BLM releases preferred route for Gateway West

The federal agency reviewing the Gateway West Transmission Line project has announced its preferences for the route.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has selected its preferred alternative routes for the 1,100-mile high-voltage transmission line. The agency chose from options in a draft study that broke the route into segments that listed the route as proposed by Idaho Power Co. and Rocky Mountain Power, along with a number of suggested alternatives.

The project is expected to upgrade electric transmission capabilities for southern Idaho and southern Wyoming. Its route has been controversial in several Idaho counties, locally including Cassia County, in large part because of the amount of private farmland several options would cross.

The BLM’s selection in Cassia County would cut fairly directly through the county and consume 25 miles of BLM land and 100 miles of private property. But the route avoids priority archaeological sites and critical habitat for the sage grouse, which has been identified as a candidate for federal protection.