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BLM holding meetings to draw map of
future energy corridors across West
(Note: Nowhere in the Associated Press article is there mention of the
THREE co-lead federal agencies involved, only the Bureau of Land
Management. Also sharing the spotlight are the Department of Energy
DOE and the U.S. Forest Service. Also bearing notice of future
attention is the word "corridor," because it is used by
Wildlands Project purveyors, of whom many are already employed in
various capacities by the three federal agencies and many more.
Already being pushed upon people and their property rights are
"wildlife corridors" -- wherever water runs, roads run, etc.
-- and other such Language Deception ploys to steal property rights.
It is well that property owners and resource providers like ranchers,
farmers, etc., pay close attention to this. All "corridors"
require "buffer zones.")
October 20, 2005
By John Miller [email protected]
Associated Press
The Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland) P.O. Box 2608 Pasco, Washington 99302-2608 800-874-0445 or 509-582-1500 Fax: 509-582-1510 To submit a Letter to the Editor: [email protected] (200-word limit)
Boise, Idaho - Federal land managers take their first public step next week in plotting routes across the West for billions of dollars worth of future power lines and oil and natural gas pipelines to connect the region's vast energy reserves with consumers in the nation's fastest-growing cities. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holds a public meeting Tuesday in Denver, followed by 10 additional sessions culminating in Phoenix and Seattle on November 3, to help it draw up energy transmission and distribution corridors, a requirement of the 2005 energy bill signed August 8 by President Bush. Total U.S. energy demand is expected to grow by some 1.9 percent a year until 2025, and the West has seen unprecedented growth in oil and natural gas production, wind prospecting and plans for new coal-fired power plants in states including Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and North Dakota. As a result, Congress has ordered maps of where upgraded and new electricity transmission facilities are to be built, to expedite the construction of links to energy-hungry cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Seattle. Environmentalists, ranchers and farmers, as well as fossil fuel companies, will monitor the BLM meetings, to make sure issues such as wilderness protection, eminent domain, and access to markets are taken into account as federal officials lay out how America's Western energy grid will take shape over the next two decades. "The theory behind the meetings is a good one, but the problem is going to be avoiding sensitive areas," said David Alberswerth, a senior policy adviser with The Wilderness Society in Washington, D.C. "It's so important for the public to get involved in this, including wildlife managers, ranchers and farmers. The trick is to locate these facilities with the minimal amount of environmental damage and disruption to people's lives." The meetings will help BLM managers complete a preliminary environmental impact statement by January 30, 2006. The final environmental impact statement, due next October, will assess the impacts of expanding existing energy corridors -- and identifying new ones. The corridors must be included in new BLM land-use plans by August 2007. At each meeting, a map will show existing transmission corridors and possible areas where new corridors could be designated, said BLM spokeswoman Heather Feeney. "We are working on increasing supply," Feeney said of projects across the West including more than 1,500 megawatts of planned power generation from proposed coal-fired power plants in Idaho and Nevada slated to be built by Sempra Energy, a California utility owner, "But it doesn't do anybody any good unless you can get the energy there (to cities)." Environmentalists, including Alberswerth, say they want to make sure energy corridors don't traverse proposed wilderness areas such as 9.5 million acres in Utah's backcountry that would be set aside if the Red Rock Wilderness Act were to pass Congress. Ranchers have raised concerns that ambitious aims of the 2005 energy bill could result in the federal government seizing private land. Earlier this year, Wyoming rancher Nancy Sorenson, a member of the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) in Billings, Montana, raised the specter of eminent domain, saying the designation of transmission corridors "could force landowners to make even more economic sacrifices for energy development." Utilities, oil and gas companies will follow the meetings. "This could be important for the industry, if there are good corridors laid out, and it gives us an opportunity to get our product to consumers in a more timely fashion," said Ericka Cook, a spokeswoman for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming . "You also want to make sure that they're not going to limit access. We don't want it to keep us from building a pipeline in another area."
