Devers to Palo Verde No. 2 Transmission Line

HELIX Environmental Planning (HELIX) provided consulting services support to Aspen Environmental Group for Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) Devers–Palo Verde No. 2 Transmission Line Project’s Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS). The project is a 134.4-mile, 500-kilivolt (kV) electric transmission line in Riverside County routed between the Colorado River Substation (west of Blythe) and Devers Substation (north of Palm Springs), as well as 41.6 miles of new 500-kV transmission line routed between the Devers Substation and the Valley Substation (Romoland area). The project spans approximately 176 miles and traverses multiple jurisdictions including Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administered lands, San Bernardino National Forest, San Jacinto Mountains National Monument, and private lands. During the construction phase of the project, HELIX biologists supported the environmental compliance monitoring effort being conducted by Aspen on behalf of the California Public Utilities Commission and the BLM. HELIX biologists evaluated SCE’s requests for avian nest buffer reductions in accordance with the project’s mitigation measures for nesting birds. HELIX biologists also monitored for and relocated Mojave fringe-toed lizards, a BLM-sensitive species.