Other Agencies with Actions or Authorizations:

Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service

Department of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers - Regulatory

Description:

The SunZia Project includes two nominal 500-kV transmission lines located on federal, state, and private lands between central New Mexico and central Arizona. The approximately 550-mile-long transmission line route originates at the planned SunZia East Substation in Torrance County, New Mexico, and terminates near the existing Saguaro substation and the existing Pinal Central Substation, both in Pinal County, Arizona. The SunZia Project is located in Socorro, Sierra, Luna, Grant, Hidalgo, and Torrance counties in New Mexico and Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, Pinal, and Pima counties in Arizona.

The SunZia Project will be constructed in two phases and ultimately include two, new, single-circuit, 500 kV transmission lines with the intent of locating both within a single 400-foot-wide right-of-way, where possible. Only one of the two 500-kV circuits will be constructed in Phase 1 and the planned in-service date for the first transmission line is 2025. The first transmission line would be a direct-current (DC) line and the second transmission line would be an alternating-current (AC) line.

Update:

The Executive Director granted a BLM's request to extend the Section 106 consultation "Section 106 Review" completion date because route changes for the Project require modifications to the programmatic agreement needed to conclude the Section 106 consultation. The Executive Director determination is posted here.

The Executive Director granted a BLM's request to extend the Endangered Species Act "Endangered Species Act (ESA)," completion date because because, FWS asked BLM to submit additional information to ensure a complete consultation package that would enable FWS to complete formal consultation under the ESA. The Executive Director determination is posted here.