West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS Information Center

This Web site is the online center for public information and involvement in the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Energy Corridor PEIS).

The United States Department of Energy, the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and United States Department of Defense (the Agencies) have issued a final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) that evaluates issues associated with the designation of energy corridors on federal lands in eleven Western states. Based upon the information and analyses developed in this PEIS, the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Defense could amend their respective land use plans by designating one or more of proposed energy corridors identified in the PEIS. This Web site is the online center for public information and involvement in the PEIS process.

There is no comment period on a Final PEIS. There was an extensive comment period on the Draft PEIS for this project, and the Final PEIS includes many changes and revisions based on comments received. Following completion of the consistency reviews by the governors of the 11 western states, any approval of the selected land use plan amendments will be documented in agency-specific Records of Decisions after a 30-day waiting period which begins on Nov. 28, with the publication of official notice of the availability of this PEIS in the Federal Register. These subsequent decisions will also be published in the Federal Register and provided on request to interested parties.

Background Information

Section 368 of 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 (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) for oil, gas, and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities (energy corridors).

Section 368 requires the Agencies to conduct any "environmental reviews" necessary to complete the designation of Section 368 energy corridors. The proposed designation of Section 368 energy corridors would not result in any direct impacts on the ground that may significantly affect the quality of the human environment.

Nevertheless, the Agencies prepared a PEIS to conduct a detailed environmental analysis at the programmatic level and to integrate NEPA at the earliest possible time. The proposed designation of more than 6,000 miles of Section 368 energy corridors among the various Agency land use plans is a forward-looking response, mandated by statute, to address a national concern.

The evaluation of future project-related environmental impacts must await site-specific proposals and the required site-specific environmental review. A quantifiable and accurate evaluation of impacts at the local project level can be made only in response to an actual proposed energy project, when a proposal for an action with specific environmental consequences exists.