Big_Spinner
Trout Hunter
Here is a letter and some info on NYRI.
Jim
Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) and Rep. Raul Grijalva's (D-AZ) are circulating a "dear colleague" letter in Congress encouraging other representatives to join them in asking the Secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, and Energy to avoid siting energy and electricity corridors in national parks and other sensitive areas, engage the public throughout the designation process, and comply with existing federal statutes and regulations. Both the "dear colleague" and "Secretaries" letters specifically mention the threat posed by the NYRI proposal that would impair resources protected within the Park Service managed Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.
You can help send a strong message to the Secretaries that parks and other sensitive lands are off-limits by contacting your state's representatives and encouraging them to sign-on to the letter to the Secretaries. You can locate your representative by going to United States House of Representatives, 109th Congress, 2nd Session: Homepage. A list of representatives for each state can be found by clicking on the bottom left link labeled "House Directory". Thanks for your help and feel free to pass this email along to others!
Bryan
Bryan Faehner
National Parks Conservation Association
1300 19th Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 419-3700
bfaehner@npca.org
"National parks are the best idea we ever had.
Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."
-Wallace Stegner, 1983
>>> "Kondor, Rachel" <Rachel.Kondor@mail.house.gov> 09/19/06 11:38 AM
>>> >>>
Support Protection of Our Special Public Lands
During Energy Corridor Designation
September 19, 2006
Dear Colleague:
Under Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, several federal agencies undertook a process to identify energy corridors in the Western United States for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines, and electricity transmission and distribution facilities on federal lands. The proposed corridors are two-thirds of a mile wide and cross through or are adjacent to numerous specially protected areas of our federal public lands. For example, there are proposed corridors through sensitive areas such as Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon, Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona and Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, among others. The designation of energy corridors for eleven Western States will be completed by August of 2007 and will be followed by a designation process for the Eastern States, Alaska, and Hawaii in August of 2009.
The Energy Policy Act also requires the DOE to use the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study in designating national interest electric transmission corridors (NIETCs) to relieve regions of the country with unsuitable electricity infrastructure. Furthermore, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is now empowered to override state siting authorities that fail to approve NIETCs proposals within a year, which is why the careful siting of electricity corridors is paramount. Already, there is a poorly sited NIETC proposal that would cross through the Park Service-managed Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, impairing the Park's cultural landscape and 73 miles of Wild and Scenic River. Other proposals being considered could harm Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia, Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland and the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historic Park in the District of Columbia, Maryland and West Virginia.
The designation of energy corridors under Sections 368 and NIETCs under Section 1221 has the potential to impact thousands of our constituents.
Moreover, because it will affect our nation's treasured natural, cultural, and historical resources, it is of great interest to us as members of Congress. It is essential that through this process, the agencies take special care and use diligence in determining the location of corridors.
The agencies involved in the process of designating western energy corridors under Section 368 have thus far solicited scoping comments for a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and, in June 2006, presented a preliminary map of proposed corridor locations for public comment. The maps are lacking in detail and there are many outstanding questions about what types of land and resources will be impacted. Without more information, our constituents' and our ability to adequately comment on the proposed corridors is severely limited.
We hope you will join us in sending a message to the federal agencies involved, requesting that they do the following:
* Adequately engage the public during the Section 368 energy corridor
designation process and publish maps with information currently lacking, such as the locations of special protected areas, and provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed and alternative locations prior to publishing a Draft Programmatic EIS.
* Avoid designating energy corridors, including NIETCs, within
sensitive areas designated by Congress or the President, such as National Parks, National Monuments, and National Wildlife Refuges, and provide analysis of how they intend to avoid or protect these areas.
* Fully comply with all applicable Federal statutes and regulations,
including the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Park Service Organic Act, the Wilderness Act, and Monument Proclamations issued under the Antiquities Act in the designation process.
* Coordinate the energy corridor process under Section 368 with the
congestion and constraints study under Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act.
We hope you will join with us in signing the attached letter, urging the federal agencies to ensure adequate public comment and protection of our special public lands.
Best regards,
/s
/s
Raúl M. Grijalva
Sue W. Kelly
M.C.
