A preliminary map of potential energy corridors throughout the West hasn't drawn any red flags yet from energy officials or local conservation groups in Wyoming.

As part of the multi-agency West-Wide Energy Corridor programmatic environmental impact statement, the federal government issued a map last week identifying areas of the West where there are already significant power line, pipeline and other linear pathways that might be further developed.

The main corridors identified in Wyoming include the Interstate 80 corridor and a north-south route through the Big Horn Basin.

"It appears the majority of the designated corridor generally follows Interstate 80, and I think that's appropriate because it's obviously a major corridor already," said Bruce Pendery, director of public lands for the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

The group had submitted comments advising against designating a corridor through the South Pass area in western Wyoming. Pendery said he was pleased that the preliminary routes do not go through South Pass.

"These things (energy corridors) do have very substantial environmental impacts, not the least of which is the aesthetic appeal of some of these landscapes," Pendery said. "We know that federal lands are going to be part of the makeup of this, so we won't say, 'No corridors on federal lands.' But perhaps we may comment on specific pieces of federal lands at a closer look."

Tamara Gertsch, project leader for the Wyoming Bureau of Land Management, said it's too early to know how many acres of "green-field" public lands in Wyoming may be included in the energy corridors. She said several Wyoming BLM field offices are busy identifying potential energy corridors as they update their resource management plans.

"We are looking at where we have transmission today, established corridors on the ground. The desire would be to utilize those to the greatest extent possible," Gertsch said.

By design, the West-Wide Energy Corridor effort is an attempt to identify existing routes, and is not particularly drawing strategic connections between future energy production and consumption points.

Two quasi-governmental agencies in Wyoming, however, are doing just that. So far, the federal government's preliminary mapping appears to be somewhat consistent with the work of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, according to the agency's executive director.

"In general, they've done a very good job of identifying corridors in Wyoming to get our product out to market," said Steve Waddington, executive director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority.

Waddington said there are three main transmission routes from southwest Wyoming to markets in Utah, and one known as the Flaming Gorge route was not identified in the preliminary West-Wide Energy Corridor map.

Waddington said he expects the state will ask the Department of Energy, which is leading the energy corridor project, to include the Flaming Gorge route, which already includes a "skinny" power line.

Waddington said there are efforts under way to possibly replace the Flaming Gorge power lines with a larger transmission system.

"I'm a little torn on making that comment, because we've been working with our development partner and trying to keep it quiet for strategic reasons. But maybe it's time to communicate with the Department of Energy," Waddington said.

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dustin.bleizeffer@casperstartribune.net.