The Bureau of Land Management has granted a right-of-way across its land in northern Maricopa County for a proposed high-voltage transmission line. 

The BLM approval is not the final word. The line also needs the approval of the State Land Department and Arizona State Trust Lands.

APS is proposing the 38-mile-long transmission line which would run from a substation near Peoria to one near Buckeye, through nine miles of BLM land.

The BLM Director considered protests by the Sierra Club and area citizens but determined its Environmental Impact Statement had adequately addressed them.

BLM is designating a seven-mile stretch of land along the Carefree Highway, between I-17 and Grand Avenue in northern Maricopa County, as a utility corridor.