Compiled by Staff

Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit this week in federal court challenging the lands designated as energy corridors in 11 Western states.

The lawsuit contends the designation of the corridors ignored any alternatives that may favor the development of renewable energy and accordingly align with and “perpetuate the use of coal-fired plants throughout the West.” As a result, the suit says, the corridors “leave stranded and underserved” many areas with renewable energy resources.

The suit references Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s announcement last week that nearly 700,000 acres of land in the West would be set aside as solar energy study areas — a move that runs counter to these energy corridors that have been mapped out by federal agencies.

At issue is the federal plan for about 6,000 miles of energy corridors on 3.2 million acres that would be used for The suit, in its criticism of what it calls the “Bush-era” decision, asserts that imperiled wildlife would be put at risk by the corridors, which also fail to consider impacts to land with “wilderness” character.

Multiple federal agencies are named in the suit,  including the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service and Department of Energy, among others. The suit said the designation of the energy corridors flies in the face of the renewable energy initiative embraced by the Western Governors Association and input received from governors of multiple Western states, including Utah, Idaho and New Mexico.

The corridors, the suit said, ignore the efforts states have taken so far to develop renewable energy zones.

“We need energy that links tomorrow’s clean energy sources to America’s cities rather than putting in transmission towers and lines that are hopelessly bound to yesterday’s dirty energy,” said EarthJustice attorney Katie Renshaw. EarthJustice is one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

The suit, filed in the Northern District of California, wants the corridors declared “unlawful.”