V. Alternatives to the Project
Through the alternatives screening process for the EIR/EIS, 15 potential alternatives for the Antelope-Pardee 500-kV Transmission Line Project were developed and subjected to a screening process to determine whether they should be analyzed in detail in the EIR/EIS (see Appendix 1 of the EIR/EIS). These alternatives ranged from minor routing adjustments to SCE's originally proposed 500-kV project route to entirely different transmission line routes, alternate system voltages, and system designs. The majority of these alternatives were eliminated because they did not meet project objectives; did not meet legal, regulatory, and technical feasibility criteria; and/or did not avoid or reduce environmental effects of the Project.
A total of five route alternatives were fully developed and analyzed in the EIR/EIS. The Project as adopted by the CPUC is a combination of the Antelope-Pardee East Mid-Slope (Alternative 2 from the EIR/EIS) and the Antelope-Pardee Re-Routing of New Right-of-Way along Haskell Canyon (Alternative 4 from the EIR/EIS) alternatives. The findings and rationale for not selecting the remaining three route alternatives analyzed in the EIR/EIS are discussed below.
V.1 SCE's Proposed Antelope-Pardee 500-kV Transmission Line
The Antelope-Pardee 500-kV Transmission Line Project route as proposed in SCE's CPCN Application to the CPUC and described in the EIR/EIS Section B.2, exits the Antelope Substation in the City of Lancaster in a new ROW for 1.1 miles before turning southwest and proceeding in the existing Saugus-Del Sur Utility Corridor from Mile 1.1 to Mile 5.7. At Mile 5.7, the line would enter the ANF on NFS lands and remain within the existing Saugus-Del Sur Utility Corridor until Mile 18.6. Within this corridor, the existing Antelope-Pole Switch 74 66-kV line would be replaced. At Mile 18.6, SCE's proposed route would turn south into a new ROW for 1.7 miles before exiting the ANF at Mile 19.3. At Mile 20.3, the line would turn west and enter the Pardee-Vincent 500-kV ROW, in which it would remain until is termination at Pardee Substation at Mile 25.6. Within the Pardee-Vincent 500-kV ROW the existing Pardee-Vincent 500-kV single-circuit towers would be replaced with double-circuit towers. The total distance of this route is 25.6 miles, of which 12.6 miles would be on NFS lands and 2.8 miles would be new ROW.
Finding/Rationale. The CPUC finds that the Antelope-Pardee 500-kV Transmission Line route as proposed by SCE in its CPCN Application to the CPUC is infeasible and less desirable than the Project being adopted by the CPUC, specifically for those portions of the alignment that traverse the ANF (Mile 5.7 to Mile 17.5)1 and are routed through the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch (Mile 17.5 to Mile 20.3)2. The CPUC rejects these portions of the route proposed by SCE because they would result in greater environmental impacts than the Project, due to the increased potential for line collisions by raptors, including condors, resulting from placement of the towers on the top of Del Sur Ridge; greater impacts to cultural resources; limitations to fire prevention and fire suppression resulting from the towers being placed on the top of Del Sur Ridge; and noise and socioeconomic impacts to the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch. In addition, SCE's proposed route would result in greater visual prominence and greater disturbance to the visual environment resulting from increased structure prominence, increased skyline blockage, and increased scale dominance of industrial-character structures in the Antelope Valley, ANF, and Santa Clarita. Specific economic, legal, social, technological, and other considerations, including those considerations set forth in Section VIII.D. (Statement of Overriding Considerations) of the Decision, make this alternative infeasible and less desirable than the adopted Project.
V.2 Partial Undergrounding of Antelope-Pardee Transmission Line (Alternative 1)
This alternative includes the installation of the 500-kV transmission line underground in specific visually high-impact segments of the route proposed by SCE, including along Del Sur Ridge on NFS lands within the ANF (approximately Mile 11.0 to Mile 15.0) and within the City of Santa Clarita (Mile 22.7 to Pardee Substation - Mile 26.2), as described in EIR/EIS Section B.4.1. This alternative is identical to SCE's proposed route (see Section V.1, above) except in those areas where underground construction and associated surface structures, such as transition stations, would be built and between Mile 20.3 and 22.3, where the existing single-circuit 500-kV towers located in the Pardee-Vincent 500-kV ROW would not be replaced with double-circuit towers. Instead, new single-circuit 500-kV towers would be placed in the vacant position within the existing ROW between Mile 20.3 and 22.3. The total distance of this alternative is 26.2 miles (18.7 miles overhead, 7.5 miles underground), of which 12.6 miles would be on NFS lands (4.0 miles underground) and 6.3 miles would be new ROW. The estimated duration of construction is 10 months for the overhead portions and 29 months for underground portions.
