Jodi Peterson

Associate Editor

A few years ago, the Department of Energy began laying out thousands of miles of “energy corridors” for new electric powerlines and gas and oil pipelines on public lands. Now it’s released a draft of its plans, and public comment is open til Feb. 14, 2008 (see our earlier story here).

Environmentalists believe the DOE has not sufficiently studied the impact of the new corridors, which will cover more than 3 million acres in the 11 Western states. The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Environmental groups contend the proposed energy corridors:
* Threaten six national wildlife refuges, three national parks, seven national monuments and more than 60 current and proposed wildlife areas.
* Lack thorough consideration of the likely damage to federal and other lands.
* Fail to identify location and sources of energy that will move through the corridors.

According to the Wilderness Society, “the impacted areas include renowned places such as the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge on the Arizona/California border, Grand Staircase National Monument in Utah, New Mexico’s Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and Arches National Park in Utah.”

Hopefully public comment can rescue the truly sensitive areas from corridor development. And hopefully the new infrastructure will serve up more than just fossil-fuel energy — the agency says that in placing the corridors, it’s accounting for the future transmission of wind, geothermal, and solar energy. The DOE’s public meeting schedule is here.