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Last Updated on Thursday, 07 August 2008 09:38

Written by Christy Hemken

    Now in initial planning stages, the project known as the Gateway West Transmission Line Project has met little resistance to date, according to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
    From nine public scoping meetings held throughout Idaho and Wyoming, BLM Project Manager Walt George says response as of the end of June has been low. “We had 15 or 16 people at each meeting, and only 140 people at nine meetings is a low turnout; we’ve had less than 10 comments submitted,” he says.
    The project is now in the scoping period of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and preliminary comments are due by July 3.
    “We’ve had a few comments supporting the project for various reasons – one of them is it’s a way to get electrical energy out of the state to markets removed from Wyoming,” says George. “Wyoming is not a big energy-consuming state, but this would help get energy to Denver, Salt Lake City, Boise and the West Coast. More transmission from Wyoming will foster more electrical generation within the state.”
    He says some of the comments have been concerned about the lines’ location and the impact to resources like national historic trails and wildlife habitat. “However, I wouldn’t characterize any of the comments as strenuously opposed to the project. People have been expressing concerns and asking some questions.”
    So far the scoping process has not identified any additions to the list of issues already compiled by the BLM.
    The effect of the transmission lines on private landowners will be the placement of or proximity to the new lines. “There’s a wide spectrum of folks who want or don’t want a facility on or near their property, but the utilities will pay for an easement on private land and any damage associated with constructing the project,” says George.
    He says the one-time payments for easements across property are similar to those paid in town. “In town you’ve got street, sewer and other utility easements, so this is a rural variation,” he explains.
    Because public and private lands are so intermixed along the lines’ route, one will not dictate placement on the other. “At the present we’re dealing with a two-mile-wide corridor, and as the utilities finalize the route and as the BLM continues with scoping we’ll be looking at a center line located on a 300-foot right-of-way and that will be the permanent easement,” says George.
    One concern George mentions related to agriculture are irrigated fields with center pivots. “The pivots have been a part of the routing studies. We’re trying to avoid ag lands where there is pivot irrigation in favor of flood irrigation because we obviously can’t put a utility pole in the middle of a center pivot’s path,” he says.
    Poles are placed at a rate of four per mile on average, and George says the utilities do have some flexibility to vary the distance between the towers to miss the pivots. “In a center or half pivot you’ve got the corners, so the utilities can place the towers there, but they’re looking to cross lands along ownership lines rather than diagonally to keep it simple,” explains George.
    “This project, or any other project heading out of the state, could serve as a catalyst to renewable energy development within Wyoming,” says George of the transmission lines’ benefits. “Private landowners might want to see wind energy facilities on their lands with annual payments, and that’s where the benefit to private landowners comes from in this.”
    After the scoping process ends July 3 the BLM will take a month to analyze the comments and produce a scoping report. Some of the issues, like the proposed route, will be finalized in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and then George says the BLM will go into “hibernation” on the subject, at least for the public perspective.
    “We’ll be preparing a draft EIS internally and we hope to have that available for review by the public in early 2009,” he says. “It’s going to take us a good six months to get the EIS put together and have the internal review.”
    He says it’ll take two or three years to get through the entire project and he encourages people who are keenly interested in the project to visit the website periodically for changes and updates.
    There will be a formal public comment period for 60 days following issuance of the draft EIS, which is currently planned for early 2009. During that time the public can receive and comment on the document and a series of public meetings will be held to collect further input.
    Send comments before July 3 by mail to the BLM at Bureau of Land Management, Gateway West Project, PO Box 20879, Cheyenne, WY 82003 or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . For more information visit www.wy.blm.gov/nepa/cfodocs/gateway_west/. Christy Hemken is assistant editor for the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Thursday, 10 September 2009 08:03

