Tanner Electric Cooperative (TEC) is making improvements to its system in the coming years, which includes breaking ground in spring 2019 on a new two-mile long Middle Fork Transmission Line that is part of a multifaceted plan to better serve customers.
TEC General Manager Steve Walter said, “Today electricity in the home has become so ubiquitous and important that many rely on it completely. With that in mind, the TEC Board is making every effort to increase Member ‘Quality of life’ by improving the system reliability.”
Walter explained the new line – consisting of 32 wooden power poles, each about 40-45 feet tall – will provide part of the much-needed redundancy that will allow maintenance to be performed on critical equipment without an outage to the entire system.
The Middle Fork Transmission Line will primarily be located along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail (SVT), starting near the current PSE substation off of Thrasher Ave, continuing east along the SVT crossing at North Bend Way near Tanner Road, and ending at the future location of the Middle Fork Substation.
The line is tentatively scheduled to be operational in 2021.
Walter added, “Tanner Electric Cooperative is working with the City of North Bend, King County, Puget Sound Energy, and Bonneville Power Administration to design and construct the new line responsibly; preserving the natural beauty North Bend is known for.”
After reviewing a completed environmental checklist, the City of North Bend recently issued at Determination of Non-significance for the project that stated the project “does not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment that cannot be mitigated through compliance with the conditions of the North Bend Municipal Code and other applicable regulations.” An environmental impact statement (EIS) was not required under state law.
Residents have until September 17th to submit comments on the project to North Bend Community and Economic Development Department at 126 E. Fourth St., North Bend, WA 98045.
Middle Fork Transmission Line Preliminary Plan
