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Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP) plans to construct a new 500 kV transmission line between the existing Hassayampa Switchyard, west of Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona, and the proposed Pinal West Substation, western Pinal County, Arizona (Figure 1). Designated the Palo Verde to Pinal West (PV-PW) transmission line, this powerline is the first of two that SRP plans to eventually construct between the Hassayampa Switchyard and Pinal West Substation. Cultural resources surveys (Chapin- Pyritz and Hill 2002; Clark and Henderson 2007; Hill et al. 2003) for the current PV-PW transmission line identified 15 cultural properties within the project corridor that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in consultation with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), has determined to be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. There is also a sixteenth property whose eligibility cannot be determined on the basis of present evidence. BLM has further concurred with SRP recommendations that construction of the PV-PW transmission line could affect cultural resources at six of these properties.

APS proposes to construct (1) two parallel 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission lines within a 450-foot-wide right-of-way, (2) an 80-acre 500kV switchyard, and (3) a 230kV interconnection line in Maricopa County. The project will provide transmission interconnection for the Panda Gila River generating station to the Western Systems Coordinating Council transmission grid.

A pedestrian Class III archaeological survey of a 50 m corridor along 23 mi. (37 km) of an alignment known as the Butterfield Stage Overland Route. The survey recorded six archaeological sites and 83 isolated occurrences of prehistoric artifacts. Materials relating to the use of the route as a historic travel corridor dominated the travel corridor site. Artifacts associated with prehistoric land uses were also identified.