SCE West of Devers Upgrade Project

Project Specifications

Client: California Public Utilities Commission

Location: Riverside County, San Bernardino County

Services: Environmental Review & Permitting, Air Quality & Climate Services, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Compliance & Construction Monitoring, Public Participation & Involvement

Aspen prepared an Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) on behalf of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the SCE West of Devers (WOD) Upgrade Project. The project would result in removal of three sets of 220 kilovolt (kV) towers (615 individual structures), and two sets of 220 kV double-circuit towers would be con­structed to replace them, all within an existing 48-mile corridor. The project is primarily in Riverside County, but it includes a short segment in San Bernardino County. The purpose of the WOD Upgrade Project is to increase the transmission capacity for this corridor, which would carry more renewable power from the eastern Riverside County area and the Imperial Valley into southern California load centers.

The eastern starting point of the project is the Devers Substation (in North Palm Springs), through lands of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the Cities of Banning, Beaumont, Calimesa, Loma Linda, Redlands, and San Bernardino. The corridor includes just over one mile on BLM-administered lands at its eastern end. In addition to the 220 kV system improvements, other project elements include upgrades of smaller subtransmission lines and improvements at local substations, and installation of telecommunication lines and equipment for the protec­tion, monitoring, and control of transmission lines and substation equipment.  Issue areas addressed in the EIR/EIS included agriculture, air quality, biological resources, climate change, cultural resources, geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, land use and BLM realty, mineral resources, noise, paleontological resources, recreation, socioeconomics and environmental justice, transportation and traffic, utilities and public services, visual resources, water resources and hydrology, and wildland fire. The Draft EIR/IES was published in August 2015 and written comments were received from 56 different parties. The Final EIR for CEQA compliance was published by the CPUC in December 2015, including responses to comments. The BLM issued a separate Final EIS in July 2016.

Construction on the West of Devers Upgrade Project began October 2017, with the start of substation upgrades and telecommunication improvements. Establishment of laydown yards started in February 2018. Subtransmission, distribution, and remaining telecom started in April 2018. Construction of the approved transmission system upgrades began in May 2018, with completion scheduled for four years later, in 2022.  Aspen is pro­viding on-site envi­ron­mental mon­i­tor­ing during project con­struc­tion to ensure com­pli­ance with project Mitigation Measures, applicant-proposed measures, approved permit conditions, and compliance plans. Aspen reviewed Notice to Proceed (NTP) requests for construction to ensure preconstruction compliance requirements had been satisfied, including plan review, and prepared recommended NTPs for the CPUC and BLM Project Managers.  Aspen also reviews and field validates project change requests during construction and provides the CPUC Project Manager with recommended approval/denial letters, as well as prepared monitoring reports documenting construction status and compliance activities, which are posted on the CPUC’s project website.