Final report for MID power line project keeps proposed route

A final environmental impact report for a Merced Irrigation District power line project maintains the same proposed route for new power lines and contains pages of response to comments made about the project during the California Environmental Quality Act comment period.

The project plans include 13.1 miles of power lines on the outskirts of south Merced, including a substation near Mission Avenue. The project has been in the works since 2011, and a draft environmental impact report was published in May.

The proposed route begins at Franklin Road and Highway 99, heads south and cuts east following Rice and Reilly roads. The final stint turns north, ending at a new substation – dubbed the Lyons Substation – on Mission Avenue near Miles Road.

The MID board of directors is expected to discuss and possibly take action on the report at its Sept. 15 meeting. If the board decides to move forward with the project and it stays on schedule, construction should begin in spring 2016. Construction is expected to last about 18 months.

The report outlines the project’s objectives to increase reliability and capacity of MID’s current electric services.

“The project is needed to enhance the district’s ability to provide low-cost power to our community reliably and efficiently, both now and in the future,” said Mike Jensen, an MID spokesman.

During the comment period, residents and farmers expressed concerns about how the project would affect their property. Many of those residents were unaware the final report was published Wednesday or had not read through the nearly 350-page document.

Randy Bertuccio, who hired the Fresno law firm McCormick Barstow to fight the project, said he still will urge the district to place the lines underground. The final report addresses that suggestion.

Bertuccio has said he does not plan any lawsuits.

Several district board members could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Director Kevin Gonzalves declined to comment.

The draft report said underground transmission lines would be nine times more expensive than overhead construction. The final report said that MID hired a special consultant in response to Bertuccio’s comment to analyze what the cost of underground distribution would be. If MID put a portion of the project underground near Wardrobe Avenue, at least one-third of the entire project in total would need to be underground, the report said.

Putting the transmission lines underground would require installing riser poles and vaults, which cost $500,000 per transition, according to the report. That’s approximately one-third the cost of one mile of overhead construction for the proposed project.

“As a public agency, MID has an obligation to be fiscally responsible and consider the effects of costs of its various improvement projects on the entire district,” the final report said. “MID must consider the benefits to all its customers for maintaining a relatively low cost of power and needs to avoid making extraordinary expenditures that would not generate an overall benefit for its customers.”

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Final report for MID power line project keeps proposed route."