Aspen is assisting the CPUC and US Department of Agriculture Forest Service (Forest Service) in preparing a joint EIR/EIS for an approximately 175-mile 500 kV transmission line project with six project alternatives. The proposed project involves construction of a series of transmission system improvements to deliver electricity from new wind energy projects in eastern Kern County to the Los Angeles Basin. The proposed transmission line route would cross public and private lands, and would traverse multiple jurisdictions in Kern, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino Counties, including 17 cities and the Angeles National Forest. Aspen is managing a team of 12 subconsultants on this project. A comprehensive database has been maintained throughout the project, which includes over 15,000 interested parties, agencies, officials, organizations, and area residences.

A public scoping meeting notice for the project was mailed to over 15,000 individuals and agencies, and published in 16 newspapers. For the first round of scoping meetings, nine meetings were held in seven different locations.

A second-round scoping meeting to discuss new alternatives to the Chino Hills Route Alternative (not known at the time scoping was completed) was held after the close of the public comment period. Approximately 3,000 agencies, elected officials, area residents and organizations received notices regarding this meeting. Both a scoping report and a comment summary report were released. In total, the alternatives screening process for the project resulted in the identification and screening of 29 potential alternatives.

Specialist reports were published for all 16 technical issue areas for this project. Many of these technical reports were incorporated directly into the Draft EIR/EIS analysis; others were carried forward as stand-alone reports as references for their respective Draft EIR/EIS analyses, including: Air Quality, Biological Resources, Cultural Resources, Geology/Soils, Hydrology/Water Quality, Visual Resources, and Riparian Conservation Areas (RCA).

The Notice of Availability of the Draft EIR/EIS was mailed to over 15,000 interested parties, including agencies, elected officials, area residents, and organizations. Three public informational workshops, 2 public meetings, and 1 formal Public Participation Hearing were held during the Draft EIR/EIS public review period.

On August 26, 2009, the 10th largest wildfire in California's history began to burn in the proposed project area, and release of the Final EIR/EIS was subsequently delayed. An evaluation was undertaken, in compliance with CEQA, to determine whether any changed conditions caused by the Station Fire would result in new significant project-related environmental effects or call for new or revised mitigation measures. The Forest Service has decided to conduct a separate review of the impacts of the Station Fire under NEPA and wait to issue its Final EIS or Record of Decision until that review is completed. The Final EIR was released October 30, 2009. This document responds to over 3,000 individual comments on the Draft EIR/EIS.