'Energy corridors' in West assailed
Activists in Utah fear damage to sensitive sites
The administration has proposed 6,000 miles of 3,500-foot-wide energy corridors in 11 Western states including 640 miles in Utah that could be used for future oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines, as well as electric transmission and distribution facilities.
"That's where a significant amount of our industrial and consumer growth is going to happen in the United States in the West and Southwest," Department of Energy spokesman Jonathan Shradar said. "Demand for electricity will increase, and on the federal lands, these corridors will be sufficient to meet that demand."
In the 2005 Energy Bill, Congress asked several federal agencies to identify potential corridors on federal lands to help keep up with the nation's growing energy needs. The Departments of Interior, Energy, Agriculture, Commerce and Defense issued the West-Wide Energy Corridor Draft Programmatic environmental impact statement on Nov. 8, and a notice is scheduled to appear in the Federal Register today.
Public comment will be accepted until Feb. 14, and two public hearings are scheduled in Salt Lake City on Jan. 17.
Liz Thomas of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said there has to be a better place to put a pipeline than adjacent to Dinosaur National Monument or through the Glen Canyon recreation area.
"Utah is not benefiting from this," Thomas said. "We could put these corridors in less sensitive places."
The corridors include proposed routes through portions of Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, which straddles the Utah-Wyoming border.
The Wilderness Society found that the proposed corridors threaten six national wildlife refuges, three national parks and seven national monuments in the West and more than 60 current and proposed wilderness areas. Outside of Utah, the corridors would affect the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge on the Arizona-California border and New Mexico's Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, among many others.
Thomas said the proposed corridors are the "energy industry's want list," and the government clearly did not look at alternatives when picking the paths. She said one would think a national monument or wilderness designation would deter an area from being considered for a corridor, but that was not the case.
"The corridors can draw damaging development to areas where there might have only been a power line before," said Nada Culver of the Wilderness Society, who analyzed the corridors. "There are no exceptions for places already identified for protection, such as wilderness, wildlife refuges, parks and historical sites. This process will amend more than 160 land-use plans and permit projects with lesser reviews."
Recent comments
What? The Wilderness Society is against developing the energy that...
Bobby B. | Nov. 21, 2007 at 10:38 a.m.
So, how long will it be before we're reading a story about the...
utwingnut | Nov. 18, 2007 at 4:45 a.m.
Those that don't want this country to be energy
independent,should...
Don | Nov. 17, 2007 at 3:10 p.m.
- Parks nominee is in hot water 9:30 p.m.
- Burris bows out of 2010 race 9:30 p.m.
- Regulators close Wyoming bank 9:17 p.m.
- Bailout $ may aid small business 9:16 p.m.
- Facebook sued on control of content 9:15 p.m.
- Poor more likely to leave California 9:13 p.m.
- Montana guv blasts GM 9:11 p.m.
- GM exits bankruptcy quickly 9:10 p.m.
- Death near Rockville suspicious 9:09 p.m.
- May trade deficit dropped to $26B 9:08 p.m.
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- Jazz talking Boozer trade?
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
- Jazz in back of line for free agents
- Blazers offer Millsap 4-year deal
- A primer for the 6th Potter film
- Okur signs two-year extension
- Jazz won't meet Lopez on Europe trip
- Restaurant destroyed by fire
- Letters: Palin mistreated
142 - Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Teachers struggle with district cuts
138 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
136 - LDS seminary principal arrested
133 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
123 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
93 - Fairness of BCS debated
81 - Chaffetz eyes challenging Bennett
74 - Letters: Single-payer system best
71
As more and more dads are put out of work in this economy, I've been...
The photographs are mysterious, brooding, dark. They show dimples and...
Utahns PAY for all that stuff, how Californians using that money? What...
Chris - Moon rock samples and personal testimonyies/witnesses aside, do...
time to get rid of both. we need Bosh from Toronto .....trade all 3 including...
Mary Coppins has a new slant these days. I am just so glad he has stopped...
Not one single "Jazz fan" has spelled the name Joel Przybilla correctly, in...
i had awesome this year and she was well....awesome =) i miss her so much...
Yes, I'm rooting for the Y against OK also. Any win by MWC over BCS benefits...
off the hook for this, because he did good things at other times. We are...
"So depending on where you look, you'll get your answer." Well...that's...
Apparently your allowed to bring politics into this "sports" story but if...

