After extensive environmental analysis, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last week approved the Chokecherry and Sierra Madre (CCSM) wind energy site for wind development in Carbon County, Wyoming. The farm, proposed by Power Company of Wyoming (PCW) in 2008, will be located on a combination of public and private land.

The 2000 to 3000 MW,  1000-turbine CCSM wind farm is significant not only because it will be the largest in the U.S., but because it has been named to BLM's list of "2012 Renewable Energy Priority Projects" and the White House's seven "nationally and regionally significant" renewable energy projects.

BLM spent more than four years gathering and analyzing environmental data while ecologists and biologists gathered science-based pre-construction data on bird habitats and use in the wind development areas for PCW.

"This is a unique site ideally suited for larger-scale, lower-impact, least-cost renewable energy development that fully aligns with federal land use goals and federal energy goals," said Bill Miller, PCW president and CEO. "We have collected more scientific data in a broader area and to a finer degree than anyone else has ever done. We know where turbines should and should not go. Our plan to microsite all turbines will assure potential impacts on wildlife are far lower than outlined in the general project-wide EIS, while also materially increasing the country's clean energy supplies."

For more:
- see this article
- see the final Environmental Impact Statement
- visit this website