Department of Energy October 6, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its decision to issue a loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) to First Solar, Inc., (First Solar) for construction and start-up of the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project (DSSFP or the Project), a 550-megawatt (MW) nominal capacity solar photovoltaic power generating facility on approximately 4,144 acres, all of which is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in Riverside County, California. The potential environmental impacts of constructing and operating this project were analyzed pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in Plan Amendment/Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm Project (76 Federal Register [FR] 21402; April 15, 2011) prepared by the BLM Palm Springs- South Coast Field Office with DOE as a cooperating agency. BLM consulted DOE during preparation of the EIS, DOE provided comments to BLM on the content, and BLM addressed those comments in the Final EIS. DOE subsequently determined that the project analyzed in the Final EIS is substantially the same as the project that would be covered by the DOE loan guarantee and that its own NEPA procedures had been satisfied, and DOE adopted the Final EIS (DOE/EIS-0448) (76 FR 37112; June 24, 2011).

Pursuant to Section 14(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), and in accordance with Title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 102-3.65(a), and following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat, General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee (NSAC) will be renewed for a two- year period beginning on September 30, 2011. The Committee will provide advice to the Director, Office of Science (Department of Energy), and the Assistant Director, Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (National Science Foundation), on scientific priorities within the field of basic nuclear science research. Additionally, the renewal of the NSAC has been determined to be essential to conduct business of the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation and to be in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed upon the Department of Energy, by law and agreement. The Committee will continue to operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and the rules and regulations in implementation of that Act.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its decision to issue a $134 million loan guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) to Abengoa Bioenergy Biomass of Kansas, LLC (Abengoa) for construction and start-up of a cellulosic ethanol plant near Hugoton, Kansas (Project). The integrated biorefinery will use a combination of biomass feedstocks, such as corn stover and wheat straw, to produce cellulosic ethanol and to generate sufficient electricity to power the facility. The Project site comprises approximately 810 acres of row-cropped agricultural land. The biorefinery facilities will be developed on 385 acres and the remaining 425 acres will continue in agricultural use and act as a buffer area between the biorefinery and the Hugoton city limits. The environmental impacts of the construction and operation of this project were analyzed pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Abengoa Biorefinery Project near Hugoton, Stevens County, Kansas (DOE/EIS-0407F) (Final EIS) (August 2010) and in an associated Supplement Analysis (DOE/EIS- 0407/SA-1; July 2011), prepared by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Golden Field Office. DOE published a Record of Decision (ROD) on January 12, 2011 (76 FR 2096) to provide Federal funding under Section 932 of EPAct 2005 to Abengoa for the Project. The project for which DOE earlier provided funding under Section 932, with some modifications, is the same project for which DOE is now making a decision to issue a loan guarantee under Title XVII of EPAct 2005. DOE Loan Programs Office determined that the project analyzed in the Final EIS and Supplement Analysis encompasses all activities covered by the loan guarantee.