BLM decision clears way for power line improvements in Arizona

Hunt Power announced Monday that its Southline Transmission Project in Arizona and New Mexico has received approvals from the Western Area Power Administration and the Bureau of Land Management.

Western announced its decision in the Federal Register on April 14 and the BLM announced its decision May 6.  The agencies worked steadily with other federal, state and local agencies, tribes and regional stakeholders in an effort to understand project impacts and to find a route with maximum benefit for the region and minimal impacts.

“We look forward to completing work with the states of Arizona and New Mexico and advancing toward construction of this important project to enable transmission of reliable, cost-effective power through the desert Southwest region,” said Hunter Hunt, president of Hunt Power, the parent company of Southline Transmission LLC.


The Southline Transmission Project includes two segments. The first segment will be a 240-mile, 345-kilovolt power line connecting Las Cruces, N.M., to a substation south of Willcox, Ariz. 

The second segment will be an upgrade and rebuild of Western’s existing 115-kilovolt transmission lines between Willcox and a substation north of Tucson.

This segment will consist of 120 miles of 230-kilovolt lines. 

The Southline Transmission Project will interconnect with up to 14 existing substation locations and include development of a potential new substation in Luna County, N.M.

Southline plans to begin phased construction in 2017 with initial operations beginning in 2018, and full operations by 2020.