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., 7515-7517 [2010-3374]
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 33 / Friday, February 19, 2010 / Notices
Dated: January 28, 2010.
Alvin Foster,
Chief Information Officer—Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2010–3192 Filed 2–18–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–4J–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Environmental Documents Prepared
for Proposed Mineral Exploration on
the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf
pwalker on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES
AGENCY: Minerals Management Service
(MMS), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of the availability of
Environmental Assessment (EA) and
Finding of No Significant Impact
(FONSI).
SUMMARY: The Minerals Management
Service (MMS), in accordance with
Federal regulations that implement the
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), announces the availability of
two Environmental Assessments (EAs)
and associated Findings of No
Significant Impacts (FONSIs) prepared
by MMS for oil and gas exploration
activities proposed on the Alaska Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Minerals Management Service, Alaska
OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive,
Suite 500, Anchorage, Alaska 99503–
5823; or AKWebmaster@mms.gov; or 1–
800–764–2627. You may view the EAs
on the MMS Web site at https://
www.mms.gov/alaska.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MMS
prepares EAs for proposals for
exploration drilling to evaluate oil and
gas resource potential on the Alaska
OCS. The EAs examine the potential
environmental effects of activities
described in the proposals and present
MMS conclusions regarding the level
and significance of those effects. The
EAs are used as the basis for
determining whether or not approvals of
the proposals would significantly affect
the quality of the human environment
in the sense of NEPA Section 102(2)(C).
A FONSI is prepared in those instances
where MMS finds that approval will not
result in significant effects on the
quality of the human environment.
Document Number: OCS EIS/EA
MMS 2009–052. FONSI Date: October
15, 2009. The EA evaluates the potential
for significant impacts of the specific
operations proposed in the Exploration
Plan (EP), dated June 2009, submitted to
MMS by Shell Offshore Inc. The EP is
for exploratory drilling operations that
would be conducted in accordance with
the OCS Lands Act Amendments and
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18:05 Feb 18, 2010
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MMS operating regulations (30 CFR 250
and 30 CFR 254). Shell proposes to drill
two wells located on the company’s
leases in the Camden Bay area of the
Alaskan Beaufort Sea to evaluate the
Sivulliq and Torpedo prospects. The
proposed drilling locations are Lease
OCS–Y–1805 (Flaxman Island block
6658) and Lease OCS–Y–1941 (Flaxman
Island block 6610). Drilling operations
would be conducted from the drill ship
M/V Frontier Discoverer during the
July–October 2010 open-water period.
Shell’s proposal includes suspending all
operations and removal of the drill ship
and support vessels from the area
beginning August 25 until completion of
fall subsistence bowhead whaling by the
Native Villages of Kaktovik and
Nuiqsut, Alaska. Information about the
methods by which the exploration
activities would be conducted is
detailed in the EP and the associated
Environmental Impact Analysis and Oil
Discharge Prevention and Contingency
Plan.
OCS EIS/EA MMS 2009–061. FONSI
Date: December 7, 2009. The EA
evaluates the potential for significant
impacts of the specific drilling
operations proposed in Shell Gulf of
Mexico Inc.’s Exploration Plan (EP),
dated July 2009; deemed submitted
October 20, 2009. The EP is for
exploratory drilling operations that
would be conducted in accordance with
the OCS Lands Act Amendments and
MMS operating regulations (30 CFR 250
and 30 CFR 254). Shell proposes to drill
up to three wells at five potential drill
sites on the company’s leases in the
Alaskan Chukchi Sea to evaluate the
Burger, Crackerjack, and SW Shoebill
prospects. The potential drill sites are
on Lease OCS–Y–2280 (Posey block
6764), Lease OCS–Y–2267 (Posey block
6714), Lease OCS–Y–2321 (Posey block
6912), Lease OCS–Y–2111 (Karo block
6864), and Lease OCS–Y–2142 (Karo
block 7007). Drilling operations would
be conducted from the drill ship M/V
Frontier Discoverer during the July–
October 2010 open-water period.
Information about the methods by
which the exploration activities would
be conducted is detailed in the EP and
in the associated Environmental Impact
Analysis and Oil Discharge Prevention
and Contingency Plan.
Dated: January 26, 2010.
Jeffery Loman,
Acting Regional Director, Alaska OCS Region,
Minerals Management Service.
[FR Doc. 2010–3291 Filed 2–18–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P
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7515
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CACA 47740, LLCAD07000,
L51030000.FX0000, LVRAB109AA01]
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.
