In January 2009, Aspen was awarded a contract with the Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC) to provide environmental support services for the TANC Transmission Project (TTP), one of the largest high voltage transmission lines in the State's history. In close coordination with TANC and the Western Area Power Administration (Western), Aspen was to prepare an EIR/EIS and provide permitting support under the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and other federal and State regulations.

The proposed TTP was intended to improve electric system reliability, reduce transmission congestion, and deliver California-based renewable energy. The proposed TTP comprised approximately 600 miles of new and upgraded 230 kV and 500-kV transmission lines (both overhead and underground) and associated equipment and electrical facilities, such as new substations and substation expansions. It consisted of five segments of transmission line corridors that extended from northeastern California through the Central Valley and split westward to the San Francisco Bay area and eastward to the Sierra Foothills.

The public scoping period began on February 27, 2009 and ended on July 30, 2009, resulting in a 185-day EIR/EIS scoping period. Aspen and the TTP team conducted and attended 12 scoping meetings throughout northern and central California between Alturas and Santa Clara. These public meetings were well attended and encouraged substantial public interest. In addition to these formal events, Throughout the project's scoping period and in addition to the 12 formal scoping meetings, Aspen participated in approximately 20 other public meetings, and numerous other outreach efforts (i.e., information packets, project maps, etc.) for affected federal, State, and local public agencies and organizations. Aspen processed more than 13,000 public scoping comments, making it one of the most controversial transmission line projects in the State's history.

On July 15, 2009, some of the project's financial support was withdrawn by three key TANC member agencies (SMUD, MID, and TID). As a result, TANC (the CEQA Lead Agency and project proponent) and Western (the NEPA Lead Agency) decided to halt the remainder of the EIR/EIS environmental review process for the TTP.

The overall budget for the completion of the proposed TTP EIR/EIS and permitting efforts was projected to range between $12 and $15 million through completion. Aspen's efforts that occurred between January and July of 2009 were predominantly related to the scoping process for the EIR/EIS, and approximately $1 million of the overall budget was spent. During these efforts, Aspen's Management Team was involved in the project at a full-time capacity given the large-scale and controversial nature of the project, and its associated activities. At the end of the scoping period, Aspen prepared a scoping comment database (including coding and categorization of the 13,000 scoping comments received), and a Project Scoping Report summarizing the events, comments, and environmental issues resulting from the scoping process.

The TTP EIR/EIS Team consisted of approximately 60 specialists with expertise in management of large-scale energy infrastructure projects, CEQA/NEPA document preparation, GIS, and multiple technical disciplines. In addition, to Aspen (Prime Contractor), the TTP Team was supplemented by six sub-consultant firms to ensure technical expertise in specific issues such as wildlife and plant biology, wetlands, cultural resources, and visual resources.