A Cultural Resources Survey of Approximately 102.3 Acres of Private Land for the Proposed Salt River Project Cholla-Sugarloaf T-238 Relocation Project near Joseph City, Navajo County, Arizona

Summary

SRP is a community-based, not-for-profit electric power and water utility company serving over 2 million central Arizona residents in the Phoenix metropolitan area and beyond. It maintains and operates (whole or in part) a series of reservoirs and dams, a canal system, and a network of power generation stations. One of its overhead 500-kilovolt (kV) lines connects from SRP’s coal-fired Coronado Generating Station near St. Johns in east-central Arizona to the 60-year-old Cholla Power Plant near Joseph City. The Cholla Power Plant, which began operation in 1962, is a 1.02-gigawatt coal power plant jointly owned by the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) and PacifiCorp. The Coronado–Cholla 500-kV line also interconnects to the APS Sugarloaf 69-kV distribution substation north of Snowflake, Arizona.

The dynamic Little Colorado River is constantly changing and can threaten many man-made resources, including roadways, railroads, powerlines, and other infrastructure. At present, the Little Colorado River is precariously close to a series of overhead powerlines connected to the Cholla Power Plant, including the Coronado–Cholla 500-kV transmission line, where the river’s active river channel has been carving out the bank around one of the large lattice towers.

To mitigate potential failure of the line that could result from the river’s impacts, SRP proposes to relocate one 500-kV lattice tower (T-238) and install a new 500-kV lattice tower (T-237A) to address the issues of a quickly receding riverbank. Because resource conservation is at the heart of its mission as a utility provider, with an ethical obligation to preserve heritage and cultural resources (SRP 2022a), SRP’s Cultural Resources Program contracted SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) to conduct a pedestrian Class III survey to identify any cultural resources that may be impacted by the proposed project.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Salt River Project Digital Library

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Daniel Garcia

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Submitted To(s): Salt River Project

Record Identifiers

SWCA Project No.(s): 69151.01

SWCA Cultural Resources Report No.(s): 22-643

File Information