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act (FLPMA) of 1976, as amended, 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 Stirling Energy
Systems (SES) Solar Two Project 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 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 SES Solar Two Project by
any of the following methods:
• Web site: https://www.energy.ca.gov/
sitingcases/solartwo/
• E-mail: Cmeyer@energy.state.ca.us
• Fax: (818) 597–8001
• Mail or other delivery service:
Christopher Meyer, Project Manager,
Siting, Transmission and Environmental
Protection Division, California Energy
Commission, 1516 Ninth Street, MS–15,
Sacramento, California, 95814.
Copies of the SES Solar Two Draft
EIS/SA are available from the CEC at the
above address and in the BLM El Centro
Field Office, 1661 S. 4th Street, El
Centro, California, 92243.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
further information contact Jim
Stobaugh, BLM Project Manager, by
telephone at (775) 861–6478; through
mail at Bureau of Land Management,
E:\FR\FM\19FEN1.SGM
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7516
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 33 / Friday, February 19, 2010 / Notices
P.O. Box 12000, Reno, Nevada 89520; or
by e-mail at Jim_Stobaugh@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SES has
submitted an application to the BLM for
development of the proposed SES Solar
Two Project, a concentrated solar
electrical generating facility capable of
generating 750 megawatts of renewable
power. The entire project encompasses
approximately 6,144 acres of BLMmanaged lands. The project site is in
Imperial County, California,
approximately four 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 & Arizona
Eastern Railway and on the south by
Interstate 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
construction area is proposed east of
Dunaway Road.
SES 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 38foot high by 40-foot wide solar
concentrator in a dish structure that
supports an array of curved glass mirror
facets. These mirrors collect and
concentrate solar energy onto the solar
receiver of the PCU.
The project also includes an electrical
transmission line, water supply
pipeline, and an 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 about a 10.3-mile long, double-circuit
230 kV transmission line.
Approximately 7.6 miles of this new
line would be outside the project area
but is included in the analysis. The
transmission line would require the use
of approximately 92 acres.
The BLM’s purpose and need for the
Solar Two project is to respond to SES’
application under Title V of FLPMA (43
U.S.C. 1761) for a right-of-way (ROW)
grant to construct, operate, and
decommission a solar thermal facility
on public lands in compliance with
FLPMA, BLM ROW regulations, and
other applicable Federal laws. The BLM
will decide whether to approve, approve
with modification, or deny a ROW grant
to SES for the proposed Solar Two
VerDate Nov<24>2008
18:05 Feb 18, 2010
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project. The BLM will also consider
amending the CDCA Plan in this
analysis. The CDCA Plan (1980, as
amended), 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 plan amendment process. If
the BLM decides to grant a ROW, the
BLM would also amend the CDCA Plan
as required.
In the draft EIS analysis, the BLM’s
proposed action is to authorize the SES
Solar Two project and approve a CDCA
Plan amendment in response to the
application received from SES. In
addition to the proposed action, the
BLM is analyzing the following action
alternatives:
• Authorize the proposed action;
• 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 U.S. 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 U.S. and amend the CDCA Plan.
As required under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and
NEPA, the EIS analyzes three no action
alternatives:
• Deny the application and not
amend the CDCA Plan;
• Deny the project but amend the
CDCA Plan to allow other solar energy
power generation projects on the project
site; and
• Deny the project and amend the
CDCA Plan to prohibit solar energy
power generation projects on the project
site.
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 SES application.
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 with the CEC
as the lead agency preparing the
environmental documents. The BLM
and CEC have agreed through the MOU
to conduct joint environmental review
of the project in a single combined
NEPA/CEQA process and document. In
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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 EIS. The BLM and CEC,
in coordination with the Corps, have
prepared the Draft EIS/SA evaluating
the potential impacts of the proposed
Solar Two Project 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. 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 minimization of impacts to aquatic
resources of the U.S. 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 applicant
has applied to the Department of Energy
(DOE) for a loan guarantee under Title
XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005,
as amended by Section 406 of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009, Public Law 111–5. Should
the DOE decide to enter into negotiation
of a possible loan guarantee with the
applicant, the DOE would become a
cooperating agency in developing the
final EIS. A Notice of Intent to Prepare
an EIS/SA and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment for the Proposed SES Solar
Two Project in Imperial County,
California was published 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, 2009.
Please note that public comments will
be available for public review and
disclosure at the above address during
regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.),
Monday through Friday, except
holidays.
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.
E:\FR\FM\19FEN1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 33 / Friday, February 19, 2010 / Notices
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6; 40 CFR 1506.10;
and 43 CFR 1610.2.
Vicki L. Wood,
Field Manager, El Centro Field Office .
