McCullough to Liberty fiber optics project

The US Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration (Western) proposes to replace an existing overhead static wire with a shield wire that contains optical fibers (OPGW) on transmission lines from McCullough Substation, south of Las Vegas, Nevada, to Liberty Substation near Phoenix, Arizona. The replacement will occur on the McCullough-Davis, Davis-Parker No. 2, and Parker-Liberty No. 1 230-kV transmission lines. Western is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the lines. Western prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) entitled ''McCullough to Liberty Fiber Optics Project'' (DOE/EA-1202). The EA contains the analysis of the proposed construction, operation, and maintenance of the OPGW. Based on the analysis in the EA, Western finds that the proposed action is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. The preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) is not required, and therefore, Western is issuing this Findings of No Significant Impact (FONSI)