Western Area Power Administration September 15, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Western Area Power Administration (Western), plans to authorize a new interconnection and design, construct, own, operate, and maintain a new 69-kilovolt (kV) transmission line and fiber optic cable for delivery of project use power as part of the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific Region's (Reclamation) Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC)/California Aqueduct Intertie (Intertie) project. The Intertie, including the interconnection to Western's system and transmission line and fiber optic cable, was analyzed in a Reclamation Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) with the Final EIS dated and released in November 2009. The EIS was developed in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Reclamation issued a Record of Decision (ROD) dated December 28, 2009, to proceed with the Intertie, described as its Proposed Action in the EIS. The Intertie would be located in Alameda County, California, and involves constructing and operating a pumping plant, a pipeline connection between the DMC and the California Aqueduct at Mile 7.2 of the DMC and Mile 9 of the California Aqueduct, a switchyard, access roads, and the transmission line. Reclamation served as the lead agency in the preparation of the NEPA documents for this project. Western, in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations for Implementing NEPA (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) and DOE NEPA Implementing Procedures (10 CFR Part 1021), served as a cooperating agency. Western adopted the EIS in March 2010 (DOE/EIS-0398) to meet its NEPA responsibilities for its transmission actions in support of the Intertie.