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PacifiCorp
Lassen Substation Project

(Application No. A.15-11-005)

Last Update: March 19, 2021

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Welcome to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) website for the environmental review of the proposed construction of the PacifiCorp Lassen Substation Project (proposed project) located in the City of Shasta, California. PacifiCorp submitted an application for this project to the CPUC on November 2, 2015 (Application A.15-11-005) accompanied by the Proponents Environmental Assessment (PEA). On July 16, 2016, PacifiCorp submitted an amendment to the application accompanied by an amended PEA for the updated elements of the proposed project. The amended application revised the proposed overhead distribution line crossing Interstate 5 (I-5) to an underground distribution line in the same location. The proposed project is subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CPUC issued its Decision on May 6, 2019 (Decision D.19-04-011). This site provides access to public documents and information relevant to the CEQA review process.
 

Quick Links

Background

PacifiCorp filed an application for a Permit to Construct the Lassen Substation Project with CPUC to construct, operate and maintain the Lassen Substation Project. PacifiCorp is proposing to replace and upgrade the existing Mount (Mt.) Shasta substation serving the City of Mt. Shasta. The applicant objectives of the proposed project are:

• To ensure the reliability of the system by replacing the existing wooden substation with a new steel pole constructed substation on a new site.
• To ensure that the system has adequate capacity to safely and reliably meet local and contractual system demand.
• To ensure that the new system is designed to accommodate operating within a115kV transmission system.
• To be operational to meet projected summer 2018 peak load demands.
   

Project Description 

The following are key components of the proposed project:

• Construction of Lassen Substation, which would be built on parcels adjacent to the existing Mt. Shasta Substation, located at 504 South Old Stage Road, Siskiyou County, California.


• Replacement of 36 transmission poles along a 1.5-mile segment of the existing 69kV power transmission system with wood-framed poles to comply with current California regulations. The 69kV system would initially operate at 69kV, but would be built to allow future operation at 115kV.


• Installation of three additional wood poles to connect existing transmission to the proposed substation and connect lines from the existing substation to the new substation.

• Connection of the new Lassen Substation to the existing distribution system by installing three 300-foot underground conduits from a cable pulling vault just outside the proposed substation.


• Reconductor two existing distribution lines, which would include the partial reconductoring of the existing 4.16kV distribution system to 12.5kV, and the undergrounding of approximately 1,200 feet of the existing overhead distribution line.


• Addition of three banks of 12.5kV to 4.16kV stepdown transformers to be added on the 12.5kV distribution feeders near the existing 4.16kV load.


• Removal and restoration of the existing Mt. Shasta Substation.

Project construction is expected to require approximately 12 months to complete.

The proposed project would be located in the City of Mt. Shasta, California, in the south central portion of unincorporated Siskiyou County (see the Regional Location Map). The existing Mt. Shasta Substation and proposed Lassen Substation sites are both located west of Interstate 5 (I-5) and the pole replacement and reconductoring activities would occur both east and west of the I-5.
 

Application and Proponent's Environmental Assessment (PEA)

The amendment to application and amended PEA, supersede the original application and PEA for the updated elements of the proposed project. The amended application revised the proposed overhead distribution line crossing Interstate 5 (I-5) to an underground distribution line in the same location. Click on the following links to copies of these documents.

Amendment to Application - July 16, 2016

Amended Proponents Environmental Assessment (PEA) - July 2016

Application for the Lassen Substation Project - November 2015

Proponents Environmental Assessment (PEA) - October 2015

PEA Appendices

Appendix A  - Visual Simulations
Appendix B  - Biological Technical Report
Appendix D  - Army Corp of Engineers 404 Jurisdictional Delineation
Appendix E  - Geotechnical Report
Appendix F  - Phase I Environmental Site Assessment Reports

Note: Appendix C is the cultural resources technical report and covers culturally sensitive resources. It is provided in confidentiality to the CPUC to protect the locations of potentially sensitive resources.
 

Application Review, Date Requests, and Responses

The CPUC conducted a completeness review of the PEA and amended PEA to identify additional data needs from the applicant to complete the environmental review. Based on this review, PacifiCorp’s application was deemed complete by CPUC on July 28, 2016. CPUC’s completeness letter, data requests, and PacifiCorp responses are listed in the table below. Note that some of the files linked below have bookmarks that can be seen when clicking on the bookmark icon.

Environmental Review

Final Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND)

On June 19, 2017, the CPUC prepared a Final Mitigated Negative Declaration (Final MND) under CEQA for consideration of the PacifiCorp Lassen Substation Project (see links below). The information in the Final MND describes the proposed project and potential environmental impacts, identifies those impacts that could be significant, and presents mitigation measures to avoid or minimize potentially significant impacts.

The Final IS/MND incorporates all comments received during the public review period for the Draft IS/MND, as well as revisions discussed and agreed upon during various discussions with the applicants and the CPUC. The responses to comments are provided in Section 7 of the Final IS/MND. Revisions to the Draft IS/MND are shown in strikeout/underline in the Final IS/MND. No substantial changes to the environmental document analyses or conclusions resulted from evaluation of the comments received during the public review period. No substantial revisions that would merit recirculation as defined by 15073.5(b) of Title 14 of CEQA were made to the project or analyses after public comment. Click on the following links for copies of these documents.

• Preface and Mitigated Negative Declaration
• IS Section 1-3 - Environmental Determination
• IS Section 4 - Project Description
• IS Section 5 - Environmental Checklist and Section 6 - List of Preparers
• IS Section 7 - Response to Comments

Response to Mount Shasta Tomorrow Comments on Final IS/MND

On September 22, 2017 Mount Shasta Tomorrow filed comments on the Final IS/MND. Appendix A contains the CPUC response to the comments. The comments highlighted minor errors in the Final IS/MND. Corrections to the Final IS/MND have been made and are listed in the Errata linked below. The comments raise no new important issues or potentially significant effects to the environment. These changes to the Final IS/MND do not qualify as substantial revisions as defined in Section 15073.5(b) of the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines, and therefore do not require recirculation. Click on the following links for copies of these documents.

• Mount Shasta tomorrow Comments
• Appendix A – Response to Mount Shasta Tomorrow Comments
• Final IS/MND Errata

Draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) Publication

On November 23, 2016, the CPUC released a Notice of Intent (NOI) to Adopt a MND for the Lassen Substation Project, showing that the proposed project, as mitigated, would not have any significant effects on the environment. The NOI and Draft IS/MND are available by clicking on the following links:

• Notice of Intent
• Draft IS/MND

Commission Decision

The Commission voted on April; 25, 2019 to grant PacifiCorp a permit to construct the Lassen Substation Project (the Decision was issued on May 6, 2019). A Notice of Determination was filed with the State Clearinghouse on April 26, 2019.

• Decision granting Permit to Construct to PacifiCrop (issued May 6, 2019)
• Notice of Determination (April 26, 2019)

For Additional Information

Project email: LassenSubstation@dudek.com
Project voicemail: (844) 379-3477
Project fax: (844) 386-5633

The CPUC’s Project Manager is:

Michael Rosauer, CPUC Project Manager
California Public Utilities Commission
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94102
Tel.: (415) 703-2579

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