Notice of Availability of a Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement and Final Environmental Impact Report for the Proposed Soda Mountain Solar Project, San Bernardino County, CA, 32590-32591 [2015-13925]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
• Bureau of Land Management

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 110 (Tuesday, June 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32590-32591]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-13925]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA 049584, LLCAD015000.L51010000.ER0000.15X.LVRWB09B3130]


Notice of Availability of a Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment and 
Final Environmental Impact Statement and Final Environmental Impact 
Report for the Proposed Soda Mountain Solar Project, San Bernardino 
County, CA

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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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, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Barstow Field 
Office, Barstow, California, has prepared a Proposed California Desert 
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment and Joint Final Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in 
cooperation with San Bernardino County for the Soda Mountain Solar 
Project (Project), and by this notice is announcing their availability. 
The Proposed Project is a 358 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) solar 
energy generation facility, along with supporting infrastructure, in 
rural San Bernardino County. After review, the BLM's Preferred 
Alternative identified in the Final EIS excludes the proposed northern 
solar array, includes the Applicant Proposed alignment for Rasor Road, 
and excludes the proposed brine ponds associated with reverse osmosis 
treatment of groundwater. The BLM's Preferred Alternative would reduce 
the Project size from 2,557 to 1,923 acres, and decrease the Project's 
output from 358 to 264 MW.

DATES: BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
proposed plan amendment/final EIS. A person who meets the conditions 
and files a protest must file the protest within 30 days of the date 
that the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its notice of 
availability of the proposed plan amendment/final EIS in the Federal 
Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the proposed plan amendment/final EIS and EIR have 
been sent to affected Federal, State, and local government agencies and 
to other stakeholders. Copies of the proposed plan amendment/final EIS 
and EIR are available for public inspection at the Barstow Field 
Office, 2601 Barstow Road, Barstow, CA 92311; and the California Desert 
District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 
92553-9046. Interested persons may also review the proposed plan 
amendment/final EIS and EIR on the Internet at https://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/cdd.html. All protests must be in writing and mailed. For 
regular mail, please send protests to: BLM Director (210), Attention: 
Protest Coordinator, P.O. Box 71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383. For 
overnight mail or other delivery, please send protests to: BLM Director 
(210), Attention: Protest Coordinator, 20 M St. SE., Room 2134LM, 
Washington, DC 20003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffery Childers; telephone, 760-252-
6020; mail, BLM Barstow Field Office, 2601 Barstow Road, Barstow, CA 
92311; email, jchilders@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: The BLM has received a right-of-way (ROW) 
application from Soda Mountain Solar, LLC to construct, operate, 
maintain, and decommission a PV power plant facility along with the 
necessary ancillary facilities. The Project as proposed by the 
Applicant would occupy approximately 2,557 acres, within a 4,170 right-
of-way application area. The Project is located along Interstate 15 (I-
15), south of Blue Bell Mine Road, about 6 miles southwest of Baker, 
California, and 52 miles northeast of Barstow, California. As initially 
proposed, the Project would include solar array fields, access roads, 
collector lines, a substation with switchyard and interconnection, 
ancillary buildings, groundwater production, test, and observation 
water wells, water tanks, a water treatment and storage facility, brine 
ponds, warehouses, fencing, berms, other infrastructure, and laydown 
areas. The Project will be accessed by the existing Rasor and Blue Bell 
Mine roads. New internal roads would be constructed among collector 
lines, substation, solar arrays and sub arrays, and other ancillary 
facilities. The interconnection to the proposed substation and 
collector lines from the arrays would be via underground trench, 
including underground trenching beneath I-15. The Project as proposed 
by the Applicant would have up to 358 megawatts of generating capacity 
which would interconnect with existing power lines. The BLM Preferred 
Alternative would eliminate the array north of Interstate 15 which 
would reduce the permitted project to 264 megawatts of solar energy.
    In connection with its decision on the proposed Project, the BLM is 
considering an amendment to the CDCA Plan, as analyzed in the final EIS 
and EIR alternatives. The CDCA Plan, while recognizing the potential 
compatibility of solar energy facilities on public lands, requires that 
all sites associated with power generation or transmission not 
identified in the CDCA Plan be considered through the land use plan 
amendment process. The BLM is deciding whether to amend the CDCA Plan 
to identify the Project site as suitable or unsuitable for solar 
development.
    The proposed plan amendment/final EIS and EIR describes the 
following seven alternatives: Alternative A: The Applicant Proposed 
Action--358 MW on 2,557 acres; Alternative B (Preferred Alternative)--
264 MW project on 1,923 acres; Alternative C--298 MW project on 2,354 
acres; Alternative D--250 MW project on 2,134 acres; Alternative E--No 
action alternative/no project approval, no issuance of a ROW Grant, no 
county approval of a groundwater well permit, no Land Use Plan 
amendment; Alternative F--BLM approves project with no county approval 
of a groundwater well permit; and Alternative G--Planning decision 
identifying the area as unsuitable for solar through a Land Use Plan 
Amendment, with no issuance of a ROW Grant, and no county approval of a 
groundwater well permit. All of the alternatives, except Alternative E, 
would include an amendment to the CDCA Plan. The Agency Preferred 
Alternative identified as Alternative B, removes the northern array and 
associated facilities, includes the Applicant Proposed alignment for 
Rasor Road, and excludes the proposed brine ponds associated with 
reverse osmosis treatment of groundwater, as contemplated under 
Alternative F. The BLM's Preferred Alternative would reduce the Project 
size from 2,557 to 1,923 acres, and decrease the Project's output from 
358 to 264 MW.

