[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 74 (Monday, April 19, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20379-20380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-8905]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CACA 048880, LLCAD06000, L51010000.FX0000, LVRWB09B2520]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement/Staff Assessment for the NextEra Energy Resources Genesis
Solar Energy 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 Genesis Solar Energy
Project (GSEP), Riverside 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 and plan amendment within 90 days
[[Page 20380]]
following the date the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its
Notice of Availability 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 GSEP by any of the
following methods:
E-mail: [email protected].
Mail or other delivery service: Allison Shaffer, Project
Manager, Palm Springs South Coast Field Office, Bureau of Land
Management, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, California 92262.
Copies of the GSEP Draft EIS/SA are available from the BLM at the
above addresses.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allison Shaffer, BLM project manager,
at (760) 833-7100. See also ADDRESSES above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NextEra Energy Resources has submitted a
right-of-way (ROW) application to the BLM for development of the
proposed GSEP on public lands, consisting of two concentrating solar
electric generating power plants each producing 125 megawatts (MW) for
a total output of approximately 250 MW of electricity at full
development. The project would use a wet-cooling tower for power plant
cooling. Water for the project (approximately 1,644 acre-feet per year)
would be obtained from on-site wells. The project would include a 15-
mile transmission line to the Colorado River Substation; 5.6 miles of
this line would use the existing 230-kilovolt Blythe Energy
Transmission Line. The total expected project footprint is about 1,800
acres of BLM-managed lands for the two power plants, and approximately
80 to 90 acres in support of ancillary facilities. The project is sited
in an undeveloped area of the Sonoran Desert, near Ford Dry Lake, north
of Interstate 10 in Riverside County, approximately 25 miles west of
Blythe, California, on lands managed by the BLM. The BLM's purpose and
need for the GSEP is to respond to NextEra's application for a ROW
grant to construct, operate, and decommission a solar power facility on
public lands in compliance with Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761), BLM
ROW regulations, and other applicable Federal laws. The BLM will decide
whether to grant, grant with modification, or deny a ROW to NextEra for
the proposed GSEP. The BLM will also consider amending the CDCA Plan
(1980, as amended) in this analysis. The CDCA Plan, while recognizing
the potential compatibility 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 BLM
land use plan amendment process. If the BLM decides to grant a ROW for
this project, the CDCA Plan would be amended as required.
The proposed action is to authorize the GSEP and amend the CDCA
Plan to designate the project area as available for solar energy
projects. In addition to the proposed action, the BLM is analyzing an
alternative that would reduce the project footprint by half, to
approximately 900 acres of disturbance, by constructing only one power
plant for a total output of 125 MW. The BLM is also analyzing a dry-
cooling alternative. All three action alternatives would amend the CDCA
Plan to designate the area as available for commercial solar energy
development. 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 alternatives that reject the project, but amend the CDCA
Plan to either: (1) Designate the project area as available for future
solar energy power generation projects; or (2) designate the project
area as unavailable for future solar energy power generation projects.
The BLM will take into consideration the provisions of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 and Secretarial Order 3283 Enhancing Renewable
Energy Development on the Public Lands and Secretarial Order 3285
Renewable Energy Development by the Department of the Interior in
responding to the NextEra application.
The BLM has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding 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 to conduct joint environmental review of the project in a single
combined NEPA/California Environmental Quality Act process and
document. The Draft EIS/SA analyzes site-specific impacts of the
proposed project on air quality; biological, cultural, water, soil,
visual, paleontological, and geological resources; recreation; land
use; noise; public health; socioeconomics; and traffic and
transportation. The Draft EIS/SA also addresses hazardous materials
handling, waste management, worker safety, fire protection, facility
design engineering, efficiency, reliability, transmission system
engineering, transmission line safety, and nuisance.
A Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS/SA and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment for the NextEra Genesis Solar Energy Project in Riverside
County was published in the Federal Register on November 23, 2009 (74
FR 61167). The BLM held two public scoping meetings in Blythe,
California, and Palm Desert, California, on December 10th and11th,
2009. The formal scoping period ended December 23, 2009.
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.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 1506.10, and 43 CFR 1610.2
Karla D. Norris,
Associate Deputy State Director.
[FR Doc. 2010-8905 Filed 4-16-10; 8:45 am]
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