Siting Study - Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line Project

Siting Study
Boardman to Hemingway Transmission Line Project
3.3.6 Blue Mountain Region
The Blue Mountain Region is located in the central part of the study area on the western edge of Baker
County and northeastern Grant County, spanning across the Blue Mountains to Sharp Ridge as shown on
Figure 3.3.6-1. Situated at the convergence of the Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman National
Forests, just north of the Middle Fork of the John Day River, the region covers severe terrain and pristine
forests, with numerous special status fish streams and habitat restoration areas. State Highway 7, the
Journey Through Time Scenic Byway, is located at the southeastern end of the region, while U.S.
Highway 395 runs north-south approximately 7 miles west of the northwestern end of the region. The
sparsely populated towns of Galena and Susanville lie in the southwestern part of the region, while the
communities of Greenhorn and Robinsonville are located in the southeastern part of this region.
The Central PAT routing session resulted in CAP route C6 passing through the Blue Mountains and south
of Sharp Ridge in this region. CAP route C6 was slightly revised and designated GR1-BA1, the South
Route in the Blue Mountain Region. The North Route, GR1-GR2-BA1, which attempted to minimize
crossings of special status streams and fish restoration areas, is located through the Blue Mountains and
north of Sharp Ridge, and can be seen as another revision of CAP route C6.
These routes were analyzed for permitting difficulty, construction difficulty and potential mitigation
costs. Figure 3.3.6-2 graphically displays the results of these analyses. The permitting difficulty and
mitigation cost analyses show the routes to be similar; however, the North Route crosses about 2 more
miles of high permitting difficulty than the South Route. The construction difficulty analysis was more
informative, indicating that although these two routes are similar in total miles of moderate and high
permitting difficulty there are an additional 11.9 miles of high construction difficulty along the North
Route. See Table 3.3.6-1 for mileage summaries of the analyses. Table D-6 in Appendix D details the
constraints crossed along each route. Of note is the fact that the South Route completely avoids USFS
Partial Retention lands as well as the USFS Special Interest Area for Fish Management, while the North
Route crosses 3.5 and 17.0 miles respectively of each area. For the reasons explained above, the South
Route (CAP route C6) was recommended as more reasonable than the North Route (CAP route C6) in the
Blue Mountain Region.
August 2010 3-33