Greenlinks (meeting)

By Laura Leigh on March 23, 2023

After the Triple B roundup, a few wild horses released in the area of the route of the proposed transmission line

BLM is offering another pre-planning meeting for Greenlinks North.

The Bureau of Land Management is holding a public meeting for a project that will span four northern Nevada counties. The Greenlink North Project will be a 525kV line that spans approximately 235 miles from Ely to Yerington through White Pine, Eureka, Lander, Churchill, Lyon, Storey, and Washoe counties.

The meeting will be held via Zoom on March 29 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. PST. The link to participate, during that time, can be found here.

WHE has written about this project in several articles in the last year.

The map above of the Greenlinks project was only created by BLM after one of the scoping meetings when we pointed out to them that they were entirely omitting wild horses. The map above omits HMAs that simply fall directly outside the line (like the inaccurate boundary line for Roberts Mountain, a part of the old Kobe Complex that BLM knows is inaccurately drawn). BLM is in the planning stage to hit Roberts with a large scale roundup as Greenlinks moves forward and mining and livestock expand.

The Greenlinks north line will run the historic and undeveloped “loneliest highway in America,” Highway 50. An alternative route (proposed by several environmental organizations) would jog the route straight through Triple B north to the already developed highway 80 corridor.

Video below: foal roped in area of proposed Greenlinks route last summer

What is Greenlinks? This proposed long high-voltage transmission project would open up all of western Nevada to renewable energy development, in some of the most remote basins and ranges. There are already (at least) 230 square miles of solar applications. The power would not help rural Nevada, but go to tech companies and warehouses, servers in Reno/Sparks (Virginia Range Industrial, like Blockchains and Tesla). The power demand in northern Nevada is forecast to increase by more than 700 MW within 10 years.

But non-profits and environmentalists aren’t the only ones speaking against NV Energy’s tactics. MGM Resorts and Caesars Enterprise Services have objected to NV Energy’s move to seek federal incentives for the project. MGM and Caesars both broke away from NV Energy in 2016, with MGM building its own solar farm and Caesars buying their power from a Texas company. The move cost MGM $87 million and Caesars $47 million.

But NV Energy is not requiring big companies like Blockchains or Tesla to turn parking lots and warehouses into solar farms, they are pushing this energy transmission line that begins with miles and miles of solar panels in fragile desert habitat and then using (primarily) gas powered stations.

In fact, grant money from the federal government is flying around to produce lithium to fuel the electric vehicle market. Tesla just announced a massive expansion of their facility in the Virginia Range; the energy demand Greenlinks is being built to feed.

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Many HMAs that will be impacted are also experiencing mining expansion and multiple projects to keep livestock happy (when mining expands, BLM approves fencing and water projects to expand livestock; above is Triple B. We will be addressing mining expansion ands have already filed against livestock expansion with our partner WLD.

On top of the disturbance during construction and the impact to viewing of pristine landscapes, power lines are know to cause disturbance to both domestic livestock and wildlife. “High voltage power lines can interfere with the ability of cows and deer to respond normally to the Earth’s magnetic field, according to a team of European researchers that has been studying these animals with the help of Google Earth.” (more HERE)

The BLM will be preparing an environmental impact statement for the right of way application submitted by NV Energy for the project. You WILL have a chance to comment on the project.

To read documents and attend the open Zoom on March 29, click HERE.