Copyright 2005, Tri-City Herald. http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/state/story/7110351p-7017637c.html
Additional related reading:
West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS Information Center
(Note: To subscribe to email information on this, visit http://corridoreis.anl.gov/email/index.cfm and enter your email address. This is one very odd website address URL: http://corridoreis.anl.gov./ )
This web site is the online center for public information and involvement in the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Energy Corridor PEIS). The United States Department of Energy, the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, and the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service (the Agencies) will prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to evaluate issues associated with designation of energy corridors on federal lands in eleven Western states. Based upon the information and analyses developed in this PEIS, each Agency would amend its respective land use plans by designating a series of energy corridors. This web site is the online center for public information and involvement in the PEIS process. Public ParticipationPublic participation in the West-wide Energy Corridor PEIS is important. This web site provides information and services to help you participate in the PEIS process. West-wide
Energy Corridor PEIS Other ResourcesOther resources include a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs), news updates, and e-mail notices http://corridoreis.anl.gov/email/index.cfm of important events. Background InformationSection 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the Act), Public Law 109-58 (H.R. 6), enacted August 8, 2005, directs the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, and the Interior (the Agencies) to designate under their respective authorities corridors on Federal land in the 11 Western States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities (energy corridors). The Agencies have determined that designating corridors as required by Section 368 of the Act constitutes a major federal action which may have a significant impact upon the environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). For this reason, the Agencies intend to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) entitled, "Designation of Energy Corridors on Federal Land in the 11 Western States" (DOE/EIS-0386) to address the environmental impacts from the proposed action and the range of reasonable alternatives. DOE and BLM will be co-lead agencies for this effort, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (USFS) participating as a cooperating agency.
http://corridoreis.anl.gov./ (Note: This is one very odd website address URL.)
West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS - A guide to the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS (PEIS) document, the PEIS process, scope, and schedule.The West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) evaluates potential impacts associated with the proposed action to designate corridors on Federal land in the 11 Western States (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities. The Programmatic EIS also evaluates the No Action alternative and other alternatives. Because the proposed action may involve actions in a floodplain or wetland, the draft PEIS will include a floodplain and wetlands assessment and the final PEIS or Record of Decision will include a floodplain statement of findings. Based upon the information and analyses developed in this PEIS, the agencies issuing the PEIS would amend their respective land use plans by designating a series of energy corridors effective upon signing of the Record(s) of Decision. Explore this section to learn more about the PEIS; what it is, why it is needed, what's in it, how it was prepared and by whom, the schedule for preparing the PEIS, and information about government-to-government consultation. PEIS ScopeSection 368 of the The Energy Policy Act of 2005 divides several federal Agencies' schedules for designating transmission corridors on public lands into two groups: (1) "Western States," consisting of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming; and (2) all other states. This PEIS relates solely to corridors in the Western States, and is for corridor establishment only. For more information about the scope of the Programmatic EIS, see What's in the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS. PEIS Process and SchedulePreparation of the West-wide Energy Corridor PEIS is a multi-step process that will include publication of a Draft Programmatic EIS, a Final Programmatic EIS and a Record of Decision. These and other programmatic EIS documents are/will be available for downloading and browsing on the Documents page of this web site. Follow the links in the menu at the left to learn more about the PEIS process, preparers, and schedule, as well as tribal government consultation. Public participation in the PEIS is encouraged. See Getting Involved to learn how you can participate in the process.
http://corridoreis.anl.gov/eis/index.cfm
Contact Us - Your comments, questions, and feedback about this web site and the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS are welcomed.
Please contact us with any questions or comments you may have about the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS or the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS web site. Your questions or comments will be forwarded to the appropriate persons to answer or provide assistance. The purpose of this web site is to inform and involve the public in the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS process. We want it to meet your needs. Please feel free to make suggestions about additional features or services you would like to see on this web site, or ways you think we could improve the site. For general questions or comments about the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS web site or the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS, contact us at: [email protected].
For further information on the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS, you may also contact:
Julia Souder, DOE Project Manager, West-wide Corridor Study Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20585 [email protected] or 202-586-9052/5461 Fax: 202-586-1472 Scott Powers, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) [email protected] or
406-896-5319 Robert Cunningham, Forest Service [email protected] or
202-205-2494 For general information on the DOE NEPA process please contact:
Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42) U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Room 3E-094 Washington, D.C. 20585-0119 [email protected] or 202-586-4600; or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756 Fax: 202-586-7031
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