Colorado Plateau Projects

The Colorado Plateau is a diverse landscape that includes iconic places such as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, southern Utah’s national parks and monuments, Colorado’s western slope and much more.

Renewable energy development here must be balanced with protections for the region’s wild lands.

Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind

Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind is a large wind project proposed on public, private and state lands in southern Wyoming. The Wilderness Society is working with our conservation partners through the BLM permitting process to advocate for protections for wildlife habitat.

TransWest Express Transmission

TransWest Express Transmission is proposed to run from a large proposed wind project in south-central Wyoming to the Las Vegas area. The Wilderness Society is working through the permitting process to limit impacts and recommend the line carry primarily renewable energy.

Gateway West Transmission

Gateway West Transmission is proposed to run from southeastern Wyoming to western Idaho. The Wilderness Society is working to limit impacts. We are also pressing for answers to concerns that the proposed lines could increase fossil fuel-based power, and advocating that renewable energy have priority on the proposed lines.
 

Notes from the Field

Learn more about issues affecting the places we work to protect with our Notes from the Field. 

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WildAlerts

Be the first to hear about important campaigns, victories and features related to enjoying and protecting wilderness by joining our email and mobile WildAlert network.

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mywilderness

Hear artists, activists and adventurers share what the ownership and legacy of these American wildlands means to them.

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  • Western Clean Energy Advocates letter to Gov Hickenlooper in support of renewable standard increase

    Members of the Western Clean Energy Advocates (WCEA), signed a letter encouraging Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper to  to sign SB 252, to increase the renewable energy portfolio standard for rural electric providers

    . WCEA is a diverse and growing coalition working to transform the way we produce, use, and distribute energy across the West. WCEA aims to create jobs, protect the West’s water, wildlife, and ecosystems, address climate change, and enhance energy security.

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  • Blueprint for a responsible renewable energy program on public lands

    Smart Steps to Establish a Responsible Program for Renewable Energy on Public Lands

    Since its first day in office, the Obama Administration has made rapid and responsible expansion of renewable energy a top priority. The public lands have played a major role in achieving early goals, but only because of focused effort to correct decades of inattention and inactivity toward developing renewable energy as a major component of the nation’s energy mix.

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  • By The Numbers: Acres for Energy and Conservation

    Expanding energy development to meet the growing needs of America must be balanced with protecting vital wild places. 

    The Wilderness Society has launched a new quarterly report "By The Numbers" to track how many acres of American land have been protected by Congress and the Executive branch, and how many acres have been leased out to energy development.

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  • Testimony reveals Kulluk needed more tow vessels

    Tim Woody
    Wednesday, May 22, 2013

    Witness testimony today by Noble’s Offshore Installation Manager Todd Case as he was questioned by the National Transportation Safety Board revealed that the Kulluk drill rig -- which Shell attempted to tow across the Gulf of Alaska with a single tow vessel before it broke loose and ran aground last New Year’s Eve -- should have had multiple tow vessels for safe transport.

    Case was aboard the Kulluk when it went adrift and ran aground on a small island south of Kodiak.

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  • Hastings-Young bill would scrap a balanced plan for NPR-A

    Tim Woody
    Tuesday, May 21, 2013

    U.S. Representatives Don Young and Doc Hastings have introduced H.R. 1964 in an effort to scrap the Department of the Interior’s recently finalized, comprehensive plan for the western Arctic’s National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the nation’s largest tract of public land. The bill is scheduled for a hearing tomorrow on Capitol Hill.

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  • Blueprint identifies ways Interior Department can continue building a smart renewable energy plan to meet Obama’s goals

    jdickson
    Monday, May 20, 2013

    Identifying smart steps the Obama Administration, including the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Land Management, can take to continue building a responsible program for renewable energy  are part of a “blueprint for action” released by The Wilderness Society today.

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