Work resumes on $10B renewable energy transmission project despite tribal objections

abcnews.go.com:

It's back to work for construction crews that are clearing land and building access roads for a $10 billion project that the Biden administration describes as an important part of the nation's transition to renewable energy

The tractors are back at work clearing land and building access roads for a $10 billion transmission line that the Biden administration describes as an important part of the nation’s transition to renewable energy. But Native American leaders have vowed to keep pushing the federal government to heed their concerns about the project cutting through a culturally significant valley in southern Arizona.

Billed by California-based developer Pattern Energy as an infrastructure undertaking bigger than the Hoover Dam, the SunZia transmission line will stretch about 550 miles (885 kilometers). It will funnel electricity from massive wind farms in central New Mexico to more populated areas as far away as California.

Executives and federal officials gathered in New Mexico in September to break ground on the project, touting negotiations that spanned years and resulted in the necessary approvals from the Bureau of Land Management.

In Arizona, federal land managers briefly halted work this month along a 50-mile (80-kilometer) stretch of the line through the San Pedro Valley after the Tohono O'odham Nation, other tribes and archaeologists raised concerns that the BLM had not formally consulted them before work began.

The Bureau of Land Management lifted the temporary suspension and work resumed Wednesday. The agency scheduled a Dec. 11 meeting with tribal leaders.

Federal land managers in a letter sent Monday to the developer said the timing of the information provided by the tribes relative to the many years that