The Bureau of Land Management Arizona is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) to identify lands across Arizona that may be suitable for the development of renewable energy. The EIS also will establish a baseline set of environmental protection measures for such projects.

The Draft EIS was released on February 17, 2012. Work is underway to compile comments from the public on the Draft EIS. Those comments will guide revisions, which will result in the final EIS and the record of decision. The record of decision is anticipated in late 2012.

The Restoration Design Energy Project (RDEP), funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, supports the Secretary of Interior's goals to build America's new energy future and to protect and restore treasured landscapes.

Emphasis will be on lands that are previously disturbed, developed, or where the effects on sensitive resources would be minimized. The BLM intends to use the results of the EIS to amend its land use plans across Arizona to identity areas that are considered to be most suitable for renewable energy projects.

While these amendments will only apply to BLM-managed lands, the EIS will examine all lands in Arizona and serve as a resource to the public, policy makers, and energy planners.

The public was invited to nominate sites for consideration in the EIS during the formal scoping period in early 2010. By the end of the scoping process, 59 sites had been nominated in 11 different counties, including former landfills, brownfields, mines, isolated BLM parcels, and Central Arizona Project canal rights-of way areas. 

While the formal comment period on the Draft EIS has ended, projects comments or questions may be submitted by any of the following methods: E-mail:  az_arra_rdep@blm.gov; Fax: Attn: Lane Cowger, (602) 417-9454; Mail or other delivery service:  BLM Arizona State Office, Attn: Restoration Design Energy Project, One North Central Avenue, Suite 800, Phoenix, AZ 85004-4427.