Nov. 7--The federal Rural Utilities Service will require an environmental impact statement for a proposed transmission line that would run from Pueblo to Walsenburg and on to the San Luis Valley.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association announced the requirement of the longer and more detailed study along with revisions for potential routes earlier this week.

Tri-State and Xcel Energy have proposed the line as a way to increase the reliability of the grid in the valley and export wind and solar energy from Southern Colorado.

The route refinements sprung from public comment and on-site visits by utility personnel, Brad Jones, a spokesman for Tri-State, said. The new maps have eliminated potential corridors that ran south of U.S. 160 near La Veta, avoiding areas with high residential density or difficult terrain.

On the west side of La Veta Pass, the revisions also eliminated a route that ran along Sangre de Cristo Creek and close to a number of mountain subdivisions along the highway.

Potential corridors remain on the opposite side of the creek from those subdivisions.

Jones said the longer study would delay the projected 2013 construction of the project by six to 10 months.

A draft of the impact statement is expected by late 2010 or early 2011. Jones said the draft would be followed by another round of public comment and meetings.

Tri-State, which includes member rural electric cooperatives across Southern Colorado and four states, must put its proposal through the federal environmental review because the utility gets financing from the Rural Utilities Service.

Denis Rankin, the utilities service official charged with overseeing the environmental review, could not be reached for comment on why the longer study would be required.

The decision, however, echoed earlier calls from Trinchera Ranch, which is owned by billionaire hedge-fund manager Louis Bacon. A ranch consultant issued a report last week calling for Tri-State to examine a number of alternatives to the proposed corridors, including a route that would run north from the valley over Poncha Pass.

"It is now vital that (Rural Utilities Service) expand the study area to ensure that all reasonable alternatives for siting this transmission line are objectively evaluated. This includes the northern route options and any others that satisfy the electrical and environmental needs of the San Luis Valley," said Cody Wertz, a spokesman for the ranch.

A map of the revised routes can be found at www.socotransmission.com by clicking on the pull-down tab titled project details.

matth@chieftain.com

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