The designation of thousands of miles of “energy corridors” through 11 states, mandated by Congress in 2005 and meant to be implemented by August 2007, is proving to be more difficult than anticipated.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management acknowledged Wednesday that they probably will miss the August deadline, but added that the various federal agencies involved in the energy corridor effort agree that it’s better to do the job correctly than to rush through the process.

“A two-year window to complete everything … I think that was a pretty aggressive timetable,” said Heather Feeney, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management. “Congress was notified that we were not going to make our original deadline for publishing the draft PEIS in December 2006; the ultimate interest is getting it done properly.”

Instead, the draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) probably will be ready for public perusal by April or May, Feeney said. Once it’s issued, federal law requires a minimum 45-day comment period, followed by an internal analysis of any issues raised and formal written responses to those comments.

It’s only after that process that a final Record of Decision, designating the corridors, would be issued — leading those involved in the process to believe they will miss the August 2007 deadline.

“When you add up everything, the deadline starts to not look realistic,” Feeney said.

The energy corridors on federal lands in 11 western states, including Montana, are part of Section 368 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

These corridors would represent the preferred locations for oil, natural gas, and hydrogen pipelines, as well as electricity transmission and distribution facilities; once projects are actually proposed for these corridors, they would undergo additional environmental review before permits were issued and rights-of-way were granted.

The Energy Act grew out of frustration over the length of time it takes the energy industry to get approval to run pipelines and power lines. The Department of Energy (DOE) and the BLM were tasked with putting together the corridors, and are working on the project with other federal land agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Defense.

Two states — California and Wyoming — also have signed on as cooperating agencies, as well as six local governments in Wyoming, Feeney said. In addition, at least a dozen American Indian tribes want a say in the corridors’ locations, and the federal Fish and Wildlife Service also wants to be involved.

“There are just a lot of players, and even among the four lead agencies we have different missions,” Feeney said. “The Department of Energy is the co-lead agency, but it doesn’t manage lands. The Forest Service manages land like we (the BLM) do, but it has a slightly different mission.

“Add to this that the lands are in 11 states and it gets pretty unwieldy administratively.”

An additional concern is that once the corridor is designated, each federal agency’s land management plans will automatically be amended.

“So we need to make sure that use of that site is consistent with the land use for those sites,” Feeney added.

The possible locations for corridors were crafted after a whirlwind tour by federal officials in 2005, who were seeking input from the public and energy companies about where they would like to see — or not see — transmission corridors.

At this point, the size of the pathways would be about 3,500 feet wide, although some energy companies requested the corridors be closer to a few miles wide, and some have said they could be up to 10 miles wide.

Input from the tour was used to craft a map that was released to the public last June. But because the DOE and BLM only have the authority to designate corridors on federal lands, many of the corridors appeared on the maps as a series of small dots or unconnected lines on public property that goes to and from — but not through — tribal or private lands.

For example, south of Helena, two small dots appeared on the map on the I-15 corridor. A short line was drawn on I-15 midway through Jefferson County, and another was shown on I-90 near the I-15 intersection. North of Helena, a small squiggly line crossed BLM land near what might be the Sleeping Giant.

The longest line shown was west of Missoula and generally followed I-90, although it’s drawn on Forest Service land.

Feeney said those maps have been withdrawn from the energy corridor Web site because significant revisions have made them outdated. A new map will be released along with the draft PEIS in April.

Reporter Eve Byron can be reached at 447-4076 or by e-mail at eve.byron@helenair.com.