M.C.
[Draft Letter to Secretaries]
Secretary Samuel Bodman
Department of Energy
Secretary Dick Kempthorne
Department of the Interior
Secretary Mike Johanns
Department of Agriculture
Dear Secretaries Bodman, Kempthorne and Johanns:
We are writing to you today to offer comments on both the designation of western energy corridors under Section 368 and of national interest electric transmission corridors (NIETCs) under Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The designation of these corridors has the potential to impact thousands of our constituents and is therefore of great interest to us as members of Congress.
Meeting the requirements and goals of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and protecting America's treasured public lands should not be mutually exclusive. Charting such a course, however, requires careful diligence and consultation of existing laws so that needless damage to our nation's treasured natural, cultural, and historical resources in the designation of energy corridors is avoided. We offer this guidance on how you can fulfill the intent of the Act and protect natural resources at the same time. We hope you will consider our suggestions and act in good faith upon them.
Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Interior to identify energy corridors for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines, and electricity transmission and distribution facilities on federal lands. Section 1221 directs the DOE to designate NIETCs based on the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study.
Congress did not exempt the agencies from complying with appropriate Federal statutes and regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and others in designating corridors under the EPAct.
To date, the agencies have solicited scoping comments for the West-wide Energy Corridors Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and, in June 2006, presented a preliminary map of proposed energy corridor locations in the West for public comment. The DOE is currently soliciting comments on its National Electric Transmission Congestion Study, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued proposed requirements and procedures for permitting construction of electric transmission facilities in NIETCs. As the West-wide Programmatic EIS moves forward under Section
368 and electric corridor routes are being considered under Section 1221, we want to ensure the agencies do the following:
1. Adequately engage the public and provide them with sufficient information to comment on proposed energy corridors during the West-wide Programmatic EIS process.
We are concerned that the information provided to date has severely limited true public participation. The map provided by your agencies for public comment in June 2006 does not label or identify areas of special concern, such as specific units of the National Park System or National Wildlife Refuges. Boundaries of Wilderness, Wilderness Study Areas, National Monuments, and National Conservation Areas are not shown on Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service lands. National Scenic and Historic Trails, National Natural and Historic Landmarks, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and threatened, endangered or sensitive species habitat are not identified.
The agencies have not provided the public with information on alternative locations that might be available based on existing corridors or other options under discussion. A recent news article in the Salt Lake Tribune, entitled "Energy Corridor Data a Secret? Access: Group charges BLM withheld maps showing potential locations near Moab," (July 13, 2006) highlights our concerns about the limited information provided in the preliminary corridor maps, which impairs the public's ability to be truly engaged. Without basic information on locations of proposed corridors and alternative locations, the public cannot make informed comments. We recommend that you publish a map with the missing information described above and provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed and alternative locations prior to publishing a Draft Programmatic EIS.
2. Avoid designating energy corridors, including NIETCs, within sensitive areas designated by Congress or the President, such as National Parks, National Monuments, and National Wildlife Refuges.
The maps provided by the agencies pursuant to the Section 368 process identify proposed corridors through or adjacent to sensitive areas such as Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon, Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona and Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, among others. DOE is also considering eleven requests for early NIETC designation under Section 1221. One of these corridors, the New York Regional Interconnection, would cross through the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, impairing more than 73 miles of the Park's designated Wild and Scenic River. Two other proposals in the mid-Atlantic region could harm Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park, Antietam National Battlefield and other parks.
Placing corridors in these areas puts cultural resources, historic character and wildlife habitat at risk, and may also be contrary to the primary purposes for which these special areas were created, either by Congress or by the President. We urge the agencies to avoid placing corridors in sensitive areas and provide an analysis of how these areas will be avoided and protected.
3. Fully comply with all applicable Federal statutes and regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the National Park Service Organic Act, the Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and Monument Proclamations issued under the Antiquities Act in the designation process.