Written by Jennifer Womack

Casper — Pathfinder Renewable Wind Energy LLC’s (PRWE) purchase of Central Wyoming’s Pathfinder Ranch and surrounding ranches has many asking what the company has in mind for the ranches’ future.
    Jeff Meyer, the company’s Managing Partner, says PRWE is operating from its 250,000-acre base property and building partnerships across the state to create a wind energy business. He’s quick to point out that the project has a fresh approach, one that builds community partnerships and allows locals to benefit from the growth around them.
    “As opposed to just leasing land, we wanted to become a citizen,” says Meyer, who along with his wife, is living at the Pathfinder Ranch this summer. “We felt we wanted to have a permanence in the community. That’s why we purchased the ranches.” PWRE’s search for Wyoming ranches dates back about three years.
    Over the course of an hour-long interview Meyer never mentions megawatts, transmission, towers or the recent turbulence among potential Wyoming wind energy developers. He does say he has a project ready goal of 2014, but for the time being his energy is focused on grassroots support for the project. He says it’s his goal to ensure the project proves beneficial to area communities.
    Beyond the base ranches PRWE has purchased, the company has leased others in the surrounding area. Meyer says they see no boundaries to their potential “project area” and he continues to visit with interested landowners. Already encompassing far more acres than could, or would, ever be developed, the company has been mapping and “setting aside” those areas they don’t believe are appropriate for development. Meyer sums the approach up as “avoidance,” or not pursuing development in areas with the potential for conflict.
    Showing a series of maps, he says the company has omitted several areas from the possibility of future development. In many cases the land they’re choosing to avoid is property they own. One such example is the Oregon Trail that passes through their ranch. Building upon that, wildlife corridors, cultural areas and prime recreation areas have also been omitted.
    PRWE has been working with the Wyoming Game and Fish to develop Hunter Management Areas and to improve public access at Pathfinder Reservoir. The company owns land near Miracle Mile and part of Fremont Canyon. When the time is right the remaining areas, where development is deemed appropriate, will be analyzed for optimum tower placement.
    “We’re not a project company,” says Meyer. “Most every wind developer has a project. We are not a project developer. We are a wind business. We develop wind where wind should be developed as opposed to coming up with a project.”
    Meyer says, “Our business is designed to drive long term benefits to Wyoming – jobs for manufacturing, construction, management and research; improved recreational opportunities; and targeted environmental and wildlife improvements. It’s a longterm process.”
    He adds, “We don’t have a project boundary. Every ranch has something to add to our project.” Using an approach of “a rising tide floats all boats,” Meyer says PWRE is positioned to help preserve Wyoming’s open spaces. “Maybe you can afford to hold onto your ranch if you’re getting revenues from wind instead of just getting money from cattle.” Partnerships, he says, exist for those who have prime wind and for those who have other amenities to offer, such as wildlife habitat or scenic areas.
    Sage grouse factor into that as Meyer says they could prove to be the most profitable thing a ranch ever preserves and protects. “We’d like our partner ranches raising sage grouse,” he explains underscoring a natural approach through sound management, not farm-raised birds.
    PWRE has a goal of increasing the grouse population on its core ranches and is factoring the bird into its long-term plans. That’s not a new discussion, but something Meyer says PWRE anticipated upon their arrival in the state. “Let’s say all you have is sage grouse, and you don’t have any wind, there still may be an opportunity for you to participate in our project. We would designate a special management area for your ranch.”
    Given the lagging infrastructure to carry Wyoming produced power to market, Meyer says, “There’s more than enough time for Wyoming wind development to be planned right. Let’s figure out together where wind will work the best.”
    “We believe ranchers will be the backbone of these large wind projects. Wyoming’s a vast resource of wind, but it’s not a sustainable model to think you can just come in here and develop wind and ship it out of state,” says Meyer. “We see a sustainable business model by having everybody engaged in the discussion that our country is going to do wind. The question then becomes, where are we going to do it.”
    Jeff Meyer can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Jennifer Womack is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Friday, 11 June 2010 11:20

