[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 144 (Wednesday, July 28, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44278-44279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-18471]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CACA 47740, LLCAD07000, L51030000.FX0000, LVRAB109AA01]
Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact
Statement for the Imperial Valley Solar, LLC Project, California and
the Proposed California Desert Conservation Area Plan Amendment
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act
of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment/Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Imperial Valley Solar, LLC
(IVS) Project and by this notice is announcing its availability.
DATES: The BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the
conditions described in the regulations may protest the BLM's Proposed
RMP Amendment. A person who meets the conditions must file the protest
within 30 days after the date the Environmental Protection Agency
publishes its notice of availability in the Federal Register. The BLM
will also be accepting additional public comments on the RMP/EIS within
30 days after the date that the Environmental Protection Agency
publishes its Notice of Availibility in the Federal Register. Comments
can be sent to Jim Stobaugh at the addresses given below. All
substantive comments will be reviewed and responded to in the Record of
Decision.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS are available
for public inspection at the El Centro Field Office, 1661 S. 4th
Street, El Centro, California 92243. Interested persons may also review
the Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS on the following Web site: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/elcentro/nepa/stirling.html. All protests must
be in writing and mailed to one of the following addresses:
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Regular mail Overnight mail
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BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda BLM Director (210),
Williams, P.O. Box 66538, Washington, DC Attention: Brenda Williams,
20035. 1620 L Street, NW., Suite
1075, Washington, DC 20036.
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All comments must be in writing and sent to Jim Stobaugh, BLM
Project Manager, by mail at Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 12000,
Reno, Nevada 89520; or by e-mail at [email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jim Stobaugh, BLM Project Manager, by
telephone at (775) 861-6478; through mail at Bureau of Land Management,
P.O. Box 12000, Reno, Nevada 89520; or by e-mail at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Stirling Energy Systems (SES) filed right-
of-way (ROW) application CACA-47740 for the SES Solar Two Project.
Afrter merging with Tessera Soar the applicant changed its name to
Imperial Valley Solar, LLC. The project name, SES Solar Two, has also
been changed to the Imperial Valley Solar, LLC project. The proposed
IVS Project is a concentrated solar electrical generating facility
capable of generating 709 megawatts (MW) of renewable power. The entire
project encompasses approximately 6,144 acres of BLM-managed lands. The
project site is in Imperial County, California, approximately 4 miles
east of Ocotillo and 14 miles west of El Centro. Generally, the site is
bounded on the north by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System/San
Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway and on the south by Interstate
Highway 8. The eastern boundary is approximately 1.5 miles west of
Dunaway Road and the western boundary is the westerly section line in
Section 22 in Township 16 South, Range 12 East. An additional 110-acre
laydown construction area is proposed east of Dunaway Road.
IVS proposes to use SunCatcher technology on the site. A SunCatcher
is a 25-kilowatt solar dish designed to automatically track the sun and
collect and focus solar energy onto a power conversion unit (PCU),
which generates electricity. The system consists of a 38-foot high by
40-foot wide solar concentrator in a dish structure that supports an
array of curved glass mirror facets. These mirrors concentrate solar
energy onto the solar receiver of the PCU.
The project also includes an electrical transmission line, water
supply pipeline, and access road. A new 230-kilovolt (kV) substation
would be constructed in approximately the center of the project site
near a main services complex that is also part of the proposal. The
substation would be connected to the existing San Diego Gas and
Electric Imperial Valley Substation by a 10.3-mile long, double-circuit
230-kV transmission line. Approximately 7.6 miles of this new line
would be outside
[[Page 44279]]
the project area, but is included in the analysis. The transmission
line would occupy approximately 92 acres.
The BLM has entered into a MOU with the California Energy
Commission (CEC) to conduct a joint environmental review of solar
thermal projects that are proposed on Federal land managed by the BLM,
with the CEC as the lead agency preparing the environmental documents.
The BLM and CEC have agreed through the MOU to conduct the review of
the IVS Project in a single combined NEPA/California Environmental
Quality Act process and document.
The Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS/Staff Assessment and
Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment for the Proposed Imperial Valley Solar
Project in Imperial County, California was published on October 17,
2008 (see 73 FR 61902). The BLM held two public scoping meetings in El
Centro, California, on November 24 and December 18, 2008. The formal
scoping period ended January 2, 2010. The BLM invited the National Park
Service to enter a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), as a cooperating
agency in the EIS, for its special expertise concerning the Juan
Batista de Anza National Historic Trail.
