PLAN FOR NEVADA UTILITY TRANSMISSION LINE DRAWING COMMENTS

The federal Bureau of Land Management collected public comments on a big north-south electricity transmission project that Nevada's main utility, NV Energy, says is a key to its plan for a statewide renewable energy network.

The project, dubbed Greenlink West, would stretch about 350 miles (563 kilometers) to connect electricity facilities near Las Vegas in southern Nevada and Yerington in the north by the end of 2026. It would generally run parallel to and east of the California state line.

Conservationists and protesters say they do not want to see that much public land disturbed, and members of a tribe adjacent to the route say the transmission lines would adversely affect culturally significant land.

Barbara Durham, tribal historic preservation officer for the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, told the Las Vegas Sun that disturbed areas could include former village sites and areas where tribal ancestors found food and traded objects.

Timbisha Shoshone homelands are in Nevada's Nye, Mineral, and Esmeralda counties and California's Inyo, Kern, San Bernardino, and Mono counties.