[[Page 32591]]

    The proposed plan amendment/final EIS and EIR evaluates the 
potential impacts of the proposed Soda Mountain Solar 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.
    Mitigation measures would be implemented to avoid, minimize, 
rectify, reduce, or compensate for adverse impacts of the Project. 
These include:
     Wildlife: The acquisition of compensatory mitigation land 
at a 1:1 ratio would be required for all desert tortoise habitat and 
all active burrowing owl territories disturbed. Wildlife would be 
avoided or relocated (e.g., burrowing owls) to the extent feasible and 
trenching would be managed to minimize wildlife entrapment. An avian 
monitoring program will be implemented with an adaptive management 
program that would identify and implement project-specific mitigation 
measures to reduce bird mortality that may occur as a result of the 
Project. Additional water sources for bighorn sheep would be required 
in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and 
the National Park Service. An adaptive management strategy aimed at 
maintaining existing foraging, movement, and feeding opportunities for 
bighorn sheep would be required with the goal of improving 
opportunities to restore sheep movement and connectivity. The adaptive 
management strategy would include funding for a 10-year bighorn sheep 
study to examine the response of sheep to the project and to inform 
adaptive management actions, including culvert crossing improvements, 
temporary water sources near culverts, measures to minimize the effects 
of human activities on bighorn sheep, and funding for additional 
regional connectivity projects for bighorn sheep. Mitigation measures 
would also include monitoring for bighorn sheep during construction and 
compensation for loss of bighorn sheep foraging habitat.
     Cultural/Paleontological Resources: Impacts to onsite and 
any nearby cultural, archaeological, and paleontological resources, if 
discovered, would be avoided by having archeological, paleontological, 
and Native American participants onsite during construction.
     Hydrology: A comprehensive drainage, stormwater, and 
sedimentation control plan would be prepared and implemented to avoid 
or minimize the Project's potential to cause or result in additional 
erosion and sedimentation.
     Air quality: Water would be applied to disturbed and 
actively-used areas during both construction and operation. A dust-
control plan would be prepared and implemented pursuant to the Mojave 
Desert Air Quality Management District's Rule 403.2.
     Groundwater: A draft groundwater monitoring and mitigation 
plan has been prepared that includes trigger points to avoid adverse 
impacts associated with groundwater drawdown.
     Visual: All structures would be painted with BLM-approved 
colors; nighttime lighting would be minimized; and a glint and glare 
assessment, mitigation, and monitoring plan would be prepared and 
implemented.
    The BLM published a Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS and EIR for 
the project in the Federal Register on October 23, 2012 (77 FR 64824). 
The BLM and San Bernardino County held joint public scoping meetings in 
Barstow on November 14, 2012. The formal scoping period ended on 
December 14, 2012.
    The BLM published a Notice of Availability of the draft plan 
amendment/draft EIS and EIR for the Project in the Federal Register on 
November 29, 2013 (78 FR 71640). The BLM and San Bernardino County held 
three public meetings: two in Barstow on January 8 and 9, 2014, and a 
third in Yucca Valley on January 11, 2014, to provide additional 
information to the public regarding the analysis.
    Comments on the draft plan amendment/draft EIS and EIR received 
from agencies, members of the public, and internal lead and cooperating 
agency review were considered and incorporated as appropriate into the 
proposed plan amendment/final EIS and EIR. Instructions for filing a 
protest with the Director of the BLM regarding the proposed Plan 
Amendment/final EIS and EIR may be found in the ``Dear Reader'' Letter 
of the proposed plan amendment/final EIS and EIR and at 43 CFR 1610.5-
2. All protests must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate 
address, as set forth in the ADDRESSES section above. Emailed protests 
will not be accepted as valid protests unless the protesting party also 
provides the original letter by either regular or overnight mail 
postmarked by the close of the protest period. Under these conditions, 
the BLM will consider the emailed protest as an advance copy and it 
will receive full consideration. If you wish to provide the BLM with 
such advance notification, please direct emails to protest@blm.gov.
    Before including your phone number, email 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.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2; 43 CFR 
1610.5.

Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director, California.
[FR Doc. 2015-13925 Filed 6-5-15; 4:15 pm]
 BILLING CODE 4310-40-P