2015 Garfield County Energy Master Plan

Striking a Balance …– Economic advantage via energy resource development– Conservation of natural resources, wildlife, scenery, community values, public health, safety and welfare– Supports funding decisions associated with appropriate capital improvements for energy development projects Garfield County

The Project• First of a two-phase project: foundation• Project elements: – Collection of publicly-available information – Development of resource and constraint maps• Supplemental information for the County – County: aid with decision-making processes – Federal: Summary Rules, Resource Management Plans – Energy Policy Development for conventional and renewable resources

The Process Our GIS Approach to the Energy Atlas 1. Energy Resource Locations• Primary and secondary data collection• County staff, agencies, and resource experts 2. Constraints to Development • Regulatory, resource impacts, ownership, access, etc. • County Commissioners and TRC 3. Energy Development Opportunities • Least constrained energy resources • Spectrum of opportunities, range of constraints

Energy Resources• Aggregate / Gravel• Biomass• Coal• Coalbed Methane• Geothermal• Hydroelectric• Natural Gas• Oil• Oil Shale• Solar• Uranium• Wind

The Process: Data• Collection of publicly-available information – Local, state, federal, non-governmental – New information was not developed as a part of this project• Types of Information – Federal lease areas: BLM / USFS – Infrastructure: transmission lines / pipelines – Land ownership: public / private – Surface water: rivers / lakes /streams – Transportation: roads / highways / railroads – Wildlife and habitat: big game / listed species

Energy Atlas• Information collected and reviewed – Graphically modified for visual clarity / illustrative purposes – Color, line weight, hatching – Scale of base information varied by source• Data gaps identified – Data not available: privately-held or additional analysis needed• GIS Data Collection Matrix: table of data collected – Appendix A: “Live” document for the County to use and amend with new or revised data – Information can be incorporated into an interactive planning tool

Energy Resource Maps• Baseline information for each energy resource• Land ownership: public and private• Maps depicted at the County scale – Cities and towns, major roads, terrain, rivers• Dense areas of information shown in detail• Appendix B – maps at 11” x 17”

Energy Resource Maps

Energy Resource Maps

Energy Resource Maps

Opportunity and Constraints• List of development constraints developed by TRC – Broad list of constraints • Natural resources: geographic, water, wildlife • Regulatory: state and federal designations • Land use• Many constraints have corresponding GIS data – Shapes of areas or point locations – Some constraints have no data: air quality, visual resources• County identified moderate to major constraints – Air quality, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, jurisdictional wetlands, roadless areas, Wilderness Areas• Energy Resource Constraint Maps – Appendix C

Energy Resource Constraints• Constraints selected specific to each energy resource• Each constraints valued equally• Constraint density represented by color • Green = fewer constraints; red = more constraints • Constraints not specifically identified at this phase

Energy Resource Constraints

Energy Resource Constraints

Energy Resource Constraints

Energy Resource Inventory: Summary Report• Purpose of the Energy Resource Inventory – Methodology and process• Inventory and Evaluation of Energy Resources – Constraints / regulatory exclusions: public and private – Energy resources: mineral, renewable, non-renewable• Opportunities and Constraint Analysis – Each energy source: graphic and narrative – Quantification of area by constraint density• Findings and Implications

Next Steps• Use the data and maps for planning decisions • Energy development • Resource protection• Creation of a user-friendly publicly available tool• Development of data to address data gaps• Energy resource policy development

Questions and Answers