The Bureau of Land Management said late last week that it’s delaying the siting process for a proposed Wyoming-Idaho electric power transmission line to try to address issues raised by landowners and local governments along the proposed route.

The agency is postponing the completion date for its draft environmental impact statement for the Gateway West Transmission Line Project from this fall to next spring, BLM Project Manager Walt George said. The time will be used to identify more alternative routes with the project’s developers and local interests.

Idaho Power, a subsidiary of IdaCorp Inc., and Rocky Mountain Power propose to build the 1,150-mile line to carry wind and other power from Wyoming to Idaho and other points.

Click here to view a map of the route originally proposed.

 Wyoming Governor Dave Fredenthal joined his Idaho counterpart in  applauding the BLM’s delay.

“There’s no doubt that we need more and better ways to get electricity from one place to another, especially here in Idaho,” Idaho Gov. Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said. “But that can’t mean shortchanging private property rights or engaging in unnecessary conflicts.”

The Gateway West Transmission Line Project is a joint project between Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Powerto build, operate and maintain approximately 1,150 miles of new 230 kilovolt (kV) and 500 kV transmission lines across southern Wyoming and southern Idaho.

The counties along the proposed route choices where opposition has developed include Converse County in Wyoming and in the Idaho counties of Cassia, Ada, Power and Owyhee. Positioning all of the project route on public or private land is just not feasible according to the BLM spokesperson.

He told the AP that “In all of this we’re trying to balance the other resource issues that are important to this project such as wildlife habitat, visual quality, and cultural and historic resources that should be avoided,” he said.

Bruce Pendery of the Wyoming Outdoor Council said he hopes the delay means the proposed route is altered, according to the report by AP.

“This proposed transmission line has been problematic because it was threatening some special landscapes in the Laramie Mountains in the eastern part of the state, and it was not tracking closely enough along I-80 in the western part of the state,” Pendery said.

Another group, the Northern Laramie Range Alliance ,had also voiced c0ncerns about a portion of the transmission line between Glenrock and Medicine Bow. The group questioned whether developers were overbuilding the line in anticipation of more wind-power development in Wyoming.

Wind developers, like many in the renewables energy industry, say bottlenecks in the transmission system of Wyoming are holding back new wind projects from being implemented.  The power companies involved with the project say it will deliver electricity from existing and future electric resources including renewable resources such as wind energy. In addition, the line will provide strength and reliability to the region’s transmission system.

“Transmission is a critical piece of the puzzle that must be developed in concert with renewable energy projects in Wyoming, but it is important that we do it right, so that the affected communities and landowners are comfortable with the outcome,” Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said last Thursday.