Sawyer

BACKGROUND

In 2001, in an effort to mitigate California’s electric power transmission constraints, the Secretary of Energy directed WAPA to prepare plans to construct the Los Banos-Gates Transmission Project, or Path 15 Upgrade. The project con- sists of an additional 84-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line along Path 15, which is located in the western portion of the San Joaquin Valley and connects its northern terminus near Los Banos, California with its southern terminus at the Gates Substation near Coalinga, California. See Department of UNITED STATES v. SAWYER 7263 Energy, Los Banos-Gates Transmission Project: Record of Decision (hereinafter, “DOE Record of Decision”), 66 Fed. Reg. 65,699 (Dec. 20, 2001). The Secretary also instructed WAPA to explore partnership opportunities with private industry, see id., and delegated authority to WAPA to acquire and condemn property interests in land to complete the proj- ect. Department of Energy, Delegation Order No. 00-036.00 (Dec. 6, 2001), available at http://www.directives.doe.gov/ pdfs/sdoa/00-036_00.pdf (last visited May 28, 2008). WAPA updated plans that it had originally developed in the mid- 1980s and accepted…