Public meetings set for proposed transmission line

By The Montana Standard Staff - 08/30/2008

Public meetings set for proposed transmission line Three public meetings are planned in early September to discuss the proposed 500 kV electric transmission line.

Known as the Mountain States Transmission Intertie Project, the proposed line would be between 390 to 430 miles long, and would cross private, state and federally managed lands in southwestern Montana — including the Butte and Anaconda areas — and southeastern Idaho.

The Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and Montana Department of Environmental Quality are preparing an environmental impact statement to analyze the proposal.

Public meetings are planned as follows: — Tuesday, Sept. 9, Copper King Hotel, 4655 Harrison Ave., Butte — Wednesday, Sept. 10, Three Forks High School.

— Thursday, Sept. 11, Lewis & Clark Room of Matthews Hall at the University of Montana-Western, Dillon. All meetings run 7 to 9 p.m.

Public comments will be accepted until Oct. 10, and can be submitted at the public meetings, via e-mail (DEQMSTI@mt.gov and MT_MSTI@blm.gov) or by regular mail to Mark Mackiewicz, national project manager, Bureau of Land Management, Price Field Office, 125 S. 600 West, Price, Utah, 84501; or Greg Hallsten, EIS coordinator, director's office, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, Box 200901, Helena, Mont., 59620-0901.

Additional information about the MSTI project is available at http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/prog/lands_realty/projects.htm and http://deq.mt.gov/MFS/MSTI/MSTIindex.asp.

Questions may be directed to Mark Mackiewicz at (435) 636-3616; or Tom Ring at 444-6785.