Suit alleges 6,000-mile corridor would threaten wildlife and some of the West's most scenic lands, all while ignoring the push for renewable energy in the region. By Courtney Lowery 7-8-09 http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/groups_file_lawsuit_challenging_western_energy_corridor/C37/L37/
Several environmental groups and one county in Colorado filed a lawsuit Tuesday, saying the energy corridor the Bush administration designated through thousands of miles in the West doesn’t do enough to encourage renewable energy and it puts wildlife and public lands at risk. . .
The complaint alleges that the federal government violated several laws in creating the corridor, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act. . .
The Bureau of Land Management and the Department of Energy first mapped the 6,000-mile corridor, spanning 11 Western states, in 2005 as part of the 2005 Energy Act, legislation the groups now allege the government violated. . .
The agencies completed a “programmatic” environmental impact statement late last year after taking public comments in 2006 to the first draft of the maps and then a draft of the environmental impact statement. According to the Department of Energy, 82 percent of the corridors are on BLM land, 16 percent are on Forest Service land and the other 2 percent are on National Park land, Bureau of Reclamation land or Department of Defense property.
The Department of Energy late last year said in a release: “In some cases, corridors intersect or approach sensitive lands or resources. Most often these intersections follow existing infrastructure such as highways, transmission lines or pipelines to avoid placing corridors in “greenfield” (undeveloped) locations” . . .
