Department of Energy September 28, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the Act), Public Law 109-58 (H.R. 6), enacted August 8, 2005, directs the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, and the Interior (the Agencies) to designate under their respective authorities corridors on Federal land in the 11 Western States for oil, gas and hydrogen pipelines and electricity transmission and distribution facilities (energy corridors). The Agencies have determined that designating corridors as required by Section 368 of the Act constitutes a major Federal action which may have a significant impact upon the environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). For this reason, the Agencies intend to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) entitled, ``Designation of Energy Corridors on Federal Land in the 11 Western States'' (DOE/EIS-0386) to address the environmental impacts from the proposed action and the range of reasonable alternatives. DOE and BLM will be co-lead agencies for this effort, with the Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (FS) participating as a cooperating agency. The purpose of this Notice of Intent is to inform the public about the proposed action, announce plans to conduct 11 public scoping meetings, invite public participation in the scoping process, and solicit public comments for consideration in establishing the scope and content of the PEIS. Because the proposed action may involve actions in a floodplain or wetland, the draft PEIS will include a floodplain and wetlands assessment and the final PEIS or Record of Decision will include a floodplain statement of findings. The Agencies will prepare the PEIS in accordance with NEPA, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations, 40 CFR 1500-1508, DOE's regulations developed pursuant to NEPA, 10 CFR 1021, BLM's planning regulations 43 CFR 1600 and applicable FS planning regulations to amend land use plans.