Written by Christy Hemken

Wheatland – “America’s need to develop renewable energy in a cost-effective, environmentally sensitive manner sees no political boundaries. It’s a goal that warrants developing resources where they’re the most plentiful and delivering that newfound energy to the areas of greatest need. Such an opportunity exists between Wyoming’s budding wind energy industry and California’s desire to utilize an admirable level of green energy. For these reasons we would like to see Wyoming wind energy that is physically delivered to the State of California qualified as an unrestricted renewable energy source by the California Public Utility Commission on May 20, 2010.”
That’s the opening paragraph of the letter sent by the Renewable Energy Alliance of Landowners (REAL) to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger regarding the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) March 10 ruling that the use of out-of-state renewable energy to fill that state’s 33 percent renewable energy portfolio standard will be limited.
The letter is in response to the CPUC’s approval of an order that says California will cap – or at least severely restrict – out-of-state renewable energy. In addition to Governor Schwarzenegger, it was also sent to the CPUC and a California lobbyist group known as the Utility Reform Network.
“California politicians are saying they need to develop their own renewable energy to create jobs and business in their own state, but there’s no way to develop enough renewable energy in California to meet their 33 percent standard,” says Stumbough.
Southeast Wyoming RC&D Coordinator Grant Stumbough says another reason the order was passed is that some California utilities were purchasing credits from Oregon and Washington, and using them toward satisfying the renewable portfolio standard. “Those are paper credits, and the CPUC has said that’s not quite fair,” he adds.
While TransCanada’s Zephyr Project has been billed as a direct line to the California market, Stumbough says the line is not satisfactory to California because it first makes a stop at the transmission hub south of Las Vegas, Nev.
With signup locations in Douglas, Glendo and Wheatland, Stumbough says the letter quickly gained over 100 signatures on May 5.
“The purpose of the letter is to send a message to California that we’re open for business, that landowners are supportive of wind energy, that we have some of the best wind in the world and that Wyoming can provide some of the cheapest and most reliable renewable energy on the American continent,” says Stumbough.
“The letter demonstrates that we have over 200 landowners who are very proactive and in favor of wind energy development, and that California needs to look at us, because we can provide renewable energy to them,” continues Stumbough.
The letter explains, “REAL is comprised of approximately 300 landowners who own a combined 800,000 acres with over 7,000 megawatts of wind energy production potential. Our members have either leased or are interested in leasing their wind development rights with the goal of helping meet America’s energy needs.”
On May 20 the CPUC will meet to either clarify the order and allow out-of-state renewables to come to California because they can’t produce enough themselves, or the Commission may decide to continue with their previous decision.
“Hopefully the letter will ‘grease the skids’ and convince California to look at Wyoming for renewable energy,” says Stumbough. “The main purpose is to send the message to California that we have some of the best world-class wind, that we can provide them with a cheap, reliable wind energy resource and they should reconsider looking at Wyoming as a major source of renewable energy. It says we as landowners are willing and able to provide renewable energy, and that we want to.”
The letter continues, “We’d like to help California reach its renewable energy goals by physically delivering energy over inter-state transmission from our ranches to your state’s residents. You can think of it as a long extension cord connecting your state’s consumers with Wyoming’s outstanding wind energy resources. The power we’ll produce isn’t just renewable energy, but green energy developed in one of the nation’s best locations in partnership with Wyoming ranchers.”
“Hopefully the letter will help them make a good decision when May 20 comes around,” says Stumbough.
If the Commission doesn’t decide in favor of out-of-state renewable energy supplies, Stumbough says the ruling is only in effect for a year. However, he says it could have long-term impacts.
“As California’s discussions surrounding renewable energy progress toward a decision on Order 10-01-021 language on May 20, 2010, we would like your help in reaching our mutual goals,” write the landowners. “We can achieve this by clarifying that renewable energy produced in Wyoming and delivered to California’s consumers qualifies as an unrestricted renewable energy source. This will allow California to meet its renewable energy goals in a faster and more cost-effective manner, a win-win-win for utilities, consumers and the environment.”
“We want to get it clarified and overturned, so we can continue to work on transmission projects and wind farms in southeast Wyoming,” says Stumbough.
Christy Hemken is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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Last Updated on Friday, 30 April 2010 13:47

