Renewable energy resources development initiatives on public lands

By Edna Sussman and Peter Mostow

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has been proactively implementing the president’s National Energy Policy which calls for renewable energy development on public lands as part of a multi-faceted program to increase domestic energy production. DOI manages one in every five acres in the United States; about 261 million acres of this are administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Pursuant to unit-by-unit plans, the land is used for multiple purposes including mineral extraction, logging, grazing and recreation.

Approximately 500 MW of renewable energy capacity have been installed on public lands. In order to plan for renewable energy expansion, in 2003 DOI and the U.S. Department of Energy conducted an assessment of potential solar, wind, geothermal and biomass development on public lands and identified the BLM planning units with the highest potential for renewable energy. Assessing the Potential for Renewable Energy on Public Lands, February 2003. After completing the assessment, the BLM took several significant steps to facilitate renewable energy development. These new initiatives, while streamlining the process, require that energy development continue to comply with all planning and environmental reviews and other requirements applicable to proposed commercial uses of public lands. The recent initiatives are expected to increase renewable energy resource development on public lands while minimizing impacts and reducing costs.

Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement

Following an extensive scoping process, in September 2004 the BLM issued a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on Wind Energy Development on BLM-administered lands in the western United States (the DPEIS), which covers 11 states. The final PEIS is scheduled for June 2005 publication. The DPEIS comprehensively explores the issues relating to wind energy development from the initial site testing, through construction, operation and decommissioning. It contains an all-inclusive model for best management practices that can be applied in analyzing the impacts and mitigation measures for wind development. This model, along with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Interim Guidelines to Avoid and Minimize Wildlife Impacts from Wind Turbines (and the expected final guidelines), will make an important contribution to the permitting process on both public land and private land. The DPEIS does not evaluate site or project specific issues, but will facilitate individual reviews by providing an analytic framework, a set of generally accepted siting standards and necessary changes to land use plans for particular units. The DPEIS identifies 160,100 acres as economically developable, taking into consideration such factors as access to transmission, load and reserve constraints, specifies the land use plans proposed for amendment and projects the development of 3,240 MW of wind power. The DPEIS concludes that the Proposed Action – facilitating renewable energy development subject to comprehensive analysis, establishment of best practices and assessment of regional cumulative impacts – is preferable to the No Action alternative that would leave in place the current system of right of way grants for wind power development.

BLM – Solar and Other Renewable Energy

In October 2004 the BLM issued a Solar Energy Development Policy. Applications for solar energy projects are to be processed as right of way authorizations and given high priority. The policy requires that new or updated BLM land use plans consider the National Renewable Energy Laboratory maps which identified the 25 BLM areas having the greatest commercial solar energy development potential. Requiring consideration of high-potential solar areas in ongoing land use planning processes is intended to expedite solar developments which otherwise may expend substantial time and money seeking individual land use plan amendments.

DOI has also been active on biomass and geothermal energy. In July 2004 the BLM issued a Biomass Utilization Policy with the objective of stimulating industry to utilize small diameter woody materials resulting from hazardous fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration activities for biomass electric power. The policy implementation includes the development of incentives, increased funding, increasing biomass knowledge and amending land use plans where appropriate. The process for leasing public lands for geothermal resources is similar to oil and gas leases. DOI is dealing with the backlog of pending lease applications and has issued over 200 geothermal leases over the past four years.

On January 19th, renewable energy development on public lands was one of the Renewable Energy Resources Committee’s topics during its monthly twelve-city brown/bag teleconferences. The January program was cosponsored by the Public Lands, Energy Facility Siting and Sustainable Development, Ecosystems and Climate Change Committees of the Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources. Information about the Renewable Energy Resources Committee’s upcoming programs and other activities is at http://www.abanet.org/environ/committees/renewableenergy/home.html

Edna Sussman, of counsel at the law firm of Hoguet Newman & Regal, LLP in New York City, chairs the firm’s environmental law practice and serves frequently as a neutral. She is a vice chair of the Section’s Renewable Energy Resources Committee. Peter Mostow is a partner in the Portland, Ore. office of Stoel Rives LLP and chairs the firm’s Renewable Energy practice. He is a vice chair of the Section’s Energy Facilities and Siting Committee.

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