EDWG Update

1. EDWG Update Fred Heutte, ChairEnvironmental Data Working Group August 17, 2016 Western Electricity Coordinating Council

2. Key Topics Golden Eagle/APLIC Environmental Data updates Cultural Data Viewer and Survey Argonne National Labs - EZMT California RETI 2.0 EDWG Outreach Plan – 2-page Fact Sheet adopted July 22 EDWG Meeting Western Electricity Coordinating Council

3. Avian Power Line Interaction Committee • Mike Best, PG&E, APLIC chair • Sherry Liguori, Rocky Mountain Power, previous APLIC chair • APLIC formed 1989, www.aplic.org • Short courses /workshops • Guidance documents • Provides research funding Golden Eagle / APLIC Western Electricity Coordinating Council

4. Golden Eagle and transmission Avian protection plans contribute directly to reliability Electrocutions not generally an issue for transmission > 161 kV Industry moving from nesting prevention (ineffective) to ‘bird safe’ construction, operation and protection GIS data helpful for survey, ‘hot spots’ for maintenance, new corridor and line siting Golden Eagle / APLIC Western Electricity Coordinating Council

5. Annual review of EDWG Preferred Data Sets 108 active data sets 48 updated this year Assistance on obtaining new Alberta data from Dean Chartier (AESO) Exploring update of critical habitat data (CHAT, Nature Serve) Continuing to work with SHPOs for state cultural data EDWG Data Review Western Electricity Coordinating Council

6. 1 Data Viewer – user beta testing – no functionality issues 2 EDWG Stakeholder Survey Interest in new data layers: • Existing energy infrastructure (e.g., pipelines, well pads) • Greater Sage-Grouse priority/general habitat and leks • Viewshed issues (sensitive viewsheds such as parks and scenic areas) • Population density data (not census data) / residential zones / growth boundary zones • Airports • Visual Resource Management data (BLM/US Forest Service) • Land ownership and land use • Archaeological sensitivity zones (Predictive Modeling) EDWG Survey Activities Western Electricity Coordinating Council

7. Ready to go live . . . Cultural Data Viewer = EDWG Data Viewer + cultural data + simple login process (helps track usage) Cultural data can be sensitive and requires masking and aggregation Data access provided through data sharing agreements with State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) Available cultural data -- mostly from project survey work, typically < 5% of an area, often < 1% Valuable in addressing cultural risks early in transmission project development May add predictive data for cultural presence/absence in future EDWG Cultural Data Viewer Western Electricity Coordinating Council

8. WECC is coordinating with BLM on Section 368 Energy Corridor assessment Corridors for oil/gas/hydrogen pipelines and electric transmission/distribution (Sec. 368, Energy Policy Act of 2005) Three year project cycle, 8 BLM subregions, Region 1 underway (western AZ, southwest NV, desert CA) Jim Gazewood – BLM project manager and EDWG member BLM ROW update: corridors, avoidance, exclusion New sage grouse data – first areas by January BLM Wind Mapper available September WECC engaging in Sec 368 Region 1 study assessment (2016 Study Program) BLM Sec 368 Corridor Assessment Western Electricity Coordinating Council

9. BLM Sec 368 Corridor Assessment Western Electricity Coordinating Council

10. Developed for the Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council (EISPC) by: Argonne National Laboratory (Project Lead) Oak Ridge National Laboratory National Renewable Energy Laboratory Sandia National Laboratories (energy-water enhancements) Demo by Jim Kuiper and Vladimir Koritarov, ANL November 2015 decision to expand to full US – cooperation opportunity Give it a test ride! http://ezmt.anl.gov ANL Energy Zones Mapping Tool Western Electricity Coordinating Council

11. Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative 2.0 (California) Managed by California Natural Resources Agency and other state energy and environmental agencies Studying options for implementing California 50% RPS by 2030 Phase I (November 2016) California focus Phase II (2017) Joint assessment with western states and provinces Combined transmission, renewable resource, land use and habitat assessment Databasin GIS/collaboration platform -- reti.databasin.org RETI 2.0 Western Electricity Coordinating Council

12. Environment and Land Use Technical Group (July 22 EDWG presentation by Scott Flint, CEC and Jim Strickholt, Conservation Biology Institute/Databasin) • Transmission Technical Group • Agency leadership update Monday, August 15 • Western Outreach Project – Tom Carr, WIEB • August 12, Portland • September 1, Las Vegas Launch Phase 2 regionwide assessment early 2017 Using EDWG data in Databasin Opportunity for collaboration (WECC 2017 Study Program) RETI 2.0 Western Electricity Coordinating Council

13. Will be available on EDWG committee site and today’s SPSG meeting page EDWG 2-page fact sheet - adopted Western Electricity Coordinating Council

14. Fred Heutte, EDWG chair NW Energy Coalition fred@nwenergy.org 503.757-6222 Jon Jensen, WECC staff jjensen@wecc.biz 801.819-7614 EDWG Contacts EDWG 2016 • EDWG membership list with 2-year rotation submitted to SPSG Chair • EDWG vice-chair recommendation also submitted – Daly Edmunds, Audubon Rockies and SPSG • New EDWG member: Rod Fisher, Rocky Mountain Power • next meeting: October 7, Portland, Renewable Northwest office (if approved) Western Electricity Coordinating Council