FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 20, 2005
CONTACT: LaVerne Kyriss, 720-962-7054, kyriss@wapa.gov

PUBLIC SCOPING MEETINGS SET FOR BIG STONE II POWER PLANT AND TRANSMISSION PROJECT EIS

LAKEWOOD, Colo.—Seven utilities in the South Dakota and Minnesota area are proposing construction of a 600-MW, coal-fired electric generating station and associated transmission facilities, called the Big Stone II Project.

Western Area Power Administration and the Rural Utility Service intend to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed project. Public scoping meetings will be held to provide the public with project information and identify public concerns to be considered in the EIS. Meetings will be held:

• June 14, 5 to 8 p.m., Lantern Inn, 1010 S. Dakota St., Milbank, S.D.
• June 15, 5 to 8 p.m., Best Western Prairie Inn, 200 E. Highway 28, Morris, Minn.
• June 16, 5 to 8 p.m., Kilowatt Community Center, 600 Kilowatt Dr., Granite Falls, Minn.

Growth in the Minnesota and South Dakota area continues to increase the demand on the area’s interconnected transmission system. To support local base loads, seven local utility companies have come together to build the proposed Big Stone II powerplant adjacent to the existing Big Stone Plant (unit I) located east of Milbank and northwest of Big Stone City, S.D.

While the Big Stone II Project would share some existing infrastructure with the existing Big Stone facility, the project will require transmission system upgrades, including new 230-kV transmission lines and upgrades to existing lines in Minnesota and South Dakota. The proposed project is scheduled to begin construction in spring 2007 and will come online in 2011.

Deadline for public comments is midnight, July 27. Send input to NEPA Document Manager, Big Stone II EIS (A7400), Western Area Power Administration, P.O. Box 281213, Lakewood, CO 80228-8213.

Comments may also be e-mailed to: BigStoneEIS@wapa.gov, or faxed to 720-962-7269. Fax verification is 1-800-336-7288.

Western Area Power Administration annually markets and transmits more than 10,000 megawatts of power from hydroelectric powerplants owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 15 western and central states.  It is part of the Department of Energy.

Return to the Newsroom.

Serving the West with Federal hydropower