II. The Application
A. First Project
1. Generally
On December 13, 2005, PacifiCorp filed an Application seeking a permit to construct (PTC)1 additional transmission capacity between Yreka and Weed, California. In this initial application, PacifiCorp proposed upgrading its existing Line 1 from 69 kV to 115 kV for 17 miles between the Yreka substation and the Weed substation.2 PacifiCorp also proposed adding approximately 1.6 miles of new 115 kV transmission line, and modifying three existing substations.3 (We call this project, which PacifiCorp calls the Yreka/Weed Transmission Upgrade Project, the "First Project." It consists of the Northern Portion plus the Southern Portion.) On January 6, 2006, PacifiCorp filed a declaration attesting that it had given notice of the First Project to affected homeowners and other state agencies listed in GO 131-D.
PacifiCorp explains in its application that the First Project is needed because of load growth in the Mount Shasta and Weed areas of about 2.5% per year, which has led to overloading on the line during summer and winter peak periods. As a result, explains PacifiCorp, thermal line overload has been a common occurrence and schedule curtailment occurred over the two-year period before PacifiCorp filed the application.
Without the First Project, PacifiCorp claims, load shedding to distribution customers and curtailment of contracted scheduled flow will be necessary to avoid an overload condition. As a result, it claims, local area reliability is at risk of service outages.4
2. Definition - First Project/Northern Portion
This decision only allows PacifiCorp to construct the First Project/Northern Portion. That portion begins at the Yreka substation, pole 15/23, and continues southward for approximately 17 miles (as reflected in PacifiCorp's PEA, Figure 2-4 Project Maps, page 1 of 7 through page 7 of 7 (PEA Maps)), ending at pole 15/44 (as shown on PEA Maps, page 7 of 7),5 which is just northwest of the area in controversy.6 Because they are in controversy, this approval does not allow any construction south of pole 15/44, including any construction on property owned by any of the Homeowners who protested the application.
3. Definition - First Project/Southern Portion
The First Project/Southern Portion is all of the First Project south of pole 15/44, including any proposed construction between pole 8/45 and the Weed Junction substation, between pole 10/47 and the Weed Junction substation, or south of pole 19/45.7 All of this construction is in dispute and subject to hearings. Therefore, PacifiCorp may not commence this construction, or pre-construction work, until we render a decision on the First Project/Southern Portion.
B. Second Project
On April 27, 2006, in response to a question from the Commission's Energy Division, PacifiCorp informed the Commission that it planned an additional project in the vicinity of the project in the application. PacifiCorp stated that it planned to upgrade the Weed substation from 69 kV to 115 kV, and to "restore the second transmission feed to the Weed Substation by looping in Line 1 over the mile long section that is being abandoned on the south end of our first project." (We call this additional project the "Second Project.")
In response to this new information, the Assigned Commissioner issued a ruling on June 5, 2006 finding that under CEQA, the Commission is required to analyze the Second Project along with the First Project so as to avoid piecemealing of projects. The ruling required PacifiCorp to give notice to homeowners and other state agencies of the Second Project. In a declaration filed on August 7, 2006, PacifiCorp indicated it had given the required notice.
This decision does not approve or deny the Second Project, because PacifiCorp has not yet submitted a formal application for that project. When it submits the application, it shall cite this decision, and the Final Mitigated Negative Declaration we approve herein, so that the Commission in passing on the Second Project, if any, is aware of the work that has already been done to evaluate the environmental impact of the Second Project. We will not hold this application open pending submission of a request for approval of the Second Project. Rather, PacifiCorp should submit a new application when/if it is ready to begin constructing the Second Project.
1 The Commission's General Order (GO) 131-D requires utilities to seek a PTC if the project is designed to operate between 50 kV and 200 kV.
2 Note for clarification that there are two substations involved in this application - the Weed substation, and the Weed Junction substation.
3 The Assigned Commissioner allowed PacifiCorp to proceed with two of the three proposed substation upgrades (the upgrades to the Yreka substation and the Weed Junction substation) by ruling dated June 5, 2006, on the ground they were exempt from CEQA review under GO 131-D. We ratify the Assigned Commissioner's June 5, 2006 ruling with regard to these substations. Assigned Commissioner's Ruling Regarding Piecemealing and Substations, June 5, 2006.
4 Application at 2.
5 For clarity, we attach PEA Maps, page 1 of 7 (where the First Project/Northern Portion begins), and PEA Maps, page 7 of 7 (where the First Project/Northern Portion ends) as Appendix A to this decision.
6 If PacifiCorp renumbers the poles, the original numbering in Appendix A shall govern where it is and is not allowed to construct under this decision.
7 All pole references are contained in PEA Maps, page 7 of 7 (Appendix A to this decision).