In addition, the BLM and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps)
entered into an MOU to formalize the Corps as a Federal cooperating
agency in developing the Final EIS. The Corps' requirements under the
Clean Water Act (CWA), Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines are to identify and
authorize only the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable
Alternative which maximizes avoidance and minimizes impacts to aquatic
resources of the United States. The Corps and the applicant are working
with the BLM and CEC to identify the project proposal that would
reasonably comply with the Corps' requirements under the CWA and
404(b)(1) Guidelines.
The Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement/Staff Assessment for the Stirling Energy Systems Solar Two
Project and Possible California Desert Conservation Area Plan Amendment
was published in the Federal Register on February 22, 2010 (see 75 FR
7624). Comments on the Draft RMP Amendment/Draft EIS/Staff Assessment
received from the public and internal BLM review were considered and
incorporated, as appropriate, into the proposed plan amendment.
Public comments resulted in the addition of clarifying text, but
did not significantly change the proposed land use plan decision.
The BLM's purpose and need for the Solar Two project EIS/SA is to
respond to IVS LLC's application under Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C.
1761) for a ROW grant to construct, operate, and decommission a solar
thermal facility on public lands in compliance with FLPMA, the BLM ROW
regulations, and other applicable Federal laws.
The BLM will decide whether to approve, approve with modification,
or deny a ROW grant to IVS, LLC for the proposed IVS project. The BLM
will also consider amending the California Desert Conservation Area
(CDCA) Plan (1980, as amended) through this analysis. The CDCA Plan,
while recognizing the potential compatibility of solar generation
facilities on public lands, requires that all sites associated with
power generation or transmission not identified in that plan be
considered through the BLM's land use plan amendment process. If the
BLM decides to grant a ROW, the BLM would also amend the CDCA Plan.
In the Final EIS analysis, the BLM's proposed action is to
authorize the IVS Project and approve a CDCA Plan amendment in response
to the application received from IVS. In addition to analyzing the
proposed action, the BLM has analyzed the following alternatives:
Authorize a smaller 300 MW alternative and amend the CDCA Plan;
authorize the project as described in the Drainage Avoidance 1
alternative that may reduce impacts to primary water drainages of the
United States and amend the CDCA Plan; and authorize the project as
described in the more restrictive Drainage Avoidance 2
alternative that may substantially reduce impacts in eastern and
western high flow water drainages of the United States and amend the
CDCA Plan. As required under the California Environmental Quality Act
and NEPA, the EIS analyzes a No Action alternative that would not
require a CDCA Plan amendment. The BLM has also analyzed a No Project
alternative to deny the project, but amend the CDCA Plan to potentially
allow other solar energy power generation projects on the project site.
The BLM additionally has analyzed a No Project alternative to deny the
project and amend the CDCA Plan to prohibit solar energy power
generation projects on the project site. The BLM has taken into
consideration the provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and
Secretarial Orders 3283 Enhancing Renewable Energy Development on the
Public Lands and 3285A1 Renewable Energy Development by the Department
of the Interior in responding to the IVS application.
The BLM evaluated the potential impacts of the proposed IVS Project
in this EIS on air quality, biological resources, cultural resources,
water resources, geological resources and hazards, land use, noise,
paleontological resources, public health, socioeconomics, soils,
traffic and transportation, visual resources, and other resources.
Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM
regarding the Proposed RMP Amendment may be found in the Final EIS
``Dear Reader'' Letter and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. Protests must be
received by the Director by the close of the protest period to be
accepted as valid. Protests that are postmarked by the close of the
protest period, but received by the Director after the close of the
protest period will only be accepted as valid if the protesting party
also provides a faxed or e-mailed advance copy before the close of the
protest period.
E-mailed and faxed protests will not be accepted as valid protests
unless the protesting party also provides the original letter by either
regular or overnight mail by the close of the protest period. Under
these conditions, the BLM will consider the e-mailed or faxed protest
as an advance copy that will receive full consideration. If you wish to
provide the BLM with such advance notification, please direct faxed
protests to the attention of the BLM protest coordinator at (202) 912-
7212, and e-mails to [email protected].
All protests, including the follow-up letter to e-mails or faxes,
must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate address, as set forth
in the ADDRESSES section above.
Before including your phone number, e-mail address, or other
personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware
that your entire protest--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your protest to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be
able to do so.
Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director, Natural Resources.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 1506.10 and 43 CFR 1610.2, 1610.5.
[FR Doc. 2010-18471 Filed 7-27-10; 8:45 am]
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