Argonne National Laboratory Tribal Internship Program

Argonne is providing support to the Department of Energy and the Bureau of Land Management in the preparation of a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) evaluating the impacts of utility-scale solar energy development. The focus of study is on solar energy development occurring on BLM-administered lands in six western states ( Arizona , California , Colorado , Nevada , New Mexico , and Utah ). Key objectives include (1) establishing agency-specific programs and policies to minimize environmental impacts of solar energy development; (2) identifying BLM lands suitable for solar energy development; (3) amending BLM land use plans in the six state area to address solar energy development; and (4) streamlining future NEPA reviews of solar energy development projects and interconnections to Western Area Power Administration's electricity transmission system.

The staff for the Solar Energy Development PEIS would work with an intern to identify a project that matches the intern's interests and experience. For example, an intern for this project could work on a related research topic, providing a paper at the conclusion of the internship that would be used for project-related analyses. Examples of such topics include summarizing the status of BLM's consultation with tribes in the study area to date, providing a broad overview of tribal cultural concerns in the study area, summarizing existing solar development applications on public lands, finding and reviewing data on the need to upgrade the capacity of transmission lines in one or more of the study states, or reviewing the environmental impacts of upgrading transmission lines.

Alternatively, an intern could work more at the project level, providing technical staff with support in data collection and compilation, tracking progress, coordinating editorial revisions, and maintaining project records. An intern could also provide assistance on the comment-response process for the EIS, helping to categorize and review responses to comments made on the draft Programmatic EIS.