A controversial power transmission line project faces a major setback. The TANC project is a proposal to build hundreds of miles of transmission lines from Lassen County, across the North State to the Bay Area. But Thursday night, Action News learned that a major participant in the project has pulled out. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has withdrawn from the $1.5 billion dollar project. SMUD was expected to fund a large share of the project.

Land owners in several North State counties have spoken out against construction of the large power transmission lines and towers. The lines would carry up to 4,000 megawatts of renewable energy from future wind and thermal power plants in Lassen County to the rest of the state. Some of the lines are slated to pass through Chico and other North State communities.

Redding Electric Utility is another participant in the program. But according to the Sacramento Bee, it's not clear if the program can continue without the participation of SMUD.

In light of this development, all remaining pubic outreach meetings scheduled for July have been postponed. Given the growing opposition from land owners, the public comment period had been extended until July 30th. Glenn County had been scheduled to hold a public meeting with TANC officials on July 9 from 6:30-9:30pm. It appears that meeting will be postponed.

For updated information, log onto http://www.tanc.us/