Opinion ID: 184033
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The relevance of the environmental study for the West-wide Corridors

Text: Any remaining doubt as to whether it is possible to consider the environmental impacts of the NIETCs dissipates in light of DOE's preparation of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for its designation of the West-wide Corridors for federal lands in eleven western states. See U.S. Department of Energy et al., Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, Designation of Energy Corridors on Federal Land in the 11 Western States (DOE/EIS-0386), 2007 (hereinafter PEIS). A separate and distinct provision in the EPAct, § 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub.L. No. 109-58, § 368, 119 Stat. 727, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 15926), directs federal land-management agencies to identify rights-of-way across lands they administer to serve as energy corridors. DOE points out that the statute provides that any corridor designated under this section shall, at a minimum, specify the centerline, width, and compatible uses of the corridor. 42 U.S.C. § 15926(e). Together with the Department of Interior, DOE prepared the required PEIS. See 42 U.S.C. § 15926(a)(2) (providing for the preparation of any environmental reviews that may be required to complete the designation of such corridors). The federal agencies issued the PEIS in October 2007. Two aspects of the PEIS are of particular relevance to this case. First, in response to the question why conduct an environmental review under NEPA and prepare a programmatic analysis, the PEIS's executive summary states: 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 have decided to prepare a PEIS to conduct a detailed environmental analysis at the programmatic level and to integrate NEPA at the earliest possible time. [34] PEIS, supra, Executive Summary, at ES.8 (footnote omitted). Second, after identifying an `unrestricted' conceptual West-wide network of energy transport paths, the executive summary explained: Next, the locations of individual segments of the conceptual network defined in Step 1 were examined and revised to avoid major known environmental, land use, and regulatory constraints (such as topography, wilderness areas, cultural resources, military test and training areas, and Tribal and state natural and cultural resource areas, etc.).... The revision resulted in a preliminary West-wide energy corridor network that avoided private, state and Tribal lands, many important known natural and cultural resources, and many areas incompatible with energy transport corridors because of regulatory or land use constraints while meeting the requirements and objectives of Section 368. PEIS, supra, at ES.12.2.1. We recognize that the PEIS and the West-wide Designation were undertaken pursuant to a separate and distinct provision of the EPAct. Nonetheless, the creation of the PEIS and its impact on the resulting corridor designation is strong evidence both that it is possible to determine the environmental impacts of a proposed energy corridor and that the study of such environmental impacts may result in modifications of a corridor's boundaries. The West-wide Corridors Designation, like the NIETC Designation, did not approve any specific sites, but designated specific areas for sites. Nonetheless, the lead agencies, including DOE, reshaped the corridors in response to the PEIS to exclude certain sensitive lands. Certainly § 15926 contains a more specific requirement for a study of environmental impacts than § 216, but DOE's ability to undertake a PEIS for West-wide Corridors, and to modify the boundaries based on the PEIS, undermines its assertion that it is not possible to evaluate the environmental impacts of a NIETC.