Environmental Assis for Orono Substation Expansion

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5 POTENTIAL IMPACTS & MITIGATION MEASURES The construction of a transmission facility involves both short- and long-term impacts. An impact is a change to the pre -construction environment as a direct or indirect result of the proposed action and may be positive or negative. Direct impacts are caused by the action and occur at the same time and place. Indirect impacts are caused by the action and occur later in time, but are still reasonably foreseeable. This section describes the potential impacts on resources and the possible mitigation measures intended to avoid, minimize, or mitigate impacts caused by the construction and future operation and maintenance of the proposed transmission facility. 5.1 Environmental Setting The Project is composed of both the substation site and the route. The substation site is located on an open upland area bounded by the BNSF railway to the north, Hennepin County Road 6 to the south, and the Huntington Farm neighborhood to the west. The Xcel Energy Proposed Route is located on the Orono substation site owned by Xcel Energy, and then on Hunt Farm Home Owners Association property, just outside or the BNSF railroad right-of-way for the majority of the route. The Baker Park Reserve Route Alternative follows the Xcel Energy Proposed Route, and then crosses over the BNSF railroad and U.S. Highway 12 to parallel along the north side of U.S. Highway 12, just outside of MnDOT right-of-way. The Project is located within the Big Woods Ecological Subsection of the Eastern Broadleaf Forest Province of the Ecological Classification System developed by MnDNR and the United States Forest Service. The Ecological Classification System was developed to identify, describe, and map progressively smaller areas of land with increasingly uniform ecological features. The Big Woods subsection is characterized by circular, level topped hills bounded by smooth side slopes. The Mississippi River is the eastern border of this subsection. The area was previously occupied by oak woodland and basswood forest, with characteristic trees being elm, basswood, sugar maple and bur oak (MnDNR, 2011a). Although land use in this subsection is predominantly cropland, pasture, upland forest and wetland, land use in the area immediately surrounding the Project is predominated by rural residential, undeveloped wetland and woodland, transportation, and regional parkland. 5.2 Socioeconomic A review of the 2010 U.S. Census data shows Orono to have a lower minority population and higher median income than both Hennepin County and Minnesota. Population and economic characteristics from the 2010 U.S. Census are shown in Table 4. Environmental Assessment PUC Docket E002/TL-11-223 Page 21