Electric towers at sunset
[Photo: Warren Gretz, National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Photographic Information eXchange Collection]

The U.S. Department of Energy, the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Department of Defense prepared a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to evaluate issues associated with the designation of energy corridors on federal lands in eleven Western states. The Draft PEIS was issued in Fall 2007 and the Final West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS was made available in Fall 2008.

Visit the West-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS Information Center for more information about the PEIS, Record of Decision, and Final PEIS maps of energy corridors. To find out about potential designation of energy corridors in 37 eastern states, and in Hawaii and Alaska, visit the East-wide Energy Corridor Programmatic EIS Information Center.

[Image: National Renewable Energy Lab]

The National Renewable Energy Lab is a federal laboratory "dedicated to the research, development, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies". Two areas of the NREL website provide access to renewable energy data, maps, reports, and tools: the Renewable Resource Data Center (RReDC) and the Dynamic Maps, GIS Data, and Analysis Tools site. These sites provide access to information that can help guide renewable energy planning and siting.

[Image: AWWI]

The American Wind and Wildlife Institute (AWWI) is a 501c(3) non-profit dedicated to encouraging sustainable wind energy development and protecting wildlife and their habitat.

The Wind-Wildlife Mapping Initiative is currently being developed by AWWI in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The tool, currently in its pilot phase, will be a landscape-scale, GIS-based planning tool that will map wind energy potential and relative wildlife risk across the country. It will assist future wind energy development efforts by informing site-specific planning and identifying potential issues and concerns. AWWI also plans to develop a Wind-Wildlife Research Information System, a web-based tool to manage information and data regarding wind energy and wildlife.