Suit says the corridors, which were drawn up in Bush Administration,were designed to move fossil fuel electricity, not renewable derived electricity-
Conflict over electricity production and transmission has a number of sides, e.g., renewable versus fossil fuel, centralized versus distributed, private land versus public, and more.
This lawsuit is over the first in the list. Environmentalists Sue Over Energy Transmission Across Federal Lands. By Kate Galbraith. New York Times.
It vital to get the infrastructure in the right place as well as the right kind. Mistakes of hundreds of billions of dollars in the public and private spheres have already dragged down both the economy and the environment. If these corridors are built, it will commit to a fossil fuel future.
The failure of the Obama Administration to drop these Bush energy corridors may show a lack of committment to renewables. It may also show that they don’t have enough of their people in place yet to change policy. Republican Senator’s holds on nominees has made it so even yet many land management personnel are not yet in place. For example, Jeff E as a comment just pointed to article where John McCain is using a “hold” in the Senate to stop the nomination of the new BLM Director (Bob Abbey) until McCain gets a land transfer facilitating an 8 square mile copper mine in Arizona.
Note: plantiffs in the lawsuit are: Center for Biological Diversity; San Miguel County, Colo.; Bark; Defenders of Wildlife; Great Old Broads for Wilderness; Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center; National Parks Conservation Association; National Trust for Historic Preservation; Natural Resources Defense Council; Oregon Natural Desert Association; Sierra Club; Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance; The Wilderness Society; Western Resource Advocates and Western Watersheds Project.
Find out if the corridors rip though country important to you.
Here are the maps.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is President of the Western Watersheds Project.
Rlpah, you said:
If these corridors are built, it will commit to a fossil fuel future.
Why is that? Don’t we need these corridors to connect any new electrical sources regardless of generation type? I am confused.
jdubya,
They connect to the places where coal plants and gas or old fields exist or are proposed.
Of course, wind and solar power could be fit in with feeders alongside the transmission corridors.
Worse case, we could end up with a second set of transmission for alternative energy.
That would cost a lot. Maybe a bright side to the current lack of capital.
JDubya – Only needed if we pursue the same old tired model of Big Corporations controlling centralized energy and gouging us all.