What Will Be in the Upper Great Plains Wind Energy Programmatic EIS

The Upper Great Plains Wind Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) will evaluate the environmental impacts of wind energy development that would interconnect with Western Area Power Administration's transmission system in Western's Upper Great Plains region, and on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grassland and wetland easements in the region.

What is the scope of the analysis in the Draft PEIS?

The PEIS will evaluate environmental impacts associated with wind energy development within Western Area Power Administration's (Western's) Upper Great Plains Customer Service Region (UGP Region), which encompasses all or parts of the States of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota; and upon the Service’s landscape-level grassland and wetland easements in North Dakota, South Dakota, and eastern Montana. See Where is the PEIS Project Area? for PEIS project area maps.

The PEIS is being prepared to support Western's proposed comprehensive region-wide environmental program for wind-energy project interconnections. The PEIS will analyze environmental impacts resulting from development of wind energy projects, and the effectiveness of mitigation measures, standard construction practices, and best management practices in reducing potential impacts. Impacts and mitigation would be analyzed for each environmental resource, and all aspects of wind energy projects would be addressed, including construction and installation of:

• turbines;
• transformers;
• collector lines;
• access roads; and
• substations;

1. Define areas with a high potential for wind-energy development near UGP Region's transmission system in anticipation of future wind-generation interconnection requests.
   
   
2. Define natural and human environment resources in areas with high wind-energy development potential, including Native American lands, to support analyses of the environmental impacts and development of wind-energy resources.
   
   
3. Develop and present mitigation measures for reducing wind-energy development impacts on the natural and human environment for use by interconnection applicants in addressing the environmental impacts of their projects.
   
   
4. Complete a programmatic Endangered Species Act (ESA) section 7 consultation for listed and proposed threatened and endangered species within the study area boundaries established for the Programmatic EIS.
   
   
5. Implement an adaptive management approach that requires mitigation implementation, monitoring, and reporting to ensure that the best mitigation measures are identified and employed to reduce environmental impacts. The monitoring reports would be used by Western and the Service to periodically update mitigation practices.
   
   
6. Define Define thresholds for significant direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts from wind-energy developments and associated transmission system enhancements to support the impact analysis in the Programmatic EIS.
   
   
7. Define circumstances tied to laws, regulations, and policies that have potential to affect wind-energy resource development.
   
   
8. Define possible transmission line enhancements to support wind energy development, and the general level of impacts expected from these transmission enhancements.
   
   
9. Provide a guide for interconnection applicants that includes:
   • information about natural resources within areas with a high potential for wind development;
   • requirements for subsequent site-specific environmental reviews;
   • transmission capacity needs and availability; and
   • appropriate mitigation measures to minimize adverse environmental impacts related to wind projects and associated transmission system enhancements.

What alternatives will be analyzed in the Upper Great Plains Wind Energy PEIS?

At least three alternatives will be considered in the PEIS:

• the proposed action;
  
  
• a no action alternative (existing program wherein new proposals are considered on an ad-hoc basis without standard mitigation or best management practices); and
  
  
• an alternative that consists of Western's proposed action for approving wind projects, but would not allow further wind development on any of the Service's easements.

Additional alternatives may be identified during scoping.

What impacts and issues will be addressed in the Upper Great Plains Wind Energy PEIS?

The Agencies are soliciting comments and suggestions for consideration in the preparation of the PEIS. Preliminary issues and management concerns have been identified by Agency personnel.

• ecological resources;
• visual resources;
• noise;
• land use;
• cultural resources;
• air quality;
• outdoor recreation;
• water resources;
• soils and geology;
• environmental justice; and
• socioeconomics.

Site-Specific Environmental Review

The intention of the PEIS is not to eliminate the need for site-specific environmental review for individual utility-scale wind energy development proposals. Site-specific environmental reviews are expected to be tiered from the PEIS and to be more effective and efficient because of the PEIS.