Segment E - Populus to Hemingway

Project Overview

Providing safe, reliable electrical service at reasonable rates is our company’s commitment to our customers.

On behalf of PacifiCorp, we have partnered with Idaho Power to build the Populus to Hemingway high-voltage transmission line, a segment of the Gateway West project. The segment will originate near Downey, Idaho, and run approximately 600 miles across Idaho to a new substation at Hemingway, south of Boise, Idaho. The Populus to Hemingway project will include five expanded or new substations, and will enable the companies to access existing and new generating resources, including wind, and deliver electricity from these sources to our customers throughout the region.

Project Timeline

• Public Scoping – June 2008
• Environmental Impact Statement process – 2008 - 2013
• Public outreach – June 2008 - project completion
• Permitting and obtaining rights of way – 2011 - 2015
• Estimated line in service for customers – 2015 - 2018
   

Additional Information About the Project

The Bureau of Land Management is currently developing an Environmental Impact Statement on Gateway West – a process that began in June 2008 with Public Scoping meetings. BLM has oversight of this process and hosted these meetings to collect official public comments.

The BLM published the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Gateway West project – including Windstar to Populus – on July 29, 2011, initiating a 90-day public comment period on the document. During this period, the BLM held 17 public open house meetings in various communities along the proposed and alternate routes. The public was encouraged to review the draft EIS, and provide comments to the BLM regarding this project. The public comment period ended October 28, 2011. Visit the Gateway West homepage and BLM website for more information about the project.

Please check this website periodically for updates, including the recent Gateway West project overview map (PDF), Gateway West fact sheet (PDF) and Gateway West newsletter (PDF). Further information also can be found at our Gateway West website.

*This table is intended to reflect proposed resources that would depend on Gateway West and is not representative of requests for transmission service or capacity rights on Gateway West. These include the company’s planned resources, according to its 2011 Integrated Resource Plan Preferred Portfolio, and third-party requests in PacifiCorp’s generation interconnection queue as of January 2012.

Public Participation

Public input is an important part of the transmission line development process and is welcomed at all stages. Meetings involving the public have been held at various stages throughout the development of the environmental review process beginning in June 2008 and will continue throughout the permitting process. The most recent meetings were sponsored by the BLM between August through October 2011 when the BLM held 17 meetings in Idaho and Wyoming to get comments from interested parties on the draft environmental impact statement. For a comprehensive listing of meetings, publications and other public outreach, please see the updated meeting list (PDF).

 Visit the Gateway West homepage and BLM website for more information about open house meetings and details about providing comments.

To be placed on the mailing list or to submit an official public comment on the Gateway West Transmission Line Project, please contact the BLM directly at:

Bureau of Land Management 
Gateway West Project 
P. O. Box 20879 
Cheyenne, WY 82003 
Or e-mail Gateway_West_WYMail@blm.gov

To Rocky Mountain Power about this transmission project, please call 801-220-4221 or e-mail ConstructionProjects@pacificorp.com. Please be sure to include the project name – "Populus to Hemingway" – in your inquiry.

(Updated January 31, 2012)