Finding/Rationale. The CPUC finds that this alternative is infeasible and less desirable than the Project being adopted by CPUC and rejects this alternative because it would have greater environmental impacts which result directly from underground construction, including greater air quality, biology, geology, land use, recreation, noise, socioeconomic, traffic, service system, and visual resources impacts. This alternative would result in greater air quality impacts, including higher annual and total construction emissions, significant localized impacts during construction, and cause these impacts to last longer due to the substantially longer construction schedule. Furthermore, this alternative would result in greater biological impacts due to the increased duration of disturbance to plant and wildlife communities, the large area of disturbance and increased level of construction activity for underground construction thereby increasing the potential to introduce exotic weeds and impacts to Management Indicator Species (MIS) in the ANF, as well as resulting in indirect effects to wildlife from increased recreational usage due to the development of an all weather access road along Del Sur Ridge. This alternative would also have greater geologic issues as there is a substantial potential to damage the underground transmission line due to surface fault rupture at the crossing of the active San Gabriel Fault in Santa Clarita. This alterative would have greater land use and recreational impacts as it will significantly impact the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch, contribute to the permanent loss of off-highway vehicle (OHV) routes on Del Sur Ridge, as well as extended the closure of recreational trails in the ANF due to the longer construction schedule. This alternative would also result in greater noise and socioeconomic impacts due to the longer construction schedule as well as impacting both the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch and the Bouquet Canyon Stone Quarry. This alternative would result in greater traffic impacts resulting from the increased duration and magnitude of traffic associated with underground construction, as well as greater service system impacts due to generating more waste from the demolition of the existing single-circuit 500-kV towers within the Pardee-Vincent corridor. Furthermore, the visual impacts that this alternative was intended to minimize would in fact be greater than the adopted Project as the underground section in the ANF will create visually prominent, permanent landform and vegetation disturbances on Del Sur Ridge which will result in visually unacceptable modifications to the National Forest landscape and will visually impact the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch. Specific economic, legal, social, technological, or other considerations, including those identified in Section VIII.D. (Statement of Overriding Considerations) of the Decision, make this alternative infeasible and less desirable than the adopted Project.
V.3 Antelope-Pardee Single-Circuit 500-kV Towers between Haskell Canyon and Pardee Substation (Alternative 3)
The alternative includes constructing single-circuit 500-kV towers between Haskell Canyon and the Pardee Substation in the vacant position within the Pardee-Vincent 500-kV ROW, which is situated near the center of the ROW, as described in EIR/EIS Section B.4.3. This alternative is identical to SCE's proposed route (see Section V.1, above), except between Mile 20.3 and Mile 25.6 (on non-NFS lands), where single-circuit 500-kV towers would be constructed instead of constructing double-circuit 500-kV towers and removing the existing single-circuit 500-kV towers. The total distance of this alternative is 25.6 miles, of which 12.6 miles would be on NFS lands and 2.8 miles would be new ROW.
Finding/Rationale. The CPUC finds this alternative infeasible and less desirable than the Project being adopted by CPUC and rejects this alternative because it would result in greater long-term environmental impacts due the increase potential for line collisions by raptors, including condors, resulting from placement of the towers on the top of Del Sur Ridge; greater impacts to cultural resources; limitations to fire prevention and fire suppression resulting from the towers being placed on the top of Del Sur Ridge; and noise and socioeconomic impacts to the Veluzat Motion Picture Ranch. The CPUC finds that specific economic, legal, social, technological, or other considerations, including those identified in Section VIII.D. (Statement of Overriding Considerations) of the Decision, make this route alternative infeasible and less desirable than the adopted Project.
V.4 Antelope-Pardee Sierra Pelona Re-Route (Alternative 5)
The Antelope-Pardee Sierra Pelona Re-Route Alternative includes the construction of an overhead single-circuit 500-kV transmission line that would be routed to generally avoid the ANF, except for a short segment that would traverse the northeast corner of the Forest, as described in EIR/EIS Section B.4.5. This alternative would proceed south from the Antelope Substation, crossing through Leona Valley, approximately 0.5 miles of the ANF, and through the western-most portion of the Ritter Ranch development area. Once crossing the Sierra Highway and the Antelope Valley Freeway (SR-14), the transmission line would traverse two NFS land properties (1.0 mile) in Soledad Canyon and then enter the existing Pardee-Vincent corridor and continue west to the Pardee Substation. Within the Pardee-Vincent corridor the existing single-circuit 500-kV towers would be replaced with double-circuit 500-kV towers. The total distance of this alternative is 37.2 miles, of which 18.8 miles would be new ROW (1.5 miles on NFS lands).
