DOE's Plans for Wind Energy Development in Plains States Will Affect Tribal Resources WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 -- The U.S. Energy Department's Western Area Power Administration and the U.S. Interior Department's Fish & Wildlife Service have announced they intend to prepare and environmental impact statement to evaluate wind energy development in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The Federal Register Notice reads, "The outcome of this Programmatic EIS may affect or apply to tribal resources. Therefore, Western and the Service will meet their Federal requirements to consult with affected tribes throughout the development of the Programmatic EIS to jointly evaluate and address the potential effects, if any, of the proposed action." The agencies have scheduled public scoping meetings for Sept. 30 in Sioux Falls, S.D., Oct. 1 in Bismarck, N.D., and Oct. 2 in Billings, Mont. Oral comments from the public will be accepted at the public scoping meetings; written comments are due Nov. 10. Western proposes to develop and implement a comprehensive region-wide management program for wind-energy project interconnections in response to an increasing number of wind-energy project interconnection requests. The requests are primarily from independent wind project developers who wish to interconnect their projects to the region's transmission system, in order to move their generation to market. Currently, Western addresses each request for interconnection separately, in the order that they are received. To hasten analysis of such proposed projects, this programmatic EIS would analyze the 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 turbine, transformer, collector line, access road, and substation installations, and operational and maintenance activities. Federal Register Notice http://www.newswatchnativeamerica.com/FRNotices/080911.WInd.pdf