WASHINGTON, DC (November 15, 2007) -- National parks, national wildlife refuges, wilderness and other conservation units across 11 western states could suffer irreversible damage under the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement that sites corridors for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities on federal lands. This latest designation follows closely on the heels of the designation of Mid-Atlantic and Southwest National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors.
“Although the Energy Department has made significant improvements in their proposed corridor designations, the proposed corridors still lack thorough consideration of the likely damage to federal lands and other places,” said The Wilderness Society’s Nada Culver, who has tracked the process since it began earlier this year. “The designations still don’t provide justification for the siting of corridors or information on the location and sources of energy to be moved through the corridors. The Energy Department needs to seriously evaluate alternatives to minimize the number of corridors and maximize use of renewable energy, and it should include requirements to presumptively limit all projects to designated corridors.”
The Wilderness Society analyzed new Department of Energy maps that were issued on October 2d of the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors, pursuant to Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as well as new maps issued November 8 in accordance with Section 368 of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which gives the Secretaries of Energy, Interior, Defense and Agriculture authority to identify corridors for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and electric transmission and distribution facilities on the federal public lands. The proposed designations of West-wide Energy Corridors are for 6,000 miles of corridors covering close to 3 million acres of our public lands. The designation of National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors has been interpreted by the Department of Energy as giving the agency the power to designate whole regions of the country—even entire states—as potential energy corridors. Comprehensive information and maps of the areas affected under both processes are available in “Section 368 West Wide Energy Corridor Links” at: http://www.wilderness.org/OurIssues/BLM/ActionCenter/Westwide.cfm?TopLevel=BLMActionCenter
The West-wide Energy Corridors alone threaten six national wildlife refuges, three national parks, seven national monuments and more than 60 current and proposed wilderness areas. The impacted areas include renowned places such as the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge on the Arizona/California border, Grand Staircase National Monument in Utah, New Mexico’s Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and Arches National Park in Utah.
“This proposal threatens to undermine years of conservation efforts to protect the California Desert Conservation Area and other wild places throughout the state,” said Brent Schoradt of the California Wilderness Coalition. “The DEIS fails to provide conservation guidelines or exclusion areas for California's designated wilderness, national monuments, national parks and roadless forest lands.”
“The Energy Department has this one chance to get these corridors right and to improve access to renewable energies, such as wind and solar,” said Culver. “With appropriate planning, they could address our transmission needs while also avoiding sensitive protected lands.” A bill introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would provide an appropriate model by incentivizing corridors for renewable energy sources and protecting special places.
According to Culver, the corridor process has the potential to lead to dramatic changes in the character of the places that are targeted. “The corridors can draw damaging development to areas where there might have only been a power line before,” she said. “There are no exceptions for places already identified for protection, such as wilderness, wildlife refuges, parks, and historical sites. This process will amend more than 160 land-use plans and permit projects with lesser reviews.”
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Founded in 1935, The Wilderness Society is a nonprofit advocacy organization that works to protect America’s wilderness and wildlife. With the help of more than 310,000 members and supporters, The Wilderness Society seeks to ensure that future generations will enjoy the clean air and water, wildlife, natural beauty, opportunities for recreation and spiritual renewal provided by protected forests, rivers, deserts, and mountains.
