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Federal Agencies Seek Public Comments on Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Corridors to Transport Energy in 11 Western States

A 90-day public comment period ends February 16 on a proposal to designate energy corridors across the West  

Washington, DC - Since November 16, five federal agencies have been accepting comments from the public on a proposal to designate Western corridors on federal lands to transport energy while protecting the environment.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Commerce and Defense published their Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement in the Federal Register on Nov. 16, opening the comment period. The corridors the agencies propose are located on federal lands across 11 Western states. Their proposal would help meet growing energy demands in the area by facilitating sites for oil, gas, and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission on federal lands.

“The agencies involved in designating these corridors worked for nearly two years to develop the locations presented in the Draft EIS,” said Assistant Secretary of the Interior C. Stephen Allred. “From the beginning, we were committed to avoiding the many unique areas and sensitive resources found on Western public lands, wherever possible. Designating these corridors will minimize the dispersal of rights-of-way for energy transport projects across Western landscapes.”

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 directs the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy and the Interior to designate energy-transport corridors on federal lands in portions of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The Act further directs the agencies to complete environmental reviews for the designation of these corridors. It also requires them to incorporate the corridors into their plans for land use and resource management plans.

“Meeting the nation’s future energy needs will necessarily require some expansion of our capabilities for transporting energy resources,” said Kevin Kolevar, Energy’s assistant secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. “The infrastructure projects that could be constructed within these corridors may help assure the reliable delivery of electricity and fuels throughout the Western United States.”

Eighty-four percent of the corridors the agencies proposed and analyzed in preparing the Draft PEIS are located on BLM-managed lands, while 14 percent are on USDA Forest Service lands. The remaining lands are managed through Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation and National Park Service,or through the U.S. Department of Defense. 

When preparing the Draft PEIS, the agencies evaluated factors that constrain where they could locate a network of energy transport corridors – including topographical, environmental, and regulatory constraints. They also considered the overall suitability of particular lands to support the development and operation of the necessary infrastructure.

Over the past two years, the agencies have conducted an inclusive public scoping effort that has included regional meetings and the public's review of preliminary corridor location maps. As a result, the Draft PEIS proposal avoids major known and designated sensitive resource areas, including wilderness areas and national parks, tribal lands, national monuments and national recreation areas, wherever possible. The few locations where the proposed corridors could not avoid sensitive areas are located along existing transmission lines, highways, pipelines or other rights of way.

Interested members of the public, government agencies, American Indian tribes, States, and non-governmental organizations are invited to submit comments on the Draft PEIS. To submit comments and to review the Draft PEIS and related documents, including detailed maps, visit the project Web site. Review copies are also available at libraries and agency regional and field offices. 

The agencies will also take oral comments at the public meetings that they will hold in each of the 11 states and in Washington, D.C. During this period, briefings and consultation will continue to occur with each governor’s office, tribes, Congress, and historic preservation officials.

The agencies will hold public meetings on the Draft PEIS in the following locations:

January 8, 2008 – Portland, Ore., and Sacramento, Calif.
January 10 – Seattle, Wash. and Ontario, Calif.
January 15 – Phoenix, Ariz. and Grand Junction, Colo.
January 17 – Las Vegas, Nev. and Salt Lake City, Utah
January 23 – Window Rock, Ariz.
January 24 – Albuquerque, N.M.
January 29 – Helena, Mont., and Cheyenne, Wyo.
January 31 – Boise, Id. and Denver, Colo.
February 5 – Washington, D.C., vicinity 

Basic information on energy corridors