Notice of Availability of the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report and Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the Palen Solar Project, California, 23298-23299 [2018-10574]
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23298
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2018 / Notices
The authority for this action is the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Jerold Gidner,
Principal Deputy Special Trustee, Office of
the Special Trustee for American Indians.
[FR Doc. 2018–10596 Filed 5–17–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4334–63–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLCAD06000 L51010000.ER0000
LVRWB17B5480 17X]
Notice of Availability of the Final
Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement and Environmental Impact
Report and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment to the California Desert
Conservation Area Plan for the Palen
Solar Project, California
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
AGENCY:
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) has
prepared a Final Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment to the California Desert
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan for the
Palen Solar Project, and by this notice
is announcing its availability. This
document is also an Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) prepared by
Riverside County under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
DATES: BLM planning regulations state
that any person who meets the
conditions as described in the
regulations may protest the BLM’s
Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment
and Final Supplemental 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 in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final
Supplemental EIS and Proposed Land
Use Plan Amendment have been sent to
affected Federal, State, local, and tribal
government agencies and to other
stakeholders. Copies of the Final
Supplemental EIS and Proposed Land
Use Plan Amendment are available for
public inspection at the BLM-Palm
Springs South Coast Field Office at 1201
Bird Center Dr., Palm Springs, CA 92262
and at the BLM-California Desert
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:38 May 17, 2018
Jkt 244001
District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de
Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553.
Interested persons may also review the
Final Supplemental EIS and Proposed
Land Use Plan Amendment on the
internet at https://eplanning.blm.gov/
epl-front-office/eplanning/
planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=
renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&
projectId=68122. All protests must be in
writing and mailed to one of the
following addresses:
• Regular Mail: BLM Director (210),
Attention: Protest Coordinator, P.O. Box
71383, Washington, DC 20024–1383.
• Overnight Delivery: BLM Director
(210), Attention: Protest Coordinator, 20
M Street SE, Room 2134LM,
Washington, DC 20003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mark DeMaio, BLM Project Manager,
telephone (760) 833–7124; address
Bureau of Land Management, Palm
Springs-South Coast Field Office, 1201
Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA
92262; email mdemaio@blm.gov.
Persons who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS) at (800) 877–8339 to
contact the above individual during
normal business hours. The FRS 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: EDF
Renewable Energy has applied for a
Right-of-Way (ROW) from the BLM to
construct, operate, maintain, and
decommission a 500 megawatt (MW)
solar photovoltaic facility near Desert
Center, Riverside County, California.
The ROW application area comprises
about 4,200 acres, with a proposed
project footprint of about 3,400 acres.
The proposed project also includes
construction of a 6.7-mile single circuit
230 kilovolt generation interconnection
(gen-tie) transmission line connecting
the project to the Southern California
Edison (SCE) Red Bluff Substation. The
BLM is also considering an amendment
to the CDCA Plan that would be
necessary to authorize the project. This
is a joint EIS/EIR for compliance with
NEPA and CEQA. Riverside County is
the lead agency under CEQA.
This Project application was
originally submitted in 2007 as the
Palen Solar Power Project (PSPP) by
Palen Solar I, LLC (PSI), a wholly
owned subsidiary of Solar Millennium.
The PSPP was proposed as a solar
trough project, and was the subject of an
EIS under NEPA. The BLM, pursuant to
its obligations under FLPMA and NEPA,
published a Draft EIS, followed by a
PO 00000
Frm 00047
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Proposed CDCA Plan Amendment and
Final EIS on May 13, 2011 (76 FR
28064). Before the BLM issued a Record
of Decision (ROD), PSI informed the
BLM that it would not construct the
Project due to bankruptcy. As a result,
the BLM did not issue a ROD, did not
amend the CDCA Plan, and did not
issue a ROW grant for the PSPP. On
June 21, 2012, the bankruptcy court
approved the transfer of the application
from PSI to Palen Solar III, LLC (PSIII).
BrightSource Energy Inc. (BSE) then
acquired all rights to PSIII at auction.