Written by Christy Hemken

Cheyenne – While large transmission projects are needed to move energy from Wyoming’s wind projects, Steve Ellenbecker of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA) says the state is equally in need of an efficient and suitable collector system.
Ellenbecker says his agency is in the midst of work on a collector system plan with the Collector System Task Force, which also includes Rocky Mountain Power, LS Power, TransWest Express, TransCanada, PacifiCorp and the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA).
To date, the WIA, which has a statutory mission to promote transmission development and the related generation and resource development, has funded an analysis of collector system designs released February 2010.
“That first phase of the study made the determination that we could build the grid and it would be reliable, even up to 12,000 megawatts of new power generation,” says Ellenbecker. “We found it to be a reliable grid that would work to connect our resources.”
He says the study looked at radial versus network configurations.
“In a radial configuration, straight lines would reach out from a transmission substation and load electricity straight into the substation,” he explains. “A network would connect the major wind generation hubs, with an interconnected grid where all the parts and pieces are connected among wind projects, and maybe among transmission projects.”
He says both configurations were found to be reliable.
“So far it’s conceptual, but we’re continuing with that work through a consulting firm and a new contract funded by U.S. Department of Energy stimulus funds,” says Ellenbecker of the next phase. “This new stage of work is yet a closer look at what would be the intermediate-level transmission grid in Wyoming, connecting the primary wind generation resource to the transmission projects.”
He notes the WIA is also working on business models. “There’s no clear entity that would be the regulator over the system, or come forward to be the owner. Is it a consortium? A third party that would get into the business? Or is it a partnership between the transmission and wind developers in a cooperative fashion? All that is yet to be determined.”
As far as the relation between private landowners and the collector system, Ellenbecker says that all depends on the objective of the landowner.
“If they’ve got a goal to have a wind project built, they’re more likely to be in a supportive role, while if they’re a landowner concerned about what transmission might cross their land, it flips to the question of right-of-way and what it takes to negotiate crossing those lands,” he says. “It’s the same issue as for a major transmission project, on a somewhat smaller scale.”
The Wyoming Legislature in its 2010 session enacted a one-year moratorium on the use of eminent domain for collector systems while the Legislature and the Wind Energy Task Force evaluate the criteria under which eminent domain can be used.
“Condemnation is not broadly exercised by any means, and experience in history shows every effort is made to avoid that,” says Ellenbecker. “It’s a last resort, but it’s been temporarily removed by the Wyoming Legislature for collector systems.”
The Wind Energy Task Force will meet several times through 2010, with their first meeting scheduled for Wheatland in June.
“In terms of their examination of criteria for eminent domain, compensation will be front and center,” notes Ellenbecker, adding that compensation is also a focus of the Governor.
Ellenbecker says 10 years ago there were no new projects proposed in the state, and as recently as 2004 there was a feasibility study on whether or not new projects were even economically viable.
“Now we have real projects with real names, and it’s unprecedented the amount of new projects being planned,” he says.
Currently Wyoming has six major transmission projects in the works, including the TransWest Express project by Anschutz, the Zephyr project by TransCanada, the Gateway project sponsored by PacifiCorp, the Overland Intertie project by LS Power, the Wyoming – Colorado Intertie project cosponsored by WIA and the High Plains Express project under evaluation by a consortium of 11 participants.
“The TransWest Express project recently entered an agreement with WAPA, which has a broad footprint in Wyoming related to managing hydropower produced through dams,” says Ellenbecker. “They have a network of transmission across Wyoming already. WAPA is a 50 percent equity partner in that project, which increases its likelihood of success.”
Ellenbecker says the Zephyr project is just finishing up the open season process, where they’ve invited bids for capacity rights on the line.
“If the open season was successful, that would likely enable the Zephyr project to go forward,” he comments, noting TransCanada should be in the final days of evaluating the bids.
Regarding the Gateway project, Ellenbecker says the project is, in part, already before the state regulatory commissions.
“That project’s farthest along, and I would call it most likely to be built, because of its current status before the BLM, which is already approaching a draft Environmental Impact Statement for public distribution,” he says. “They’re getting to the point where they could approach construction in 2012 on the Wyoming segment.”
Ellenbecker says he doesn’t know whether there will be proposals for more large transmission projects in Wyoming in the near future.
“The current proposals are so large they would require major new generation projects to feed them. It’s realistic to say that, for right now, we’ve got an abundance of projects already facing challenges of financing and finding customers in the marketplace,” he says.
Ellenbecker says the advantages of today’s transmission projects extend into the future to a new era of generation technologies.
“Even today’s electric service is provided over transmission towers and lines that are 50 years old, and these proposed projects may have a life of 50 to 80 years,” he says. “We’re talking about projects that can serve multiple eras of new generation resources, not just the first project built.”
He mentions advanced coal technology and new gas-fired electric generation as possibilities in the future.
“Right now the opportunity is present for wind developers – and they’ve got to have new transmission – but in the longer term it opens up a new era of power generation resources,” adds Ellenbecker. “The core of Wyoming’s economy is built around the export of energy resources, and what we’re talking about is a key link to one of the aspects of future energy development.”
Christy Hemken is managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .