ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The SunZia Southwest Transmission Project running through Greenlee, Graham and Cochise counties will move forward.
On Tuesday, a judge in federal district court tossed out the suit filed by San Carlos Apache, O’odham, Hopi and Zuni tribes. The suit sought a stoppage of the project claiming the area the transmission line will cross has cultural and religious impact to the tribes.
The judge ruled the tribes failed to file their suit in time, and that the Bureau of Land Management properly identified any historic or cultural important sites during the permitting process.
The SunZia Southwest Transmission Project is composed of two planned 500-kilovolt transmission lines located across approximately 520 miles of federal, state and private lands between central New Mexico and central Arizona. The lines will run through Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, Pima and Pinal counties.
Once completed, the project will deliver 4,500 megawatts of primarily renewable energy from New Mexico to markets in Arizona and California.