PSIII submitted a revised ROW
application to the BLM for the Palen
Solar Electricity Generating System
Project (PSEGS), a 500 MW
concentrating solar power tower
technology facility and single-circuit
230 kV gen-tie line. On July 27, 2013,
the BLM issued a Draft Supplemental
EIS and Plan Amendment to evaluate
the potential additional environmental
impacts caused by PSEGS. As part of the
state permitting process, the California
Energy Commission evaluated the
PSEGS under CEQA, and issued
Preliminary and Final Staff Assessments
for the amended project in June and
November of 2013, respectively. The
BLM did not issue a Final Supplemental
EIS for the PSEGS Project because BSE
and its partner, Abengoa Solar Inc.,
abandoned the State authorization
proceedings at the California Energy
Commission. In December 2015, EDF
Renewable Energy acquired the PSEGS
application. EDF Renewable Energy has
submitted a revised ROW application
for the Proposed Project, which is
analyzed in this Final Supplemental
EIS/EIR and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment.
The BLM held public meetings on the
revised ROW application in June and
August 2016 in Palm Springs,
California. On October 27, 2017, the
BLM issued the Draft Supplemental EIS/
EIR and Draft Land Use Plan
Amendment, which analyzed the
impacts of the Proposed Action and two
action alternatives, in addition to a No
Action Alternative. Alternative 1,
Reduced Footprint, would be a 500 MW
Photovoltaic (PV) array on about 3,100
acres. It avoids the central and largest
desert wash and incorporates a more
efficient use of the land for the solar
array. Alternative 2, Avoidance
Alternative, would be a solar PV project
on about 1,620 acres (160 to 230 MW).
Like the Proposed Action, under each of
these alternatives, the BLM would
amend the CDCA Plan to allow the
project. Under the No-Action
Alternative, the BLM would deny the
E:\FR\FM\18MYN1.SGM
18MYN1
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2018 / Notices
ROW application, and would not amend
the CDCA Plan to allow the project.
The Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR and
Draft Land Use Plan Amendment
included analysis of the revised ROW
application as it related to the following
issues: (1) Updated description of the
Proposed Project, based on the revised
ROW application; (2) Impacts to cultural
resources and tribal concerns; (3)
Impacts to the Sand Transport Corridor
and Mojave fringe-toed lizard habitat
and washes; (4) Impacts to Joshua Tree
National Park; (5) Impacts to avian
species; (6) Impacts to visual resources;
and (7) Relationship between the
proposed project and the California
Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan,
including the amendment to the CDCA
Plan by the 2016 Desert Renewable
Energy Conservation Plan.
A Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR was
released in October 2017, which
included a formal 45-day public
comment period. The BLM held a
public meeting on November 14, 2017,
in Palm Desert, CA. Fourteen
individuals attended that meeting. The
BLM received 40 comment letters
during the comment period.
Comments on the Draft Supplemental
EIS/EIR and Draft Land Use Plan
Amendment received from the public
and internal agency review were
considered and incorporated as
appropriate into the proposed plan
amendment. Public comments resulted
in the addition of clarifying text, but did
not significantly change proposed land
use plan decisions. A response to
substantive comments is included in the
Final Supplemental EIS/EIR and
Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment.
The BLM has selected Alternative 1, the
Reduced Footprint, as the Agency
Proposed Alternative in the Final
Supplemental EIS/EIR and Proposed
Land Use Plan Amendment.
Instructions for filing a protest with
the Director of the BLM regarding the
Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment/
Final Supplemental EIS may be found
in the ‘‘Dear Reader’’ Letter of the Final
Supplemental EIS/EIR and Proposed
Land Use Plan Amendment 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 mail or
overnight delivery postmarked by the
close of the protest period. Under these
conditions, the BLM will consider the
email as an advanced copy, and it will
receive full consideration. If you wish to
provide the BLM with such advance
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:38 May 17, 2018
Jkt 244001
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.
Danielle Chi,
Deputy State Director.
[FR Doc. 2018–10574 Filed 5–17–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–40–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[17XL5017AP LLUTG01100
L51010000.ER0000.LVRWJ17J8060]
Notice of Availability of the Final
Environmental Impact Statement for
the Enefit American Oil Utility Corridor
Project, Uintah County, Utah
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
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) has
prepared a final Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for the Enefit American
Oil Utility Corridor Project (Utility
Corridor Project) and is announcing a
45-day wait period before making any
final decisions.
DATES: The BLM will not issue a final
decision on the proposal for a minimum
of 45 days after the date on which the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
publishes its Notice of Availability
(NOA) of the final EIS in the Federal
Register.
