By WEN Staff

GREEN RIVER - Last week, the Bureau of Land Management authorized the establishment of special offices in Wyoming and other Western states to expedite renewable energy development on federal public lands.

The move is in keeping with the Energy Policy Act passed four years ago which called for the development of 10,000 megawatts of non-hydropower, renewable energy projects on public lands by the year 2015.

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne issued a Secretarial
Order last Friday that will allow the agency to establish
coordination offices in Wyoming, Arizona, California and
Nevada. Those states are where the greatest interest in
renewables - particularly wind power - has been shown,
according to the BLM.

Agency officials say the offices will work to fast track the
permitting of solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energy
projects, along with the needed electrical transmission
facilities. “At a time when America is crying out for renewable
forms of energy, it is critical that we expedite the
development” of renewable energy sources,” Kempthorne said.

BLM Director Jim Caswell said the renewable energy coordination offices will ensure that projects comply with all environmental laws and regulations, including NEPA rules and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

He said the offices also aim to improve coordination with other federal, state and local agencies in order to facilitate the processing and permitting of renewable energy projects.

The offices will be staffed by BLM employees from several
natural resource disciplines will staff the offices, which will
also receive support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and other bureaus within the Department of the Interior.

Wyoming’s wind power is vast, and while the state has made
strides to develop wind and other renewable energy projects,
most of it is still undeveloped. The state ranks seventh in the
nation for wind resources, but is 13th in the nation for
installed capacity, according to the American Wind Energy
Association.

This year Wyoming is expected to add nearly 500 megawatts of
new wind energy, with most new turbines being erected in
Sweetwater, Converse, Carbon and Uinta counties, according to
BLM estimates.

Roughly 30 wind energy proposals are being considered for
south-central Wyoming alone, in addition to the 2,000 megawatt
Chokecherry project and the adjacent Sierra Madre Wind Energy
project southeast of Rawlins.

In the southwest region of the state, renewable companies are
looking at the possible development of as many as 500 wind
turbines or more over the next decade as a host of companies
explore possible sites for wind power projects in Sweetwater
and Uinta counties.