The project would bring a 500-kilovolt line through private, state, and federal lands. COURTESY PHOTO

• Power line would run through Lincoln County south of Cokeville

Lincoln County Commissioner Mel Shumway shared in a Weekday Wake-up interview that the utility recently updated county leaders on the long-delayed project, which is planned to cross Lincoln County on its way to Idaho.

RELATED: RADIO INTERVIEW WITH LC COMMISSIONER MEL SHUMWAY – 

Shumway said Gateway West is a transmission line that will be built, noting that it comes through Lincoln County and terminates in Idaho. The project has been proposed as part of a roughly 1,000-mile high-voltage transmission corridor between the Windstar substation near Glenrock, Wyoming, and the Hemingway substation near Melba, Idaho. Earlier planning for the line drew concern in Cokeville, where local leaders argued that routing it north of town could create problems for residents and nearby landowners.

Shumway said the project calls for a 250-foot right-of-way, a 500-kilovolt single-circuit line, and steel lattice towers. About 61 miles of the line would run through Lincoln County, including 38 miles on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, 4 miles on state land, and 19 miles on private property involving about 50 landowners. The reroute near Cokeville would move the line south of the existing corridor, which Shumway and other local officials have supported as a less disruptive option.

The project has been stalled by permitting issues, and Shumway said the BLM has placed the route amendment on hold while it works on its resource management plan. That delay follows earlier local concerns that the line, if routed north of Cokeville, could encircle the town with power infrastructure, affect crop land, and cross private property, pivot lines, and sage grass core areas. County leaders have also questioned how the route decision was made and whether the existing corridor south of town could better reduce community impact.

Shumway also thanked Rocky Mountain Power for its response to a recent outage in Cokeville. He said crews worked through the night and brought in generators for residents who needed medical devices powered during the outage. He said the situation underscored the importance of emergency preparedness and reliable infrastructure in rural communities.