SUMMARY:
Copies of the Enefit
American Oil Utility Corridor Project
final EIS are available for public
inspection in the BLM Vernal Field
Office at 170 South 500 East Vernal,
Utah 84078. Interested persons may also
review the final EIS on the internet at
https://go.usa.gov/csa9j.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stephanie Howard, NEPA Coordinator;
telephone 435–781–4469; address 170
ADDRESSES:
PO 00000
Frm 00048
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
23299
South 500 East Vernal, Utah 84078;
email BLM_UT_Vernal_Comments@
blm.gov. Persons who use a
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS) at 1–800–877–8339 to
contact the above individual during
normal business hours. The FRS 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: Enefit
American Oil (Enefit) submitted five
right-of-way applications to the BLM
which are collectively known as the
Utility Corridor Project. The Project
Area is located in the southern portion
of Townships 8–10 South, Ranges 24–25
East, Salt Lake Meridian, in Uintah
County, Utah, approximately 40 miles
south of Vernal, Utah. The entire project
area is located within the original extent
of the Uinta and Ouray Reservation.
The purpose of this Federal action is
to respond to the applicant’s right-ofway applications for construction,
operation, and maintenance of the
Utility Corridor Project infrastructure
across Federal land. FLPMA provides
the BLM with discretionary authority to
grant use of public lands, including
rights-of-way, taking into consideration
impacts on natural, cultural, and
historical resources.
The BLM is the lead Federal agency
for this EIS as defined at 40 Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1501.5.
Cooperating agencies include the U.S.
EPA Region 8, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers Utah Regulatory Office, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)
Utah Field Office, the State of Utah’s
Public Lands Policy and Coordination
Office, and Uintah County. In
accordance with NEPA, the BLM
prepared an EIS analyzing the right-ofway applications using an
interdisciplinary approach in order to
consider a variety of resource issues and
concerns identified during internal,
interagency, and public scoping. On
April 8, 2016, the BLM published in the
Federal Register (81 FR 20671) a NOA
of the Draft EIS for public review and
comment. The EPA published in the
Federal Register (81 FR 22263) a NOA
of the draft EIS for public review and
comment on April 15, 2016, which
initiated the 60-day public comment
period. To allow the public an
opportunity to review information
associated with the utility corridor
project and comment on the draft EIS,
the BLM conducted three open-house
meetings in May 2016 in Vernal and
Salt Lake City, Utah and in Rangely,
Colorado. During the comment period,
E:\FR\FM\18MYN1.SGM
18MYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 97 (Friday, May 18, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23298-23299]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-10574]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLCAD06000 L51010000.ER0000 LVRWB17B5480 17X]
Notice of Availability of the Final Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report and Proposed Land Use
Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the
Palen Solar Project, California
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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) has
prepared a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and
Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation
Area (CDCA) Plan for the Palen Solar Project, and by this notice is
announcing its availability. This document is also an Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) prepared by Riverside County under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
DATES: BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's
Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment and Final Supplemental 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 in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final Supplemental EIS and Proposed Land Use
Plan Amendment have been sent to affected Federal, State, local, and
tribal government agencies and to other stakeholders. Copies of the
Final Supplemental EIS and Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment are
available for public inspection at the BLM-Palm Springs South Coast
Field Office at 1201 Bird Center Dr., Palm Springs, CA 92262 and at the
BLM-California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los
Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553. Interested persons may also review the
Final Supplemental EIS and Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment on the
internet at https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&projectId=68122. All protests must be in writing and mailed to one of the
following addresses:
Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Protest
Coordinator, P.O. Box 71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383.
Overnight Delivery: BLM Director (210), Attention: Protest
Coordinator, 20 M Street SE, Room 2134LM, Washington, DC 20003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark DeMaio, BLM Project Manager,
telephone (760) 833-7124; address Bureau of Land Management, Palm
Springs-South Coast Field Office, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs,
CA 92262; email [email protected].
Persons who use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may
call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at (800) 877-8339 to contact the
above individual during normal business hours. The FRS 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: EDF Renewable Energy has applied for a
Right-of-Way (ROW) from the BLM to construct, operate, maintain, and
decommission a 500 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic facility near
Desert Center, Riverside County, California. The ROW application area
comprises about 4,200 acres, with a proposed project footprint of about
3,400 acres. The proposed project also includes construction of a 6.7-
mile single circuit 230 kilovolt generation interconnection (gen-tie)
transmission line connecting the project to the Southern California
Edison (SCE) Red Bluff Substation. The BLM is also considering an
amendment to the CDCA Plan that would be necessary to authorize the
project. This is a joint EIS/EIR for compliance with NEPA and CEQA.
Riverside County is the lead agency under CEQA.
