Addressing concerns about the types and development of energy and a secure energy future is a high priority for the current United States administration, the Department of the Interior (DOI) in particular. The BLM and other land management agencies within the DOI are charged with balancing energy development with other land uses and values. Decision-making about land uses is often controversial and complex; this necessitates easy access to useful data, literature, and other informative resources that facilitate a better understanding of how energy development affects natural resources, ecosystems, economics, and society. Although there are several valuable on-line resources that provide information about energy development and associated [...]
Summary
Addressing concerns about the types and development of energy and a secure energy future is a high priority for the current United States administration, the Department of the Interior (DOI) in particular. The BLM and other land management agencies within the DOI are charged with balancing energy development with other land uses and values. Decision-making about land uses is often controversial and complex; this necessitates easy access to useful data, literature, and other informative resources that facilitate a better understanding of how energy development affects natural resources, ecosystems, economics, and society.
Although there are several valuable on-line resources that provide information about energy development and associated effects, they are distributed across numerous Web sites and often focus on just a few key themes (for example, oil and gas, or wind energy and wildlife). Development of a Web-based energy-resource database comprising foundational, up-to-date references for relevant literature and links to on-line resources and research efforts would provide USGS researchers, their collaborators, and other interested parties with an efficient mechanism for accessing references to the latest data and research findings.
To address this need, the Western Energy Citation Clearinghouse (WECC) database was developed in FY2011. In FY2012, a Web site was developed to make the database accessible to scientists, managers, and the general public. This is a “living” database in that it will be reviewed and updated continuously to provide the most current resources and information. Through extensive collaboration across disciplines and thorough literature searches, fundamental and current literature is identified for inclusion in the WECC. This effort will not duplicate existing on-line resources, such as the Wind Energy and Wildlife literature database developed at Colorado State University’s Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory. Rather, the WECC is a complementary reference clearinghouse that facilitates efficient access to multiple existing on-line resources and additional literature references.
Products Completed in FY2012
Montag, J.M, Willis, C., Glavin, L., Eberhardt-Frank, M.K., Everette, A.L., Peterson, K., Nicoud, S., and Novacek, A., 2013, Western energy citation clearinghouse (v. 1): Fort Collins, U.S. Geological Survey, at https://www.wlci.gov/wecc/.
Products Completed in FY2011
Montag, J.M., Willis, C.J., and Glavin, L.W., 2011, Abbreviated bibliography on energy development -- A focus on the Rocky Mountain Region: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011 -- 1206, 316 p.
