Senator Rosen visits to see infrastructure needs and investments

U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen and members of her staff met with OPD5 CEO/General Manager MeLisa Garcia and OPD5 Government Relations specialist Vernon Robison in Moapa on Monday afternoon for a tour of a few key locations within the district’s service territory and a discussion of OPD5’s infrastructure priorities.

The group visited the Warm Springs area, where existing power lines run through heavily vegetated areas with significant wildfire risk. Those lines are scheduled to be placed underground through a nearly $1 million grant OPD5 received under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which was supported by Senator Rosen.

“We wanted to show how much we appreciate the Senator’s support for that funding,” Garcia said. “Without that help, this important project would likely have ended up in a budgetary holding pattern for years to come. But having it completed will provide more system reliability and help us to better serve customers in that area; especially the essential sources of the community’s drinking water that are there.”

The group also visited OPD5’s Tortoise Substation in Moapa and viewed a new 138-kilovolt transmission line that is nearing completion. The line will provide redundancy to OPD5’s connection with the Virgin Valley communities.

While there, Garcia also discussed the need for another transmission path on the east bench of the Moapa Valley. This project, which is part of OPD5’s 10-year capital improvement plan, would at last bring full system redundancy for the communities of Overton and Logandale. The group discussed potential opportunities for federal assistance to help fund the additional transmission infrastructure.

Garcia also emphasized the importance of preserving the hydropower resources that OPD5 receives from the Colorado River system. With water levels in major Colorado River reservoirs at historically low levels and the potential for emergency conditions on the river, Garcia told Rosen that losing a significant portion of those resources could have serious financial consequences for OPD5 and its ratepayers.

She asked Rosen to continue advocating for federal policies that protect and shore up the Colorado River’s hydropower resources, which provide an important source of affordable power for OPD5 customers.

“Senator Rosen was so generous with her time and she listened carefully to our needs,” Garcia said. “She was great in identifying and recommending paths forward for us. She and her staff will continue to be a tremendous resource for us as we navigate these projects in the future. We appreciated her visit.”