Argonne National Laboratory Tribal Internship Program

Argonne National Laboratory is providing support to the Western Area Power Administration (U.S. Department of Energy) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the preparation of a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) evaluating the impacts of wind energy development and connection of wind energy projects to the electricity transmission grid in the Upper Great Plains Region of the U.S. The focus of study is on wind energy development occurring in Western Area Power Administration's Upper Great Plains Customer Service Region and/or on wetland and grassland easements managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect habitat in six states ( North Dakota , South Dakota , Montana , Minnesota , Iowa , and Nebraska ). Key objectives include (1) establishing agency-specific programs and policies to evaluate wind energy interconnection requests; (2) minimizing environmental impacts of wind energy development on wetland and grassland easements or that would connect to Western's transmission grid; (3) identifying areas where potential environmental impacts would impose the greatest constraints; and (4) streamlining future NEPA reviews of individual wind energy projects and interconnections to the electricity transmission system.

An intern for this project could work on a related research topic, writing a report at the conclusion of the internship that would be used to inform impact analyses for the PEIS. Internships would be geared toward interests and educational background of the selected student. Examples of potential topics include the status of existing wind energy development applications in the Upper Great Plains Region, environmental impacts of upgrading transmission lines; possible land uses and land use restrictions on lands used for wind energy development; or identifying species of birds and bats that could be at most risk from wind energy projects in the region. Alternatively, an intern could assist at a more general project level, such as providing technical staff with support in data collection and compilation, coordinating editorial revisions, or maintaining project records. An intern could also provide assistance in the public comment-response process for the EIS by helping to categorize and review responses to comments made on the draft Programmatic EIS.