Nick Snow
Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON, DC, Dec. 21 -- A federal interagency team says it needs more time to consider the more than 200 comments received on potential environmental impacts of designating energy corridors in 11 western US states as required under the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Representatives of the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, and Interior are preparing a draft preliminary environmental impact statement relating to the corridors for crude oil, natural gas, and hydrogen pipelines as well as electricity transmission and distribution systems.
The US Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service also must ensure that proposed routes and their environmental consequences are consistent with the resource management plans for lands that the Interior and Agriculture department divisions manage, the agencies said on Dec. 20.
They noted that corridors designated through this process will represent preferred locations for future pipelines and power lines built in the West. Future projects proposed for the corridors would have to undergo additional environmental reviews before permits and rights-of-way would be granted.
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