Final version of federal energy corridor plan released Federal agencies involved in designating the proposed West-Wide Energy Corridor have scaled back the number of national wildlife refuge and wilderness area crossings contained in the 2007 draft, but total acreage has increased from 2.9 million to 3.3 million acres in the final version released Thursday. The four-volume Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement analyzes the environmental impacts of designating more than 6,112 miles of energy corridors on federal land in 11 western states, including New Mexico and Arizona. The final document indicates the total corridor length increased by less than 60 miles, the number of national wildlife refuge crossings dropped from 12 to two, wilderness area crossings decreased from 27 to zero, and roadless areas from 17 to five. The overall 12 percent increase in corridor area is due largely to an increase in the width of some corridor segments. In Arizona, 16 corridors covering 650 miles would encompass 386,567 acres. Of that, 579 miles are located on existing utility or transportation rights of way. In New Mexico, four corridors encompass 293 miles and 121,064 acres, with 256 miles located on existing rights of way. The agencies chose a standard corridor width of 3,500 feet as a starting point to provide flexibility for siting multiple rights of way, though some corridors could take in more or less footage depending on a specific project....