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An environmental assessment of Chelan County PUD’s proposal to build a new 115-kilovolt transmission line, switchyard and substation to serve the Entiat Valley has been released. Public comment must be received no later than July 19, 2008. The proposed project would impact federal, state and private lands. For federal land, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management are required to conduct an environmental analysis of the proposal under the National Environmental Policy Act. Environmental analysis is also required under the Washington State Environmental Policy Act for activities on state and private lands.

Proposed action

The Entiat Valley 115kV program includes building a new 6-mile transmission line northwest of Entiat, a switchyard near Earthquake Point and a substation just north of Crum Canyon. The project is designed to improve electrical service capacity and reliability for the valley, where the current system is at capacity, particularly during the winter months. The valley is served by a single 34.5 kV transmission line that was built in 1940. Brownouts and outages have occurred. The proposed transmission line would parallel the south side of the existing Bonneville Power Administration transmission corridor. Plans call for the line would be built in 2009. The substation would be built in 2010, and the transmission line would be energized at that time. The switchyard would be constructed in 2011. The final schedule depends upon permits and budget approval.