BLM Releases Map of Proposed Energy Corridors on Federal Land

June 14, 2006

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released on June 9th a preliminary map that shows potential energy corridors on Federal lands in 11 Western states. DOE, BLM, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of Defense are preparing to designate energy corridors for future electric transmission lines and pipelines for oil, natural gas, and hydrogen. The map released last week was developed using comments received during a public scoping period in the fall of 2005. Once the map is finalized, the four federal agencies will prepare a draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to identify the impacts of the energy corridors.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required the designation of new energy corridors to help minimize the time it takes to site and approve projects, as well as reducing environmental effects and conflicts with other uses of federal lands. Individual projects proposed for these corridors will still be required to meet the National Environmental Policy Act and will be analyzed individually for their environmental impacts. The public is invited to comment on the proposed map; comments are due by July 10th. See the BLM press release and see the preliminary map on the West-Wide Energy Corridor PEIS Web site.