan guarantee is contingent upon Great Basin satisfying all precedent funding obligations, and all other contractual, statutory, regulatory, environmental compliance, and other requirements specified by DOE. DOE has prepared this ROD in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and DOE's NEPA Implementing Procedures (10 CFR Part 1021).

In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A) (2006), (Pub. L. 104-13), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the proposed information collection described below.