Montana's Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Department of Energy on Monday released a summary of a long-awaited final environmental impact statement for the 327-kilometre Montana Alberta Tie Line. The statement outlines the preferred alternative and several others.
The line would travel about 210 kilometres and cross six counties in Montana. The carrying capacity of 300 megawatts of electricity in each direction has been sold to prospective wind farm developers.
Federal and provincial authorities in Canada have already approved the line and a final decision by the U.S. and Montana departments could come within a month, regulators said.
The plan preferred by the federal and state authorities differs from the tie line group's preferred plan but doesn't go as far as some farmers had hoped, said Greg Hallsten, the environmental impact statement co-ordinator for the Montana authority.
"We basically sat down with the director and went through this segment by segment, trying to pick which would best serve MATL's needs as well as the landowners," Hallsten said. "It's turned out to be a balancing act."
Bob Williams, vice-president of regulatory affairs for the tie line group, said Monday afternoon he couldn't comment because he had not received the summary of the impact statement.
The 215-kilometre preferred alternative has 134 kilometres of single poles and 79 kilometres of wider H-frames.
The addition of single poles and reduction in lines running diagonally across cropland is a nod to farmers, who have complained about having to manoeuvre machinery around the double poles.
"One of the comments we heard loud and clear was to use monopoles on cultivated ground," the Montana department's Tom Ring said.
By comparison, the tie line group's favoured route is 207 kilometres long, slightly shorter than the government's, and has single poles planned on 43 fewer kilometres of land.
The single poles are taller and cost $359,429 per 1.6 kilometres while the H-frames cost $323,092, according to the environmental study.
The tie line needs a presidential permit from the Department of Energy because it crosses an international boundary and a certificate of compliance from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said Ellen Russell, project manager for the U.S. Department of Energy's Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability in Washington, D.C.
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