It is a key step toward the federal agency issuing a Right-of-Way (ROW) grant for the first 1.5GW phase construction of the $5bn facility that would export power to California and other states in the desert Southwest.

The so-called EA2 will extensively analyze the environmental impact of siting the turbines on billionaire Philip Anschutz’s enormous ranch outside the small city of Rawlins.

BLM’s