For Gateway West, BLM is the lead agency responsible for complying with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) that will analyze and disclose the effects of the project and its alternatives. The BLM is currently preparing a draft EIS that is expected to be available for a 90-day public comment period later this year.

Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power have begun the permitting process for this project by initiating the NEPA process with application to the BLM and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for authorization to build, operate and maintain the proposed transmission lines on federal property. NEPA is a federal law that requires federal agencies to prepare a detailed statement of the effects of major federal actions that can significantly affect the quality of the human environment. The NEPA process studies possible environmental impacts of the line in the area.

The public will be invited to participate in the NEPA scoping process and comment on the draft EIS. The BLM will hold an official public comment period between finalizing the EIS and issuing a record of decision on the project. Specific dates for these public opportunities have not been determined. However, the public will be notified of dates by notices published in the Federal Register (www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/), local newspapers, company and BLM websites, and by the project-specific mailing list.

Learn more about the environmental review process.

The EIS will evaluate possible effects of the proposed Gateway West project and alternatives on federal, state, and private lands. However, this does not mean that the BLM or USFS can authorize actions on lands that are not administered by them.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations direct that an EIS “rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives, and for alternatives that were eliminated from detailed study, briefly discuss the reasons for their having been eliminated” (40CFR 1502.14(a)). “Reasonable alternatives include those that are practicable or feasible from the technical and economic standpoint and using common sense, rather than simply desirable from the standpoint of the applicant” (Forty Most Asked Questions Concerning CEQ’s NEPA Regulations, March 23, 1981).

The EIS looks at a variety of resources. Some examples include land, visual/aesthetic, cultural and historic resources, paleontology, biological resources, socioeconomics, noise, air quality, recreation, and soils.