Land Management Bureau August 4, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Needles Field Office, Needles, California, intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which may include potential land use plan amendments to the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan, as amended, and the Las Vegas Resource Management Plan (RMP), related to First Solar Development, Inc.'s (First Solar) right-of-way (ROW) application for the Stateline Solar Farm (Stateline), a 300- Megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) Solar electricity generation project. By this notice, the BLM is: (1) Announcing the beginning of the scoping process to solicit public comments and identify issues related to the EIS; and (2) Segregating the public lands located within the Stateline ROW application area from operation of the public land laws including the Mining Law, but not the Mineral Leasing or Material Sales Acts, for a period of 2 years from the date of publication of this notice.

The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) was directed by the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 to establish the Dominguez- Escalante National Conservation Area (D-E NCA) Advisory Council (Council). The 10-member Council was formed in December 2010 to provide recommendations to the Secretary through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) during the development of a resource management plan (RMP) for the D-E NCA. Since this council was formed, one council member representing Delta County and one council member representing natural values have expressed interest in resigning from the council due to time conflicts. As a result, the Secretary is soliciting applications to replace the current occupants of these two seats.