Energy Department Announces Major Milestone for North Plains Connector, Bridging Eastern and Western Grids

WASHINGTON-The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MTDEQ), serving as Joint Lead Agencies, today released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed North Plains Connector Project (NPC). This represents a major milestone in the federal and state environmental review for a transmission line designed to increase transfer capacity and access to generation sources to meet growing electricity demand in Montana and North Dakota as well as nationally.

"Connecting our nation's eastern and western power grids is a critical step toward ensuring long-term energy affordability and reliability for millions of Americans," said Catherine Jereza, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity. "By expanding transmission capacity, we are ensuring that electricity can move where and when it's needed most, supporting communities, mitigating weather-driven outages, and meeting rising energy demand across Montana, North Dakota, and the nation."

The North Plains Connector Project is a proposed 422-mile, 525-kv high-voltage direct current (HVDC) overhead transmission line, between Colstrip, Montana, and North Dakota. This transmission line will connect the Western and Eastern Interconnections (also known as the western and eastern grids), providing 3,000 megawatts (MW) of bidirectional transfer capability to move electricity. By bridging the grids, the NPC significantly enhances grid reliability and resilience across the region, allowing communities to better safeguard against outages, and ensure a reliable power when demand is at its peak.

The FEIS incorporates extensive public feedback gathered during the scoping period and the 45-day public comment period on the January 2026 Draft EIS, while updating impact projections to reflect continued route and construction refinements by the proponent.

Read the EIS.

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