The Bonneville Power Administration (Portland, Oregon, U.S.) plans to build a major new transmission project — the McNary-John Day 500-kV transmission line. At its peak, the US$246 million project will create about 700 jobs. When energized in late 2012, the line will allow BPA to provide transmission service to more than 870 MW of energy, including service for more than 700 MW of new wind energy. Work will begin this spring.

The plans for the project were energized by an additional $3.25 billion in borrowing authority for BPA from the U.S. Treasury for capital projects in the newly signed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The increased access to capital removed a major uncertainty for BPA.

McNary-John Day has been under consideration as part of a larger process designed to meet load growth and facilitate renewable resource development needs. It is one of four high-voltage transmission lines BPA has proposed to meet the region's transmission needs. BPA recently completed its environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for the McNary-John Day project. NEPA reviews for the other three projects will include a robust public process and likely will take 18 months to three years for each of the proposed lines, depending on the project's complexity. BPA will look for ways to conduct these reviews as expeditiously as possible, consistent with the goals of the Recovery Act. Another smaller equipment upgrade project is also part of the set of projects. The four transmission line projects would add more than 225 miles (362 km) of lines to the Northwest transmission grid, improving reliability and, together with the smaller upgrade, allowing BPA to provide transmission service to about 3700 MW of requests received in the Network Open Season, including service for 2790 MW of additional green energy.