Rail Tie Wind Project
Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Proposed Action/Alternatives

The proposed Federal action being considered by WAPA in this EIS is the interconnection request submitted by ConnectGen for the Project. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission mandates require that interconnection requests be accommodated so long as capacity is available, operation of the power system would not be negatively affected, the applicant funds any necessary system upgrades, and existing power customers would not be impacted. WAPA can deny an interconnection request if any of these conditions are not met. If ConnectGen’s interconnection request is approved, WAPA would construct, own, operate, and maintain an interconnection switchyard in the Project Area.

WAPA’s Federal action to consider the interconnection request is limited to two distinct outcomes: either approval or denial of the interconnection request. Based on this limitation, no additional alternatives beyond the proposed Federal action and the No Action Alternative have been included in this EIS.

Under the No Action Alternative, WAPA would not approve the interconnection request, and ConnectGen’s Project would not be allowed to connect to the existing WAPA transmission system. While this would not preclude the Project from being constructed and connected to a non-WAPA–managed transmission system, for the purposes of analysis, this EIS assumes that in that case, the Project would not be built.