Connecting the Dots — Saving Time, Money and the Environment with Smart Planning for Power Lines and Pipelines
As the renewable energy market continues to grow across the United States and the nation’s energy needs evolve and shift to cleaner sources, the way in which these power sources are transmitted to our communities needs to follow the same responsible siting as the projects themselves.
Taking a smart approach to infrastructure development isn’t just good for the environment, it is good for business too — making permitting more efficient and increasing economic benefits by focusing construction in areas where projects are most likely to succeed.
Such has been the realization over the last few years with the re-evaluation of the West-wide Energy Corridors — 6,000 miles of corridors for transmission lines and pipelines spanning public lands in 11 western states, initially designated by the Bureau of Land management, Forest Service and Department of Energy in 2009.
While President Trump’s recent infrastructure plan and federal budget proposal were a Valentine to oil, gas, coal and other extractive interests, increasing development on public lands, draining money from conservation and severely weakening environmental rules, the corridors re-evaluations are a rare bright spot for infrastructure on public lands.
The Agencies have been making good progress on the re-evaluations and should maintain their focus on improving the corridors by continuing to gather input from local communities, stakeholders and energy and transmission developers. All of this is crucial to help advance responsible development, while protecting the communities and wild places that surround us.
What’s happening now
On January 10, 2018, the BLM, USFS and DOE published draft “energy corridor abstracts” that detail siting opportunities and challenges for the corridors in Regions 2 and 3, which include 53 energy corridors situated in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.
The release initiated a 45-day stakeholder review period, with the Agencies requesting input from the public on the corridor abstracts by February 25, 2018; comments by The Wilderness Society and conservation partners are available here. The Agencies are also planning public workshops this summer to gather more input from developers, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders on ways to make the corridors more useful. The Regions 2 and 3 review will be completed by the end of 2018.
As for the Region 1 review, which included southern California, southern Nevada and western Arizona, the region’s draft report is also set to be published in the coming months for a 30-day comment period, with the final report targeted for release later this year. The Agencies will conduct the review of the remaining regions (including Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming) in 2019. Each review will result in detailed recommendations for ways the corridors can be improved to help facilitate responsible infrastructure development while protecting natural and cultural resources.
How we got here
While identifying appropriate corridors for infrastructure is a very good idea for facilitating efficient development and protecting public lands resources, unfortunately many of the original 2009 corridor designations were inappropriately sited in areas important for wildlands and wildlife, while some corridors also neglected to create critical pathways to areas ripe with wind, solar and geothermal potential.
This led one Colorado county and conservation groups, including The Wilderness Society, to file suit challenging the designations; with a settlement agreement reached in 2012, the agencies were required to update their guidance and training and re-evaluate the energy corridors, resulting in the regional reviews currently underway.
Key corridors that must be adjusted to limit conflicts and support renewables
While the Agencies are required to re-evaluate all the corridors through the regional reviews, a few examples of corridors with major conflicts or opportunities to advance renewable energy development illustrate the importance of this effort.
A transmission highway for renewables in Arizona
For example, corridor 30–52 between Arizona and California is a crucial pathway for delivering renewable energy between the two states. This corridor along Interstate Hwy 10 could provide a route for the proposed Ten West Link transmission line. Corridor 30–52 is a much lower-conflict alternative than the route proposed by the Ten West Link developer; the route proposed by the developer would cut through the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge, causing serious harm to the refuge and the wildlife and habitat that it was designated to protect. Through the regional reviews, the Agencies can complete additional analyses of corridors like 30–52 that will help projects like Ten West Link use lower-conflict pathways and gain permitting efficiencies. The regional reviews may also identify the need for new corridors through appropriate areas to help facilitate renewable energy development.
Protecting wildlands in Utah and Nevada
To address conflicts with the existing corridors, the Agencies must identify and ultimately complete changes to corridors like 116–206, which cuts through wilderness-quality lands in the Upper Kanab Creek and Vermilion Cliffs units. These wildlands are in the heart of southern Utah’s red rock country, nestled between Zion National Park and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Upper Kanab Creek is described by BLM as “exceptionally scenic,” and the corridor route through both units does not follow any existing development or disturbance.
In Nevada, a key corridor to address is 232–233 E which runs north/south in the eastern part of the state. A nearby corridor follows an existing highway and transmission line, but 232–233 E inexplicably takes a detour to the east and cuts through BLM-inventoried lands with wilderness characteristics in a large wildlands complex. This area includes several large designated BLM Wilderness Areas, such as the Delamar Mountains Wilderness and Meadow Valley Range Wilderness, as well as many contiguous and adjacent wilderness-quality lands. These areas are described by BLM as providing “excellent hunting, hiking, camping, rock hounding, and scenic opportunities” owing to their many draws, canyons, mountains and washes. In addition to impacting wilderness-quality lands, this corridor also cuts through a BLM Area of Critical Environmental Concern that was designated to protect the threatened Mojave Desert Tortoise.
Wilderness-quality lands, important wildlife habitat and cultural resources are not appropriate for transmission line and pipeline development, and through the regional reviews and future land use planning the Agencies must adjust all the corridors to avoid conflicts like this. The Agencies must also address impacts to National Park Service lands and visitor experiences, as well as recreation opportunities on our public lands.
In some cases addressing these issues will require eliminating a corridor altogether; in many cases simple adjustments to corridor boundaries would avoid wildlands while still allowing for development in the remaining portion of the corridor.
Looking ahead
To help meet our nation’s infrastructure needs while protecting our natural and cultural heritage, the Agencies should build upon the good progress they have made so far. They should ensure that the regional reviews are all completed in 2019 as planned, and do so with continued strong stakeholder engagement. Ultimately, the Agencies must adjust the corridors through their land use plans to create a truly functional system, a goal which is very much in sight.
