Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Settlement Requires Feds to Revisit Plan for Coal-friendly Energy Corridors Across West

A coalition of conservation organizations and a western Colorado county reached a landmark settlement agreement today with federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Department of Energy, requiring the agencies to revise a Bush-era plan creating energy corridors in the West. The agreement, filed in federal court in San Francisco, requires the agencies to revise a "West-wide Energy Corridors" plan to facilitate renewable energy, avoid environmentally sensitive areas and prevent webs of pipelines and power lines across the West. The corridors were planned by the Bush administration, using streamlined environmental reviews under the 2005 Energy Policy Act. The plan, which was announced in 2008, connects coal and other fossil-fuel power plants to the West's electric grid while often overlooking areas with solar, wind and geothermal potential. Its web of corridors threatened wildlife habitat, wilderness areas and national parks. The agreement, which now awaits court approval, creates a process for the agencies to periodically review corridors and assess whether to revise, delete or add corridors on a region-by-region basis. The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, which have siting authority over transmission and pipeline rights-of-way for transmission lines and pipelines on public lands, must also reevaluate corridors located in sensitive areas or corridors that would not carry renewable energy...press release

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