Sierra Pacific Power Company
Contact: Karl Walquist/Robert Sagan
Phone: (775)834-3891 / (775)834-4834

For Immediate Release

Sierra Pacific Power Co. is continuing to work with the U.S. Forest Service to obtain the agency's approval to construct a 2.5 mile portion of the Alturas Intertie Project in the Modoc National Forest, which was identified as the environmentally-preferred route in the Final Environmental Impact Report/Statement approved by the Bureau of Land Management and California Public Utilities Commission.

"Even though the Modoc National Forest denied our special use permit, they offered to reconsider our request if we provide additional documentation explaining why it's not feasible to build the power line over Cedar Pass east of the town of Alturas," said Alturas Project Manager John Owens."We're confident that we can adequately explain why it is not feasible to build the Cedar Pass alternative over the Warner Mountains."

He said the notice issued April 15 by the Modoc Forest does not affect the route for the power line in Washoe County, which has already been approved by the Washoe County Commission and the City of Reno. Approvals are pending before the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Commission and the Public Service Commission of Nevada.

"We're going forward with the project and still expect to have the line built and in service by late 1998," Owens said."Once constructed, the intertie will benefit electric customers in northern Nevada and northeastern California by providing them with new supplies of reliable, less expensive electricity from the Pacific Northwest."

Owens said Sierra Pacific will not attempt to pursue an alternate route for the power line on private land on the outskirts of Alturas until all efforts to obtain U.S. Forest Service approval for the Modoc Forest route west of Alturas have been exhausted.

The 345-kilovolt Alturas Intertie will be interconnected to Bonneville Power Administration's electric transmission system near Alturas and extend for 164 miles to its termination point at a substation in Reno.