WYOMING MEGA-WIND MOVES AHEAD

BLM Publishes Draft EIS For PCW's Wyoming Wind Project
25 July 2011 (North American Windpower)

"The U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released its draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Wind Energy Project, a 2 GW to 3 GW wind farm proposed by the Power Company of Wyoming LLC (PCW)…[This] begins a 90-day comment period.

"The approximately 1,100-page draft EIS document results from more than three years of analysis, public input and collaboration among federal, state and local cooperating agencies…"

(from the BLM EIS - click to enlarge

"…The report informs the public of various factors associated with the wind power plant, including its ecological, aesthetic, cultural, economic and social effects. BLM is preparing this EIS pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act [NEPA], as about half of the PCW wind project is sited on federal land…

"The project is expected to include up to 1,000 turbines that will be located on a 320,000-acre working cattle ranch in Carbon County, Wyo. The ranch's outstanding wind resources, coupled with efficient turbine siting, will allow PCW to produce approximately 2.5 GW of renewable energy yet permanently use less than 2,000 acres of land, according to PCW…"