By Nichola Groom
April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. officials on Tuesday gave
final approval for a company owned by billionaire Philip
Anschutz to begin building a massive transmission line that will
deliver wind energy from blustery Wyoming to power-hungry
California.
The "notice to proceed" from the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management allows TransWest Express LLC to break ground on its
$3 billion line after more than 15 years of development. About
two-thirds of the project will be on federal lands.
In a statement, the bureau said its approval of the 732-mile
TransWest Express line was "a significant milestone in the
Biden-Harris administration's efforts to modernize America's
power infrastructure in the West and achieve a fully carbon-free
electric grid by 2035."
Big high-voltage transmission projects are seen as
imperative to delivering large amounts of renewable power from
far-flung windy and sunny regions to population centers. But
permitting lines across a multi-state patchwork of private and
public lands can take years.
A separate Anschutz firm owns the 600-turbine Chokecherry
and Sierra Madre wind farm in Wyoming, which is being built,
that will send power through TransWest Express.
TransWest Express construction will start later this year
and the first stage will be completed in 2027, the company said.
The line will run from south central Wyoming, through Colorado,
Utah and Nevada to a substation outside of Las Vegas.
"We appreciate the federal, state and local agencies and all
of the other stakeholders who collaborated and diligently worked
through the process with us to reach this day," Bill Miller, CEO
of TransWest Express LLC, said in a statement.
Anschutz got his start in the oil industry in Wyoming, and
also owns stakes in professional sports teams and entertainment
venues through his Anschutz Entertainment Group.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Richard Chang)
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