sun zia transmission project getting commission review

Members of the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission are expected to announce a decision sometime in September regarding right of way issues for the proposed $2 billion Sun Zia Transmission Project.

That project, which has been several years in the planning stage, will upon completion move electricity from wind farms in eastern New Mexico to customers in Arizona and California.

In all, two transmission lines belonging to the project will travel across more than 520 miles of land owned by a number of parties, including the federal government, the New Mexico State Land Office, and private landowners.

The private land component of the project, just in New Mexico alone, will comprise around 90 miles.

Sun Zia Transmission officials say they have so far entered into easement agreements with more than eighty landowners for the project.

Although not all of the right of way agreements between the company and the various landowners have to be approved by the commission, some of them do.

Sun Zia Transmission is specifically asking the commission to approve both the locations designated for the lines, as well as the right of way widths to accommodate them.

By Garry Boulard