Integrated Resource Plan
Cascade Crossing Transmission Project is included in PGE’s 2009 Integrated Resource Plan (PDF), which outlines PGE’s strategies to meet its customers’ electricity needs over the next 20 years. The integrated resource planning process is overseen by the Oregon Public Utility Commission, which has acknowledged PGE’s 2009 IRP.

U.S. Department of Energy study
A study conducted by Idaho National Labs and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy concluded if the top five planned transmission projects in the Pacific Northwest are not built, the region will lose up to 60,000 jobs and $85 billion in economic activity each year over the next 25 years. The study identified PGE’s Cascade Crossing project as one of those top five projects. (The project was known as “Southern Crossing” at the time of this report; PGE has since changed the name to Cascade Crossing.)

State permitting and environmental review process
Oregon’s Energy Facility Siting Council will manage the state permitting and environmental review process, which will include a variety of opportunities for public input. EFSC requires that the project meet a set of pass-fail standards that cover safety, land use and environmental impact on public and private lands in Oregon. The process is expected to take about three years.

Renewable energy standard
Oregon’s Renewable Energy Standard requires utilities like PGE to provide 15 percent of our power with renewable energy by 2015, 20 percent by 2020 and 25 percent by 2025.

Environmental impact
The National Environmental Policy Act requires an evaluation of the environmental consequences of the proposed project and alternatives, which is documented in an Environmental Impact Statement. A federal agency will be named to manage this process, which will last up to three years and will include opportunities for public comment.

Tribal lands
The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs will manage the environmental permitting process on tribal lands.