Although the agencies have initiated the NEPA process for the Section 368 process, we are concerned that the agencies may not fulfill its requirements or those of other applicable statutory procedures, such as the stringent consultation requirements of Section 106 of the NHPA, triggered by the potential placement of energy corridors within significant natural and cultural areas. Since the proposed corridors are 3,500 feet wide and open to a number of high impact uses, it is crucial that the agencies conduct sufficient environmental and cultural analyses prior to designating corridors and also develop specific, mandatory management requirements for corridors, such as width or use limitations to protect the surrounding environment. Deferring analysis and protective management decisions until individual projects are proposed within the corridors will not permit the agencies to take into account the overall effects and to manage the greater landscape. We are especially concerned because the Programmatic EIS will amend existing land use plans and both the BLM and Forest Service can apply categorical exclusions from the National Environmental Policy Act to pipelines in right-of-way corridors. We urge you to use the Draft Programmatic EIS as the best opportunity to fully analyze the potential effects of these corridors, ensure that corridors comply with existing legal authority, and impose mandatory protective measures on all later projects.
In relation to the Section 1221 process, neither the DOE's procedure for designating NIETCs nor the FERC's proposed approach to permitting construction of electric transmission facilities in NIETCs addresses applicable legal constraints. We encourage you to take action to ensure that designation of NIETCs and requirements for siting facilities in NIETCs comply with existing legal authority, applicable general management plans, and provide mechanisms to ensure protection of special places and sensitive resources.
4. Coordinate with the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study mandated by Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act.
The National Electric Transmission Congestion Study has identified a number of areas experiencing, or expected to experience, electricity constraints or congestion and classified them as critical congestion areas, congestion areas of concern, or conditional congestion areas. While greater analysis is needed for non-critical areas, we understand that action must be taken to ease constrained transmission paths. We urge you to take advantage of the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study as part of your efforts to designate corridors in the 11 Western States.
We recognize the importance of designating corridors to move energy across our nation and urge you to follow these recommendations to ensure that this process can provide needed energy and protect the many irreplaceable values of our public lands, both in the 11 Western States and in the rest of the country. Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.
Sincerely,
Members of Congress
Jim
Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) and Rep. Raul Grijalva's (D-AZ) are circulating a "dear colleague" letter in Congress encouraging other representatives to join them in asking the Secretaries of Interior, Agriculture, and Energy to avoid siting energy and electricity corridors in national parks and other sensitive areas, engage the public throughout the designation process, and comply with existing federal statutes and regulations. Both the "dear colleague" and "Secretaries" letters specifically mention the threat posed by the NYRI proposal that would impair resources protected within the Park Service managed Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River.
You can help send a strong message to the Secretaries that parks and other sensitive lands are off-limits by contacting your state's representatives and encouraging them to sign-on to the letter to the Secretaries. You can locate your representative by going to United States House of Representatives, 109th Congress, 2nd Session: Homepage. A list of representatives for each state can be found by clicking on the bottom left link labeled "House Directory". Thanks for your help and feel free to pass this email along to others!
Bryan
Bryan Faehner
National Parks Conservation Association
1300 19th Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 419-3700
bfaehner@npca.org
"National parks are the best idea we ever had.
Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."
-Wallace Stegner, 1983
>>> "Kondor, Rachel" <Rachel.Kondor@mail.house.gov> 09/19/06 11:38 AM
>>> >>>
Support Protection of Our Special Public Lands
During Energy Corridor Designation
September 19, 2006
Dear Colleague:
Under Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, several federal agencies undertook a process to identify energy corridors in the Western United States for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines, and electricity transmission and distribution facilities on federal lands. The proposed corridors are two-thirds of a mile wide and cross through or are adjacent to numerous specially protected areas of our federal public lands. For example, there are proposed corridors through sensitive areas such as Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon, Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona and Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, among others. The designation of energy corridors for eleven Western States will be completed by August of 2007 and will be followed by a designation process for the Eastern States, Alaska, and Hawaii in August of 2009.
The Energy Policy Act also requires the DOE to use the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study in designating national interest electric transmission corridors (NIETCs) to relieve regions of the country with unsuitable electricity infrastructure. Furthermore, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is now empowered to override state siting authorities that fail to approve NIETCs proposals within a year, which is why the careful siting of electricity corridors is paramount. Already, there is a poorly sited NIETC proposal that would cross through the Park Service-managed Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, impairing the Park's cultural landscape and 73 miles of Wild and Scenic River. Other proposals being considered could harm Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia, Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland and the Chesapeake and Ohio National Historic Park in the District of Columbia, Maryland and West Virginia.
