In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations, the U.S. Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration (Western) and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), have, as joint lead agencies, prepared the Upper Great Plains Wind Energy Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft PEIS).\1\ The Draft PEIS evaluates issues associated with wind energy development within Western's Upper Great Plains Customer Service Region (UGP Region), which encompasses all or parts of the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and upon the Service's landscape-level grassland and wetland easements in the same area. The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Rural Utility Services (RUS) have participated as cooperating agencies. Public hearings will be held during the public comment period on the Draft PEIS. The Draft PEIS is available on the project Web site at: http://plainswindeis.anl.gov http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/ricesolar/index.html.