U.S. Department of Interior’s Clean Energy Progress in Nevada
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BLM issues final environmental analysis for Greenlink West transmission line
LAS VEGAS — Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis visited Las Vegas today to highlight the Biden-Harris administration’s significant progress in meeting President Biden’s ambitious clean energy goals. She joined Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Nevada State Director Jon Raby to announce the completion of the final environmental analysis of the proposed Greenlink West Transmission Project, a series of transmission lines that would connect Reno and Las Vegas, helping deliver clean energy from the Nevada desert to the Western electric grid. If completed, the project, which crosses approximately 470 miles of BLM-managed public land, could transmit up to 4 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to power at least 1.2 million homes.
The Department recently announced that the BLM has now permitted more than 25 gigawatts of clean energy projects – surpassing a major milestone ahead of 2025 – enough clean energy to power more than 12 million homes across the country. This includes solar, wind and geothermal projects, as well as gen-tie lines on public lands that are essential for connecting clean electricity projects on both federal and non-federal land to the grid.
“Large-scale transmission projects are key to the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of moving our nation towards a clean energy future with good-paying jobs and healthy local economies while tackling the climate crisis,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Daniel-Davis. “Working with states, Tribes and partners across the American West, we are taking bold steps to build the infrastructure that will get us to a 100% clean electric grid by 2035.”
“Our public lands play a key role in addressing the climate crisis,” said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “The BLM will continue to deliver on that promise, protecting healthy landscapes and restoring lands to health while permitting the infrastructure we need for the clean energy economy of the future.”
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is growing the American economy from the middle out and bottom up – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, to driving over $860 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating good paying jobs and building a clean energy economy that will combat the climate crisis and make our communities more resilient.
The Greenlink West Transmission Project, proposed by NV Energy, includes the construction, operation and maintenance of a system of new electric transmission facilities crossing Clark, Esmeralda, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Storey and Washoe counties. The project would also include expansions of four substations and construction of two new substations to help bring clean energy to the Western grid. Under the BLM’s proposed alternative, the line would run through regions of the state with potential for clean energy development and would connect Nevada clean energy to the California electric grid.
As of May 30, 2024, the BLM is currently processing 67 utility-scale onshore clean energy projects proposed on public lands in the western United States. This includes solar, wind, and geothermal projects, as well as interconnected gen-tie lines that are vital to clean energy projects proposed on non-federal land. These projects have the combined potential to add 30,926 megawatts of renewable energy to the western electric grid. The BLM is also undertaking the preliminary review of approximately 190 applications for solar and wind development, as well as 88 applications for wind and solar energy testing.
A Notice of Availability will publish in Friday’s Federal Register for the associated final environmental impact statement and resource management plan amendments, beginning a 30-day protest period that ends July 15 and a 60-day Governor’s consistency review that ends August 13. Input received during this time will inform a Record of Decision expected later this year.
Courtesy of U.S. Department of Interior.
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