This Project application was originally submitted in 2007 as the
Palen Solar Power Project (PSPP) by Palen Solar I, LLC (PSI), a wholly
owned subsidiary of Solar Millennium. The PSPP was proposed as a solar
trough project, and was the subject of an EIS under NEPA. The BLM,
pursuant to its obligations under FLPMA and NEPA, published a Draft
EIS, followed by a Proposed CDCA Plan Amendment and Final EIS on May
13, 2011 (76 FR 28064). Before the BLM issued a Record of Decision
(ROD), PSI informed the BLM that it would not construct the Project due
to bankruptcy. As a result, the BLM did not issue a ROD, did not amend
the CDCA Plan, and did not issue a ROW grant for the PSPP. On June 21,
2012, the bankruptcy court approved the transfer of the application
from PSI to Palen Solar III, LLC (PSIII). BrightSource Energy Inc.
(BSE) then acquired all rights to PSIII at auction. PSIII submitted a
revised ROW application to the BLM for the Palen Solar Electricity
Generating System Project (PSEGS), a 500 MW concentrating solar power
tower technology facility and single-circuit 230 kV gen-tie line. On
July 27, 2013, the BLM issued a Draft Supplemental EIS and Plan
Amendment to evaluate the potential additional environmental impacts
caused by PSEGS. As part of the state permitting process, the
California Energy Commission evaluated the PSEGS under CEQA, and issued
Preliminary and Final Staff Assessments for the amended project in June
and November of 2013, respectively. The BLM did not issue a Final
Supplemental EIS for the PSEGS Project because BSE and its partner,
Abengoa Solar Inc., abandoned the State authorization proceedings at
the California Energy Commission. In December 2015, EDF Renewable
Energy acquired the PSEGS application. EDF Renewable Energy has
submitted a revised ROW application for the Proposed Project, which is
analyzed in this Final Supplemental EIS/EIR and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment.
The BLM held public meetings on the revised ROW application in June
and August 2016 in Palm Springs, California. On October 27, 2017, the
BLM issued the Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR and Draft Land Use Plan
Amendment, which analyzed the impacts of the Proposed Action and two
action alternatives, in addition to a No Action Alternative.
Alternative 1, Reduced Footprint, would be a 500 MW Photovoltaic (PV)
array on about 3,100 acres. It avoids the central and largest desert
wash and incorporates a more efficient use of the land for the solar
array. Alternative 2, Avoidance Alternative, would be a solar PV
project on about 1,620 acres (160 to 230 MW). Like the Proposed Action,
under each of these alternatives, the BLM would amend the CDCA Plan to
allow the project. Under the No-Action Alternative, the BLM would deny
the
[[Page 23299]]
ROW application, and would not amend the CDCA Plan to allow the
project.
The Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR and Draft Land Use Plan Amendment
included analysis of the revised ROW application as it related to the
following issues: (1) Updated description of the Proposed Project,
based on the revised ROW application; (2) Impacts to cultural resources
and tribal concerns; (3) Impacts to the Sand Transport Corridor and
Mojave fringe-toed lizard habitat and washes; (4) Impacts to Joshua
Tree National Park; (5) Impacts to avian species; (6) Impacts to visual
resources; and (7) Relationship between the proposed project and the
California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan, including the
amendment to the CDCA Plan by the 2016 Desert Renewable Energy
Conservation Plan.
A Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR was released in October 2017, which
included a formal 45-day public comment period. The BLM held a public
meeting on November 14, 2017, in Palm Desert, CA. Fourteen individuals
attended that meeting. The BLM received 40 comment letters during the
comment period.
Comments on the Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR and Draft Land Use Plan
Amendment received from the public and internal agency review were
considered and incorporated as appropriate into the proposed plan
amendment. Public comments resulted in the addition of clarifying text,
but did not significantly change proposed land use plan decisions. A
response to substantive comments is included in the Final Supplemental
EIS/EIR and Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment. The BLM has selected
Alternative 1, the Reduced Footprint, as the Agency Proposed
Alternative in the Final Supplemental EIS/EIR and Proposed Land Use
Plan Amendment.
Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM
regarding the Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment/Final Supplemental EIS
may be found in the ``Dear Reader'' Letter of the Final Supplemental
EIS/EIR and Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment 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 mail or overnight delivery
postmarked by the close of the protest period. Under these conditions,
the BLM will consider the email as an advanced copy, and it will
receive full consideration. If you wish to provide the BLM with such
advance notification, please direct emails to: [email protected].
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.
Danielle Chi,
Deputy State Director.
[FR Doc. 2018-10574 Filed 5-17-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P