[FR Doc. 2010–3374 Filed 2–18–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–40–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLAKA01200.L12200000.DP0000]
Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Amendment to the Ring of Fire
Resource Management Plan for the
Campbell Tract Facility, Anchorage,
AK
pwalker on DSK8KYBLC1PROD with NOTICES
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent.
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Anchorage Field
Office intends to amend the Ring of Fire
Resource Management Plan (RMP) to
address the 730-acre Campbell Tract
Facility administrative site and Special
Recreation Management Area in
Anchorage, Alaska. The site is currently
managed under the 1988 Management
Plan for Public Use and Resource
Management on the Bureau of Land
Management Campbell Tract Facility.
The amendment will be supported by an
Environmental Assessment (EA).
DATES: The BLM will announce the
opening of a 30-day public comment
period and the scheduling of any public
scoping meetings in Anchorage through
local news media, newsletters, and the
BLM Web site (https://www.blm.gov/ak)
at least 15 days prior to the meetings.
The BLM will provide additional
opportunities for public comment after
publication of the draft amendment and
EA.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments by any of
the following methods:
• Web site: https://www.blm.gov/ak.
• E-mail: ak_ctf_amend@blm.gov.
• Fax: (907) 267–1267.
• Mail: BLM Anchorage Field Office,
Attention—Campbell Tract Facility
Amendment, 4700 BLM Road,
Anchorage, Alaska 99507.
Documents pertinent to this proposal
may be examined at the BLM Anchorage
Field Office, 4700 BLM Road,
Anchorage, Alaska.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
information and/or to have your name
added to the mail list, contact Jeff
Kowalczyk (jkowalcz@blm.gov) at (907)
267–1459.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLMadministered Campbell Tract Facility is
VerDate Nov<24>2008
18:05 Feb 18, 2010
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located in south-central Alaska, within
the Municipality of Anchorage. This
planning activity encompasses
approximately 730 acres of public land
in the Ring of Fire planning area. The
BLM released the Ring of Fire RMP
Record of Decision (ROD) in March
2008. The ROD specified that
management of the Campbell Tract
Facility administrative site would
continue to be guided by the 1988
Management Plan for Public Use and
Resource Management on the Bureau of
Land Management Campbell Tract
Facility and any updates to the plan.
The BLM intends to amend the Ring
of Fire RMP and revise the 1988
Campbell Tract Facility management
plan. A revised Campbell Tract Facility
management plan will analyze and
provide new management decisions for
this site. Management decisions shall be
consistent with public land orders for
the administrative withdrawal of the
area. The plan will fulfill the needs and
obligations set forth by the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(NEPA), the Federal Land Policy and
Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), and
BLM management policies. The BLM
will work collaboratively with
interested parties to identify the
management decisions that are best
suited to local, regional, and national
needs and concerns.
The preliminary issues and
opportunities to be addressed by this
planning effort are increased annual
visitation, commercial use, on-going
trail maintenance, potential for
development of administrative facilities,
public safety, the expanding role of
environmental education, and
optimizing outcome-focused
management for recreation planning.
The plan amendment and EA will—
• Determine which types of
commercial uses, if any, will be
authorized within the four management
areas on the Campbell Tract Facility:
airstrip, science center, administrative
buildings, and the Special Recreation
Management Area designated by the
1985 Recreation Action Plan;
• Develop a Special Recreation
Management Area plan for the Campbell
Tract Facility in accordance with
Appendix C of the BLM Land Use
Planning Handbook (H–1601–01);
• Identify development needs for the
existing Campbell Airstrip corridor and
for aviation and emergency
management;
• Decide whether administrative
facilities are sufficient for current and
future operations;
• Identify reasonable management
actions for addressing trail/user
conflicts;
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7517
• Decide whether additional special
rules are necessary; and
• Determine what ongoing
maintenance to facilities and trails is
appropriate.
Preliminary planning criteria include
the following:
1. The BLM manages public lands
under the principles of multiple use/
sustained yield as set forth in FLPMA;
2. The plan amendment will address
surface acres administered by the BLM
at Campbell Tract Facility;
3. Decisions will be limited to those
related to the four existing management
areas: airstrip, science center,
administrative buildings, and the
Special Recreation Management Area;
4. Valid existing rights will be
protected throughout the planning area;
5. Established and current agreements
will remain in effect;
6. Plans and policies of adjacent land
owners/managers will be considered;
7. The BLM will encourage and
participate in collaborative planning;
8. The BLM will comply with all
relevant laws, statues, regulations,
manuals, and handbooks;
9. This planning effort will conform to
NEPA, FLPMA, the BLM Land Use
Planning Handbook (H–1601–1), and
other applicable BLM policies;
10. The plan will be consistent with
the BLM Alaska Land Health Standards;
and
11. The BLM will use an
interdisciplinary approach while
developing the plan to ensure
consideration of the variety of resource
issues and concerns identified.