Finding/Rationale. The CPUC finds that the Antelope-Pardee Sierra Pelona Re-Route Alternative is infeasible and less desirable than the Project and rejects this alternative because it would have greater environmental impacts, including greater air quality, cultural resources, land use, noise, traffic, and service system impacts. This alternative would result in greater air quality impacts, including higher annual and total construction emissions, due to the increased transmission line route length. Furthermore, this alternative would result in greater cultural resources impacts as a larger number of culturally sensitive sites have been identified along this route. This alternative would traverse 103 privately owned parcels and possibly remove one or more homes resulting in greater land use impacts than the Project, which is generally located in unpopulated areas of the ANF. This alternative would also have the potential to expose a greater number of residences to noise associated with construction, operation, and maintenance activities as it will traverse multiple residential areas including Lancaster, Leona Valley, Agua Dulce, and Santa Clarita. This alternative would result in greater traffic impacts resulting from additional overhead road crossings, including two crossings of State Route 14, as well as greater service system impacts due to generating a greater amount of waste from the demolition of the existing single-circuit 500-kV towers within the Pardee-Vincent corridor. This alternative would create 18.8 miles of new ROW through the communities of Leona Valley and Agua Dulce resulting in significant, unavoidable visual impacts to these non-NFS lands. When considering the whole of the action without placing added emphasis on Forest impacts and issues, the Project is superior to the Antelope-Pardee Sierra Pelona Re-Route Alternative and will result in the fewest significant unavoidable impacts overall. Specific economic, legal, social, technological, or other considerations, including those identified in Section VIII.D. (Statement of Overriding Considerations) of the Decision, make this alternative infeasible and less desirable than the adopted Project.
V.3 No Project Alternative
Under the No Project Alternative, as described in EIR/EIS Section B.4.6, construction and operation of the Antelope-Pardee 500-kV Transmission Project would not occur. The Forest Service would deny the special use application for the Project and no Forest Plan amendments would be needed for this alternative. None of the associated Project activities would occur and the environmental impacts associated with the Project would not occur. For example, SCE's existing Antelope-Pole Switch 74 66-kV line along the Saugus-Del Sur Utility Corridor would remain in place, as removal of the 66-kV line is specifically linked to the construction of the Project.
The objectives of the Project would remain unfulfilled under the No Project Alternative. For example, the 350 MW of initial transmission capability when energized to 220 kV would not be added between the Antelope and Pardee Substations, and the improved system reliability and operating flexibility associated with the Project would not occur.
In the absence of the Project, SCE still would be required to interconnect and integrate power generation facilities into its electric system. According to SCE, several wind generation projects, which will need to interconnect to the SCE transmission system via Antelope Substation or some other new substation located in the vicinity, either have applications pending before Kern County or are in the advanced planning stage and expected to submit applications in the near future. However, transmission of wind power from the Tehachapi and Antelope Valley areas is currently constrained by the existing Antelope-Mesa 220-kV transmission line, which would be overloaded by the addition of new wind generation.
Under the No Project Alternative, the following events or actions (scenarios) related to the electricity generation and transmission are reasonably expected to occur in the foreseeable future:
· Initial wind projects in the Antelope Valley and Tehachapi areas would be postponed or cancelled, or these proposed wind projects would have to find alternate means to connect to the transmission system without compromising system reliability.
· The requirement of the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) may not be achieved as access to renewable energy from the Antelope Valley-Tehachapi region would either not be provided or would be delayed.
· Other renewable energy resources would need to be identified and transmission studies would need to be conducted to connect these newly identified sources to the transmission grid, which would likely further limit achievement of the RPS goal by the 2010 deadline.
· The conceptual plan recommended by the TCSG would not be fully implemented.
· Transmission providers such as SCE, PG&E, or LADWP would need to accommodate the power load by upgrading existing transmission infrastructure or building new transmission facilities along a different alignment and/or developers of wind generation facilities would need to build their own transmission facilities to connect to the transmission grid.
Finding/Rationale. The CPUC finds that the No Project Alternative is infeasible and less desirable than the Project and rejects this alternative. The environmental impacts of the No Project Alternative would primarily result from transmission upgrades or new transmission facilities along different alignments. Because the No Project Alternative could also require construction of transmission lines with impacts similar to those described for the Project, the CPUC finds that the No Project Alternative would preclude realization of the substantial environmental benefits of the adopted Project derived from the generation and use of renewable wind energy. The No Project Alternative would not help achieve the CPUC's objective for meeting the State's RPS goal by 2010 or SCE's objective to prevent overloading of existing transmission facilities in the SCE grid, specifically the Antelope-Mesa 220-kV transmission line. Specific economic, legal, social, technological, or other considerations have been identified in Section VIII.D. of the Decision (Statement of Overriding Considerations) that make the No Project Alternative infeasible and less desirable than the adopted Project.
1 This segment is replaced by Alternative 2 from the EIR/EIS.
2 This segment is replaced by Alternative 4 from the EIR/EIS.
