Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Quartzsite Solar Energy Project, AZ, 34403-34404 [2013-13530]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 110 (Friday, June 7, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34403-34404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-13530]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLAZC02000.L51010000.FX0000.LVRWA09A2590; AZA34666]


Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the 
Quartzsite Solar Energy Project, AZ

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Record of Decision (ROD) to grant rights-of-way (ROWs) and 
approve an amendment to the BLM's Yuma Field Office Resource Management 
Plan (RMP) for the Quartzsite Solar Energy Project (QSEP). The Acting 
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management approved the ROD 
on May 30, 2013, which constitutes the final decision of the 
Department.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD are available for public inspection at the 
BLM's Colorado River District Office, 2610 Sweetwater Avenue, Lake 
Havasu City, AZ 86406; Yuma Field Office, 2555 East Gila Ridge Road, 
Yuma, AZ 85365; and the BLM Arizona State Office, One North Central 
Avenue, Suite 800, Phoenix, AZ 85004. Interested parties may also 
review the Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) at the 
following Web site: https://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/prog/energy/solar/quartzsite_solar_energy.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eddie Arreola, BLM Renewable Energy 
Coordination Office Supervisor, Arizona State Office, One North Central 
Avenue, Suite 800, Phoenix, AZ 85004; phone: 602-417-9505; or email: 
earreola@blm.gov. Persons who use a telecommunications device for the 
deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-
800-877-8339 to contact the above individual during normal business 
hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a 
message or question with the above individual. You will receive a reply 
during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Quartzsite Solar Energy LLC, a subsidiary of 
Solar Reserve LLC, proposes to build the QSEP, a 100-megawatt 
concentrated solar thermal plant on approximately 1,675 acres of land 
managed by the BLM. The company applied to the BLM for a ROW to 
construct, operate, maintain, and decommission the project. The site is 
located east of State Route 95, approximately 10 miles north of 
Quartzsite, Arizona. The company also applied to Western Area Power 
Administration (Western), an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy, 
to interconnect the project to Western's transmission system. In 
connection with the project's interconnection request, Western applied 
to the BLM for a ROW to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission 
a substation and associated fiber optic or microwave communication 
facilities.
    As required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended, the Final EIS for the QSEP analyzed a No Action alternative 
and two action alternatives, the Proposed Action, the proposed project 
with dry-cooling systems, and Alternative 1, the proposed project with 
a hybrid wet/dry cooling system. The Final EIS also analyzed three 
alternatives for the amendment to the Yuma Field Office RMP--
Alternative 1, the proposed plan amendment with project approval, 
Alternative 2, the plan amendment with no project approval, and the No-
Action Alternative.
    The BLM preferred alternative is the proposed action with dry-
cooling technology, an amendment to the RMP to re-classify 6,800 acres 
in and around the QSEP site from Visual Resource Management Class III 
to Class IV, and Western's proposed switchyard and fiber optic or 
microwave communication facilities that are ancillary to the 
interconnection of the QSEP to Western Bouse-Kofa 161-kilovolt 
transmission line. As described in the Final EIS, the BLM Selected 
Alternative was developed through the analysis of the resources, 
cooperating agency involvement, and public involvement. Publication of 
the Notice of Availability of the Final EIS for the QSEP and Proposed 
Yuma Field Office RMP Amendment was published in the Federal Register 
on December 21, 2012 (77 FR 75632), initiated a 30-day protest period 
on the proposed amendment to the Yuma Field Office RMP, which concluded 
on March 18, 2013. The BLM received one timely protest which was 
resolved prior to the execution of the

[[Page 34404]]

ROD. The protest resolution is summarized in the ROD and addressed in 
the separate Director's Protest Summary Resolution Report attached to 
the ROD. The proposed amendment to the Yuma Field Office RMP was not 
modified as a result of the protest received or the resolution. 
Simultaneously with the protest period, the Governor of Arizona 
conducted a consistency review of the proposed Yuma Field Office RMP 
amendment to identify any inconsistencies with State or local plans, 
policies, or programs; no inconsistencies were identified by the 
Governor's Office.
    Because this decision is approved by the Acting Assistant Secretary 
for Land and Minerals Management, it is not subject to administrative 
appeal (43 CFR 4.410(a)(3)).

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6.

Neil Kornze,
Principal Deputy Director, Bureau of Land Management.
[FR Doc. 2013-13530 Filed 6-6-13; 8:45 am]
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