The purpose of the public scoping
process is to identify relevant issues and
planning criteria that will guide the
planning process and influence the EA’s
scope and alternatives. You may submit
comments in writing to the BLM at the
public scoping meeting or by the
methods listed in the ADDRESSES section
above. 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 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 P. Lonnie,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2010–3169 Filed 2–18–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–JA–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 33 (Friday, February 19, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7515-7517]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-3374]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CACA 47740, LLCAD07000, L51030000.FX0000, LVRAB109AA01]
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.
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management
Act (FLPMA) of 1976, as amended, 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 Stirling Energy Systems
(SES) Solar Two Project 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 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 SES Solar Two Project
by any of the following methods:
Web site: https://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solartwo/
E-mail: Cmeyer@energy.state.ca.us
Fax: (818) 597-8001
Mail or other delivery service: Christopher Meyer, Project
Manager, Siting, Transmission and Environmental Protection Division,
California Energy Commission, 1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento,
California, 95814.
Copies of the SES Solar Two Draft EIS/SA are available from the CEC
at the above address and in the BLM El Centro Field Office, 1661 S. 4th
Street, El Centro, California, 92243.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact Jim
Stobaugh, BLM Project Manager, by telephone at (775) 861-6478; through
mail at Bureau of Land Management,
[[Page 7516]]
P.O. Box 12000, Reno, Nevada 89520; or by e-mail at Jim_Stobaugh@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SES has submitted an application to the BLM
for development of the proposed SES Solar Two Project, a concentrated
solar electrical generating facility capable of generating 750
megawatts of renewable power. The entire project encompasses
approximately 6,144 acres of BLM-managed lands. The project site is in
Imperial County, California, approximately four 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 & Arizona
Eastern Railway and on the south by Interstate 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 construction area is
proposed east of Dunaway Road.
SES 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 collect and
concentrate solar energy onto the solar receiver of the PCU.
The project also includes an electrical transmission line, water
supply pipeline, and an 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 about a 10.3-mile long, double-
circuit 230 kV transmission line. Approximately 7.6 miles of this new
line would be outside the project area but is included in the analysis.
The transmission line would require the use of approximately 92 acres.
The BLM's purpose and need for the Solar Two project is to respond
to SES' application under Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) for a
right-of-way (ROW) grant to construct, operate, and decommission a
solar thermal facility on public lands in compliance with FLPMA, BLM
ROW regulations, and other applicable Federal laws. The BLM will decide
whether to approve, approve with modification, or deny a ROW grant to
SES for the proposed Solar Two project. The BLM will also consider
amending the CDCA Plan in this analysis. The CDCA Plan (1980, as
amended), 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 plan amendment process. If the BLM
decides to grant a ROW, the BLM would also amend the CDCA Plan as
required.
In the draft EIS analysis, the BLM's proposed action is to
authorize the SES Solar Two project and approve a CDCA Plan amendment
in response to the application received from SES. In addition to the
proposed action, the BLM is analyzing the following action
alternatives:
Authorize the proposed action;
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 U.S. 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 U.S.
and amend the CDCA Plan.
As required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
and NEPA, the EIS analyzes three no action alternatives:
Deny the application and not amend the CDCA Plan;
Deny the project but amend the CDCA Plan to allow other
solar energy power generation projects on the project site; and
Deny the project and amend the CDCA Plan to prohibit solar
energy power generation projects on the project site.
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 SES
application.
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 with the
CEC as the lead agency preparing the environmental documents. The BLM
and CEC have agreed through the MOU to conduct joint environmental
review of the project in a single combined NEPA/CEQA process and
document. 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 EIS. The BLM and CEC, in
coordination with the Corps, have prepared the Draft EIS/SA evaluating
the potential impacts of the proposed Solar Two Project 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. 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 minimization of impacts to
aquatic resources of the U.S. 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 applicant has applied to the Department of
Energy (DOE) for a loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy
Act of 2005, as amended by Section 406 of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5. Should the DOE decide to
enter into negotiation of a possible loan guarantee with the applicant,
the DOE would become a cooperating agency in developing the final EIS.
A Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS/SA and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment for the Proposed SES Solar Two Project in Imperial County,
California was published 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,
2009.
Please note that public comments will be available for public
review and disclosure at the above address during regular business
hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays.
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.
[[Page 7517]]
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6; 40 CFR 1506.10; and 43 CFR 1610.2.
Vicki L. Wood,
Field Manager, El Centro Field Office .
[FR Doc. 2010-3374 Filed 2-18-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P
