NLCD’s land cover information helps inform efforts to develop new and expanding sources of minerals, energy and utilities within the United States to meet the needs of a growing population and growing industries.

In one example, the natural gas 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline began flowing in 2024 to customers in West Virginia and Virginia. NLCD contributed to several aspects of the Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline, including the classification of vegetation types along the pipeline routes, such as for habitat evaluation; land use types affected by construction; land use types to help define baseline sediment condition; and vegetation that could potentially screen the pipeline from historic resources. (The pipeline is shown under excavation in the background photo.) 

SoftWright LLC provides radio frequency software, Terrain Analysis Package (TAP), to a variety of customers, including federal agencies, public safety departments, energy companies and utilities. TAP’s inclusion of NLCD land cover data that was released in 2023 helps indicate where buildings and vegetation may interfere with radio signals.       

Lithium is a mineral valued for use in the consumer electronics, automotive and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Companies aim to increase lithium extraction in the United States, including Albemarle, which proposes to resume open pit mining at the legacy Kings Mountain Mine in North Carolina. Albemarle Corporation used NLCD to indicate the land cover types found in the area for a draft environmental assessment prepared in 2024.

Exelon, the largest utility company in the United States, transmits and distributes electricity and natural gas to markets in the eastern United States and northern Illinois. Exelon produced maps of its utility service areas in 2023 that relied heavily on NLCD for the resulting analysis of biodiversity sensitivity in those areas.

The United States is a land of great variety—including a variety of natural disasters. Wildfires may dominate the news one day, followed by a hurricane the next and flooding after that. Hurricanes tend to be the most expensive types of disasters, capable of causing billions of dollars in damage to homes, infrastructure, businesses and other buildings. 

Land cover classifications are useful for hurricane modeling, which can help the insurance industry manage risks in states affected by hurricanes. The state Florida Commission on Hurricane Loss Projection Methodology standards expect hurricane models to use a land use and land cover database that’s consistent with NLCD data. For example, when Applied Research Associates Inc. released the newest version of its HurLoss Hurricane Catastrophe Model software, a 2024 press release pointed out the inclusion of an updated version of NLCD as a key data source. Moody’s North Atlantic Hurricane Models use NLCD to validate Moody’s Risk Management Solutions’ land use and land cover database and to identify regional changes, according to its 2023 submission documentation.

First Street Technology Inc. used NLCD data in creating its natural hazard models for residential and business addresses across the United States, with NLCD contributing to its risk models for wind, heat, wildfire and flooding. Industries such as insurance and finance have found First Street data useful, along with real estate. Prospective homebuyers can access the First Street hazard risk factor scores for properties for sale on Realtor.com and fellow real estate website Zillow. In 2024, Zillow added the risk scores, and Realtor.com expanded beyond flood and wildfire to include the remaining risk scores.

The Hazus Program in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) identifies areas that are at high risk of natural hazards and estimates the potential losses from hazards. The 2024 Hazus Inventory Technical Manual lists NLCD as contributing foundational data. NLCD data also helps determine whether conditions have changed over time for river and coastal areas to warrant new flood studies.