The designation of energy corridors under Sections 368 and NIETCs under Section 1221 has the potential to impact thousands of our constituents.
Moreover, because it will affect our nation's treasured natural, cultural, and historical resources, it is of great interest to us as members of Congress. It is essential that through this process, the agencies take special care and use diligence in determining the location of corridors.
The agencies involved in the process of designating western energy corridors under Section 368 have thus far solicited scoping comments for a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and, in June 2006, presented a preliminary map of proposed corridor locations for public comment. The maps are lacking in detail and there are many outstanding questions about what types of land and resources will be impacted. Without more information, our constituents' and our ability to adequately comment on the proposed corridors is severely limited.
We hope you will join us in sending a message to the federal agencies involved, requesting that they do the following:
* Adequately engage the public during the Section 368 energy corridor
designation process and publish maps with information currently lacking, such as the locations of special protected areas, and provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed and alternative locations prior to publishing a Draft Programmatic EIS.
* Avoid designating energy corridors, including NIETCs, within
sensitive areas designated by Congress or the President, such as National Parks, National Monuments, and National Wildlife Refuges, and provide analysis of how they intend to avoid or protect these areas.
* Fully comply with all applicable Federal statutes and regulations,
including the National Environmental Policy Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Park Service Organic Act, the Wilderness Act, and Monument Proclamations issued under the Antiquities Act in the designation process.
* Coordinate the energy corridor process under Section 368 with the
congestion and constraints study under Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act.
We hope you will join with us in signing the attached letter, urging the federal agencies to ensure adequate public comment and protection of our special public lands.
Best regards,
/s
/s
Raúl M. Grijalva
Sue W. Kelly
M.C.
M.C.
[Draft Letter to Secretaries]
Secretary Samuel Bodman
Department of Energy
Secretary Dick Kempthorne
Department of the Interior
Secretary Mike Johanns
Department of Agriculture
Dear Secretaries Bodman, Kempthorne and Johanns:
We are writing to you today to offer comments on both the designation of western energy corridors under Section 368 and of national interest electric transmission corridors (NIETCs) under Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The designation of these corridors has the potential to impact thousands of our constituents and is therefore of great interest to us as members of Congress.
Meeting the requirements and goals of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and protecting America's treasured public lands should not be mutually exclusive. Charting such a course, however, requires careful diligence and consultation of existing laws so that needless damage to our nation's treasured natural, cultural, and historical resources in the designation of energy corridors is avoided. We offer this guidance on how you can fulfill the intent of the Act and protect natural resources at the same time. We hope you will consider our suggestions and act in good faith upon them.
Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the Departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Interior to identify energy corridors for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines, and electricity transmission and distribution facilities on federal lands. Section 1221 directs the DOE to designate NIETCs based on the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study.
Congress did not exempt the agencies from complying with appropriate Federal statutes and regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and others in designating corridors under the EPAct.
To date, the agencies have solicited scoping comments for the West-wide Energy Corridors Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and, in June 2006, presented a preliminary map of proposed energy corridor locations in the West for public comment. The DOE is currently soliciting comments on its National Electric Transmission Congestion Study, while the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued proposed requirements and procedures for permitting construction of electric transmission facilities in NIETCs. As the West-wide Programmatic EIS moves forward under Section
368 and electric corridor routes are being considered under Section 1221, we want to ensure the agencies do the following:
1. Adequately engage the public and provide them with sufficient information to comment on proposed energy corridors during the West-wide Programmatic EIS process.
We are concerned that the information provided to date has severely limited true public participation. The map provided by your agencies for public comment in June 2006 does not label or identify areas of special concern, such as specific units of the National Park System or National Wildlife Refuges. Boundaries of Wilderness, Wilderness Study Areas, National Monuments, and National Conservation Areas are not shown on Bureau of Land Management or Forest Service lands. National Scenic and Historic Trails, National Natural and Historic Landmarks, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and threatened, endangered or sensitive species habitat are not identified.
