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Vantage to Pomona Heights Chapter 2 230 kV Transmission Line Project FEIS Proposed Action and Alternatives PAGE 2-1 CHAPTER 2 PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires that a practical or feasible range of reasonable alternatives be considered and evaluated; these alternatives must meet the project’s purpose and need while minimizing or avoiding environmental impacts. Reasonable alternatives are defined by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) as those that are technically, economically, and environmentally practical and feasible. This range of reasonable alternatives is formulated to address issues and concerns raised by the public and by agencies during scoping. The alternatives represent other means (methods, processes, locations, times, sequences, etc.), besides the Proposed Action, of satisfying the stated purpose and need for the action. NEPA also requires that a No Action Alternative be evaluated for comparison to the other alternatives analyzed in the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). If unreasonable alternatives or alternatives that do not meet purpose and need are suggested, a detailed analysis of these alternatives is not required. However, the rationale for eliminating them from detailed analysis must be explained. This Chapter describes Pacific Power’s proposed Vantage to Pomona Heights 230 kilovolt (kV) Transmission Line Project (Project) components, describes the alternatives analyzed in detail, those alternatives that were considered but eliminated from further consideration, and identifies the Agency Preferred Alternative. All Alternatives analyzed in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and Supplemental DEIS (SDEIS) were considered in this Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). This Chapter presents the nine Action Alternatives and the No Action Alternative that were considered in detail in this FEIS. The Alternatives presented are as follows: 4) No Action Alternative 5) Alternative A 6) Alternative B 7) Alternative C 8) Alternative D 9) Alternative E 10) Alternative F 11) Alternative G 12) Alternative H 13) New Northern Route (NNR) Alternative with Overhead and Underground Design Options and the Manastash Ridge (MR) Subroute The NNR Alternative with the Overhead Design Option (NNR Alternative – Overhead Design Option) has been identified by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the lead federal agency, as the Environmentally Preferred Alternative and was selected as the Agency Preferred Alternative in the FEIS. Information on the rationale for the selection of the NNR Alternative – Overhead Design Options as the Agency Preferred Alternative and the Environmentally Preferred Alternative is presented in Section 2.4.2.2. The Action Alternatives are comprised of route segments for alternatives development, analysis, and to allow comparison of the Action Alternatives in the FEIS. The proposed Project’s Action Alternatives consist of the interconnection of route segments to form entire end-to-end transmsission line routes. Route segments and Action Alternatives are discussed in detail in Section 2.4. The locations of the individual route segments and the FEIS Agency Preferred Alternative are shown in Figure 2-1. Figures 2-2 and 2-3 provide a schematic illustration of the nine end-to-end Action Alternatives, design options, and subroute analyzed in this FEIS. Table 2-1 presents a summary comparison of the nine Action Alternatives.