Sage-grouse require expanses of mature and old growth sagebrush habitats in gently sloping areas, tall residual grass cover with sagebrush overstory for nesting, and wet meadows for brood rearing. Their habitat has decreased about 60% over the last 100 years with acceleration in that decline in recent years.

Now, sage-grouse populations are facing high risks from new energy projects across their habitat. Industrial wind energy projects and huge utility corridor proposals are proposed for some of the West’s most remote and intact sagebrush landscapes.

Developers of these projects parrot the same fearbased talking points that have driven so many policies of the US in over the past decade, only with a climate twist: “If we can’t build the Windy Ridge kazillion megawatt wind farm on top of 20 sage-grouse leks, polar bears will die”.

Two current examples of destructive energy projects are the proposed China Mountain wind farm near Jackpot, Nevada on the Idaho-Nevada border, and the Ruby Natural Gas Pipeline that seeks to build a new energy corridor through critically important sage-steppe landscapes of northwestern Nevada.

China Mountain Wind Project

The China Mountain Wind Project would destroy a stronghold of sage-grouse. One hundred and eighty five turbines standing 250 feet tall would be strung out in arrays on the ID-NV border east of Jackpot. The project would require 40 miles of new roads, and 30 miles of improved roads. The power is slated to go to Las Vegas – to light casinos and promote sprawl.

Just voicing concerns about the wildlife impacts of the China Mountain Wind Project is dangerous to the jobs of public officials speaking up for sage grouse. Dave Parrish, the former Magic Valley Idaho Fish and Game Manager, was removed from his position with lightning speed when he spoke up about the negative impacts if the China Mountain Wind Project be built.

Idaho has many suitably windy places on previously disturbed lands to put turbines galore. Like much of the margin of the Snake River Plain near the existing power grid where the aquifer is drying up, and irrigation wells are being shut down. Instead the big wind companies, in order to avoid the costs of paying private land owners to lease their land, prefer to destroy wild mountains, use political muscle to push public agencies around, and site their turbines at dirt cheap rates at the public and wildlife’s expense.

Ruby “Clean” Natural Gas Pipe Line

The Ruby natural gas pipeline would cut a 675-mile swath across watersheds from eastern Wyoming to an energy hub in Malin, Oregon. Ruby LLC, an El Paso Gas subsidiary, was told from the beginning by state game agencies, Native Americans and even the Bureau of Land Management that portions of this 600 mile project were in the worst possible place for negative impacts on sage-grouse and pygmy rabbit habitat, and that the Ruby pipeline should stay close to existing energy corridors.

Ruby LLC refused to listen and picked the worst route imaginable for sagebrush species in northwestern Nevada. The pipeline will tear apart public lands by the Sheldon National Antelope Refuge, the Black Rock National Conservation Area and Summit Lake Reservation, the most remote Indian Reservation in the lower 48 states.

In eastern Nevada, the proposed Ruby gas line happens to cut through the Thousand Springs/Winecup-Gamble Ranch area, site of previous schemes for coal-fired power plants. The Winecup is rumored to be the ranch being acquired by T. Boone Pickens and his wife Madeleine, or to be used by other parties, ostensibly to be a refuge to put wild horses removed from BLM lands. The Winecup Ranch is selling 19 million gallons of water to Ruby.

But why the need for so much water if this is a gas pipeline? Ruby LLC will consume at least 78 million gallons for dust abatement alone. There is a tremendous amount of road “improvement” (600 separate roads) and other activity involved with the Ruby route punching through remote areas where two-tracks predominate. All because Ruby has refused to stay by the Freeway and already developed areas. A quarter billion gallons of water will be used for hydrostatic testing to see if the gas line ruptures. Water will be spilled out on the sagebrush habitats all along the route. Both surface and ground waters will be wasted and landscapes greatly disturbed.

The gas line will cross at least 60 sage-grouse leks and will open up a wide expanse of remote country for all manner of development. Building the Ruby gas line in the northern Black Rock desert as proposed avoids California thereby bypassing California state environmental regulations. WWP seeks to reroute the Ruby pipeline to areas that are already disturbed and save millions of gallons water as well as critical sage-steppe landscapes.

Katie Fite is WWP’s Biodiversity Director.  She lives in Boise, Idaho.

Originally published in the Watershed Messenger, Summer 2009 – Vol. XVI, No. 2

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 11:27 am and is filed under Idaho, Interior, Nevada, Public Lands, Sage grouse, Wildlife Habitat, Wind, water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.