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Commissioners approve TransWest Express construction-permit extension to 2023-12-31
Summary
The Sweetwater County commission unanimously approved a request from TransWest Express to extend a construction-permit expiration to Dec. 31, 2030, citing the project’s 732-mile scale and multi-agency approvals needed. The applicant expects construction to require at least 48 months.
The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a construction-permit expiration extension for the TransWest Express transmission project, setting the permit expiration at Dec. 31, 2030.
Cassidy Brown, a planning and zoning (P&Z) planner who introduced the hearing, told commissioners the project is large and interagency permitting limits make the standard 18-month permit period impractical: "This project... it's quite long, around 732 miles of a high voltage transmission line, and so they're going to need a much longer time frame than a smaller project would," she said. Brown said the applicant asked for an extension because construction is expected to take at least 48 months and the work involves multiple federal and state agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service.
Nancy Smith, who identified herself as "the director of pre construction compliance for TransWest Express," answered commissioners’ questions about timelines and where construction has already started: "We have already started construction in Carbon County... and we'll be doing the similar next year... and then in 2027, we hope to start from start to finish." No members of the public spoke during the hearing. After a motion by Commissioner Slaughter and a second, the board approved the resolution as presented.
Why it matters: the extension avoids requiring TransWest to reapply during a long, multi-year project and aligns the county permit with federal and state review timetables. The record for this item notes a Planning & Zoning Commission recommendation of approval and a BRS Engineering comment noting no abandoned-mine land (AML) concerns.
What’s next: the permit expiration will be recorded as Dec. 31, 2030 per the approved resolution; the county will monitor subsequent required permits and agency coordination as the project advances.