The agencies have not provided the public with information on alternative locations that might be available based on existing corridors or other options under discussion. A recent news article in the Salt Lake Tribune, entitled "Energy Corridor Data a Secret? Access: Group charges BLM withheld maps showing potential locations near Moab," (July 13, 2006) highlights our concerns about the limited information provided in the preliminary corridor maps, which impairs the public's ability to be truly engaged. Without basic information on locations of proposed corridors and alternative locations, the public cannot make informed comments. We recommend that you publish a map with the missing information described above and provide the public with an opportunity to comment on proposed and alternative locations prior to publishing a Draft Programmatic EIS.
2. Avoid designating energy corridors, including NIETCs, within sensitive areas designated by Congress or the President, such as National Parks, National Monuments, and National Wildlife Refuges.
The maps provided by the agencies pursuant to the Section 368 process identify proposed corridors through or adjacent to sensitive areas such as Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon, Sonoran Desert National Monument in Arizona and Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, among others. DOE is also considering eleven requests for early NIETC designation under Section 1221. One of these corridors, the New York Regional Interconnection, would cross through the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River, impairing more than 73 miles of the Park's designated Wild and Scenic River. Two other proposals in the mid-Atlantic region could harm Harpers Ferry National Historic Park, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park, Antietam National Battlefield and other parks.
Placing corridors in these areas puts cultural resources, historic character and wildlife habitat at risk, and may also be contrary to the primary purposes for which these special areas were created, either by Congress or by the President. We urge the agencies to avoid placing corridors in sensitive areas and provide an analysis of how these areas will be avoided and protected.
3. Fully comply with all applicable Federal statutes and regulations, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the National Park Service Organic Act, the Wilderness Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and Monument Proclamations issued under the Antiquities Act in the designation process.
Although the agencies have initiated the NEPA process for the Section 368 process, we are concerned that the agencies may not fulfill its requirements or those of other applicable statutory procedures, such as the stringent consultation requirements of Section 106 of the NHPA, triggered by the potential placement of energy corridors within significant natural and cultural areas. Since the proposed corridors are 3,500 feet wide and open to a number of high impact uses, it is crucial that the agencies conduct sufficient environmental and cultural analyses prior to designating corridors and also develop specific, mandatory management requirements for corridors, such as width or use limitations to protect the surrounding environment. Deferring analysis and protective management decisions until individual projects are proposed within the corridors will not permit the agencies to take into account the overall effects and to manage the greater landscape. We are especially concerned because the Programmatic EIS will amend existing land use plans and both the BLM and Forest Service can apply categorical exclusions from the National Environmental Policy Act to pipelines in right-of-way corridors. We urge you to use the Draft Programmatic EIS as the best opportunity to fully analyze the potential effects of these corridors, ensure that corridors comply with existing legal authority, and impose mandatory protective measures on all later projects.
In relation to the Section 1221 process, neither the DOE's procedure for designating NIETCs nor the FERC's proposed approach to permitting construction of electric transmission facilities in NIETCs addresses applicable legal constraints. We encourage you to take action to ensure that designation of NIETCs and requirements for siting facilities in NIETCs comply with existing legal authority, applicable general management plans, and provide mechanisms to ensure protection of special places and sensitive resources.
4. Coordinate with the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study mandated by Section 1221 of the Energy Policy Act.
The National Electric Transmission Congestion Study has identified a number of areas experiencing, or expected to experience, electricity constraints or congestion and classified them as critical congestion areas, congestion areas of concern, or conditional congestion areas. While greater analysis is needed for non-critical areas, we understand that action must be taken to ease constrained transmission paths. We urge you to take advantage of the National Electric Transmission Congestion Study as part of your efforts to designate corridors in the 11 Western States.
We recognize the importance of designating corridors to move energy across our nation and urge you to follow these recommendations to ensure that this process can provide needed energy and protect the many irreplaceable values of our public lands, both in the 11 Western States and in the rest of the country. Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.
Sincerely,
Members of Congress
