What's in the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS

The West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) evaluates potential impacts associated with the designation of corridors on federal land in 11 Western States for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities.

Summary

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the Act), Public Law 109-58 (H.R. 6), enacted August 8, 2005, directs the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, and the Interior (the Agencies) to designate under their respective authorities corridors on federal land in 11 Western States for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities (energy corridors). The Agencies have prepared a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) entitled "Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, Designation of Energy Corridors on Federal Land in the 11 Western States" (DOE/EIS-0386) to address the environmental impacts from the proposed action and no-action alternative. Because the proposed action may involve actions in a floodplain or wetland, the draft PEIS will include a floodplain and wetlands assessment and the final PEIS or Record of Decision will include a floodplain statement of findings.

Alternatives Considered in the PEIS

The Agencies have identified one action alternative that applied a number of screening criteria to arrive at a set of corridors presented in the PEIS.

Proposed Action

As directed by Congress in Section 368 of EPAct, the participating Agencies have examined the long-term needs of increased energy infrastructure in the West and propose to designate energy corridors on federal land for oil, gas, and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities in 11 contiguous western states. In addition, each Agency proposes to amend its respective land use management plans or similar land use plans, as appropriate, to include the designated energy corridors on land it administers.

No Action Alternative

Under the No Action alternative, no new energy corridors would be designated through this coordinated approach. The No Action alternative will identify the environmental impacts associated with each of the Agencies continuing to designate energy corridors through use of their present practices. These practices would include the application of local planning criteria by each regional land management office.

Scope of the PEIS

The scope of the analysis in the PEIS includes an assessment of any positive and negative environmental, social, and economic impacts of the alternatives. The Agencies examined the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of corridor designation on the natural environment, social systems, and the economy. The analyses conducted in preparation of the PEIS are based on current, available, and credible scientific and engineering information.

As a programmatic evaluation, this PEIS does not evaluate site-specific issues associated with potential individual energy transport projects. The combined and individual effects of location-specific and project-specific impacts are not foreseeable at the Section 368 energy corridor designation stage. Therefore, the Agencies do not speculate about project- and location-specific impacts in this PEIS. Local and project-specific impacts will be evaluated in the future at the individual-project level, and sitespecific impacts will be addressed during individual project reviews. Individual project analyses, reviews, and approvals and denials may tier off the PEIS, thus using and referencing the information, analyses, and conclusions presented in the PEIS to supplement the project-specific reviews and analyses. However, individual project-specific decision making will not be supplanted by the PEIS.

PEIS Findings

The Proposed Action and No Action Alternatives were evaluated in this PEIS for potential environmental impacts associated with the designation of energy corridors on federal lands and the amendment of land use plans to incorporate the corridor designations. In addition, the types of potential impacts that may occur from the development of future energy transport projects were also identified. Because the Proposed Action is the designation of corridors and not the construction and operation of any energy transport projects, only a qualitative evaluation is provided of the types of impacts that could result from development of an energy transport project regardless of project location. More quantitative impact analyses, including the identification of the magnitude and extent of potential impacts to specific social, cultural, economic, and natural resources, can only be conducted at the project level. This would be done in the future if an application to use a designated corridor were received by the Agencies.

No direct environmental impacts are expected to occur as a result of corridor designation and land use plan amendment. Corridor designation could result in effects to land use on nonfederal lands adjacent to or between corridor segments. The type and magnitude of effect would depend on the current and anticipated future land use in these areas. Corridor designation and the amendment of land use plans under the Proposed Action do not authorize the development of projects within the corridors, or require the use of a designated corridor. Project applicants could continue to request project-specific ROWs elsewhere on federal and nonfederal lands to meet their specific energy transport objectives, just as they currently do and would continue to do under the No Action Alternative.

Corridor designation could result in effects to land use on nonfederal lands adjacent to or between corridor segments. The type and magnitude of effect would depend on the current and anticipated future land use in these areas.

Under the No Action Alternative, there would be no Section 368 federal energy corridors designated on federal lands. Existing locally designated corridors would remain, and new corridors may continue to be locally designated. Under the Proposed Action, approximately 6,055 miles of such corridors would be designated on federal lands. Approximately 61% of the proposed corridors follow or include existing utility and/or transportation ROWs. There are 166 corridor segments that comprise the Proposed Action corridors. These segments have an average length of 37.3 miles. The following table provides a state-by-state breakdown on miles and acreages for the proposed corridors.