Feds Discuss Energy Corridors

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) – Several dozen people have told federal officials they’re concerned by the government’s plan to designated more than 6,000 miles of energy corridors throughout the West.

The Bureau of Land Management and other agencies hosted a public meeting Thursday in Albuquerque, one of four that will be held around the country before a comment period ends Feb. 14.

Residents of Placitas, officials from Sandoval County and a city councilor from Las Cruces turned out for the Albuquerque meeting.

Speakers blasted the plan, saying it shows corridors on federal land but not what happens when those routes bump up against state, private and tribal land.

Leaders from Zuni, Santa Ana and Zia pueblos complain that the maps show only disconnected lines. They say those gaps must be filled in before the impact of the corridors can be measured.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)