[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 7, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17762-17763]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7832]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CACA 49016, LLCAD05000, L51010000.FX0000. LVRWB092990]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement/Staff Assessment for the Solar Millennium's Ridgecrest Solar
Power Project and Possible 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) and
the California Energy Commission (CEC) have prepared a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Draft California Desert
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment, and Staff Assessment (SA) as a
joint environmental analysis document for the Ridgecrest Solar Power
Project (RSPP), Kern County, California, and by this notice are
announcing the opening of the comment period.
DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive
written comments on the Draft EIS/SA within 90 days following the date
the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of
Availability of this document in the Federal Register. The BLM will
announce future meetings or hearings and any other public involvement
activities at least 15 days in advance through public notices, media
releases, and/or mailings.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the RSPP by any of the
following methods:
Web site: http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solar_millennium_ridgecrest/index.html.
E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected].
Fax: (916) 651-0966
Mail: Eric Solorio, Project Manager, Siting, Transmission,
and Environmental Protection Division, California Energy Commission,
1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento, California 95814.
Copies of the Solar Millennium's RSPP Draft EIS/SA are available
from the CEC and the BLM at the above addresses and in the BLM
Ridgecrest Field Office, 300 South Richmond Road, Ridgecrest,
California 92555, or the California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle
San Juan de los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 92553.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet Eubanks, BLM Project Manager,
telephone: (951) 697-5376, address: Bureau of Land Management, 22835
Calle San Juan de los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 92553; or e-mail
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Solar Millennium has submitted to the BLM an
amended application to develop a dry-cooled, utility-scale solar
thermal electric power generating facility. The project will have a
nominal output of 250 megawatts, consisting of a single power plant
utilizing two solar fields.
The project would be located in northeastern Kern County,
California, about five miles southwest of Ridgecrest, California. The
proposed project right-of-way (ROW) would encompass approximately 3,995
acres of public lands administered by the BLM. The total disturbance
area would encompass approximately 1,944 acres. The dry-cooled project
would use solar parabolic trough technology to generate electricity.
The project also includes the relocation of two Southern California
Edison electrical transmission lines, construction of a new 5-mile long
water supply pipeline, and an access road.
The BLM's purpose and need for the RSPP is to respond to Solar
Millennium'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 and regulations. The BLM
will decide whether to approve, approve with modification, or deny
issuance of a ROW grant to Solar Millennium for the proposed RSPP. The
BLM will also amend the CDCA Plan in this NEPA analysis by designating
the project area as either available or unavailable to solar energy
projects. The CDCA Plan (1980, as amended), while recognizing the
potential placement of solar generation facilities on public lands,
requires that all sites proposed for power generation or transmission
not identified in the plan be considered through the plan amendment
process.
In response to the application received from Solar Millennium, the
BLM's proposed action is to authorize the RSPP and amend the CDCA Plan
to designate the project area as available for solar energy projects.
The project area would avoid El Paso Wash. In addition to the proposed
action, the BLM is analyzing the following action alternatives: An
alternative that limits the project to the Northern Unit to avoid
Mohave Ground Squirrel designated critical habitat; an alternative that
limits the project to the Southern Unit to avoid high population
densities of desert tortoise and other resources; and the original
proposed project alternative. All action alternatives would amend the
CDCA Plan to make the area available to solar energy development.
In addition to the above, as required under NEPA, the Draft EIS
analyzes a no action alternative that would not require a CDCA Plan
amendment. The Draft EIS also analyzes two additional no action
alternatives that reject the project, but amend the CDCA Plan to
either: (1) Designate the project area as available to future solar
energy power generation projects; or (2) designate the project area as
unavailable to future solar energy power generation projects. The BLM
will take into consideration the provisions of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 and Secretarial Orders 3283 Enhancing Renewable Energy Development
on the Public Lands and 3285 Renewable Energy Development by the
Department of the Interior in responding to the Solar Millennium
application.
[[Page 17763]]
The BLM will use the NEPA commenting process to satisfy the public
involvement process of Section 106 of the National Historic
Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f) as provided for in 36 CFR
800.2(d)(3). Native American Tribal consultations are being conducted
in accordance with policy, and Tribal concerns will be given due
consideration, including impacts on Indian trust assets.
The BLM has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with
the CEC to conduct a joint environmental review of solar thermal
projects that are proposed on Federal land managed by the BLM. The BLM
and CEC have agreed through the MOU to conduct a joint environmental
review of the project in a single combined NEPA/California
Environmental Quality Act process and document. The BLM and CEC have
prepared the Draft EIS/SA evaluating the potential impacts of the
proposed RSPP on air quality, biological resources, cultural resources,
water resources, geological resources and hazards, land use, noise,
paleontological resources, public health, socioeconomic impacts, soils,
traffic and transportation, visual resources, and other resources.
A Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS/SA and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment for the Proposed Ridgecrest Solar Power Project in Kern
County, California was published in the Federal Register on November
23, 2009 (74 FR 61168). The BLM held two public scoping meetings in
Ridgecrest and Inyokern, California, on January 5 and 6, 2010. The
formal scoping period ended January 21, 2010.
Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment 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.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 1506.10 and 43 CFR 1610.2.
[FR Doc. 2010-7832 Filed 4-6-10; 8:45 am]
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