[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 58 (Monday, March 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16485-16486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-7310]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CA-660-1430-ER-CACA-8974]


Proposed California Desert Conservation Area Plan Amendment and 
Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) 
for the Imperial Irrigation District's Proposed New 230-kV ``BN-BS'' 
Transmission Line Project, California

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Imperial Irrigation 
District (IID), Interior

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare a California Desert Conservation 
Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment and joint EIS/EIR addressing a proposed 230-
kV transmission line project.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with regulations at 40 CFR 1501.7 and 43 CFR 
1610.2, notice is hereby given that the BLM, together with the IID, 
propose to prepare an amendment to the California Desert Conservation 
Area (CDCA) Plan and to direct the preparation of a joint EIS/EIR for 
the IID's proposed 230 kilovolt (kV) ``BN-BS'' Transmission Line 
Project. The BLM is the lead Federal agency for the preparation of this 
EIS/EIR in compliance with the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality 
(CEQ) regulation for implementing NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations 
[CFR] 1500-1508), and the Department of the Interior's manual guidance 
on NEPA; and the IID is the lead State of California agency for the 
preparation of this EIS/EIR in compliance with the requirements of the 
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Public Resources Code 
section 21000 et seq.), and implementing guidelines (California Code of 
Regulations [CCR] Title 14, section 15000 et seq.), and IID's Rules and 
Regulations to Implement CEQA. This notice initiates the public 
participation process for planning, initiates public scoping for the 
EIS and also serves as an invitation for other cooperating agencies. 
Potential cooperating agencies include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service, Western Area Power Administration, the Department of

[[Page 16486]]

Defense, the State Historic Preservation Officer, and the California 
Department of Fish and Game.

DATES: For scoping meetings and comments: Two public scoping meetings 
will be held during 2001 on the following dates:

1. March 28, from 7-10 p.m., at the IID Board Room, La Quinta, CA.
2. March 29, from 7-10 p.m., at the Blythe City Council Multipurpose 
Room, Blythe, CA.

    Written comments must be postmarked no later than 30 days from the 
date of this notice in order to be included in the draft Plan/EIR/EIS. 
Please submit any comments to the address listed below.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Mr. James G. Kenna--
Field Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Palm Springs-South Coast 
Field Office, 690 West Garnet Ave, P.O. Box 581260, North Palm Springs, 
California 92258-1260. The meeting locations are:

1. Imperial Irrigation District, 81-600 Ave. 58, La Quinta, CA.
2. Blythe City Council Multipurpose Room, 235 N. Broadway, Blythe CA.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Kalish, Bureau of Land 
Management, Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, 690 West Garnet Ave, 
P.O. Box 581260, North Palm Springs, California 92258-1260, (760) 251-
4849.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Imperial Irrigation District (IID) is a 
community owned utility providing power to more than 90,000 customers 
in Imperial County and parts of Riverside and San Diego Counties, all 
in California. The IID is experiencing an increase in electrical demand 
at an estimated rate of 20 to 30 megawatts annually. In an effort to 
meet electrical power demand, the IID is proposing to construct a 230 
kilovolt (kV) electrical transmission line from Niland to Blythe, 
California to access available electrical power in the Blythe area. The 
proposed electrical transmission line begins four miles west of the 
City of Blythe, in Riverside County, California and traverses south and 
west to a point located 5.5 miles southeast of the City of Niland, in 
Imperial County, California. IID has an existing 161kV transmission 
line right-of-way, #CA-8974, from Niland to Blythe, California. IID is 
proposing to construct the 230 kV line adjacent to and parallel to 
their existing 161 kV line requiring an additional 360 foot wide right-
of-way.
    An amendment to the CDCA Plan is required because the existing 161 
kV line and this proposal are not within one of the 16 utility 
corridors as designated in the California Desert Conservation Area 
(CDCA) Plan of 1980, as amended. The CDCA Plan states that new utility 
needs which do not conform to the adopted corridor system will be 
processed by means of a Plan Amendment in conjunction with necessary 
permit hearing required by other agencies. The proposed plan amendment 
will consider a range of alternatives including: (1) Allowing a one 
time exemption to the CDCA Plan Utility Corridor element to allow for 
installation of IID's proposed new 230 kV transmission line, (2) 
designating a new utility corridor from Niland to Blythe along the same 
route, and (3) not amending the CDCA Plan. If the CDCA Plan is not 
amended, then BLM may authorize installation of the 230 kV line 
transmission within existing utility corridors only, or BLM may deny 
the project. All of these alternatives will be analyzed within the EIS/
EIR.
    BLM has identified a preliminary list of issues which will need to 
be addressed in this analysis. Members of the public are invited to 
identify additional issues and concerns to be addressed. The 
preliminary list of issues includes the following: as proposed, this 
230 kV line would traverse critical desert tortoise habitat as well as 
several BLM administered areas including the Chuckwalla Bench Area of 
Critical Environmental Concern, the Bradshaw Trail National Backcountry 
Byway, and the Mule Mountains Long Term Visitor Area. The proposed 
transmission line is also directly adjacent to the southern boundary of 
the Little Chuckwalla Mountains Wilderness Area. Of the 60 mile length 
of the proposed transmission line, approximately 44 miles is on BLM 
public lands administered by both the El Centro and Palm Springs-South 
Coast Field Offices. These 44 miles include a 17 mile portion that is 
on the United States Navy Chocolate Mountains Aerial and Gunnery Range.
    Planning criteria (43 CFR 1610.4-2) are parameters, generally based 
on applicable law, which guide development of the plan amendment, to 
ensure the planning process to tailored to the issues and unnecessary 
data collection is avoided. The BLM has put together the following 
preliminary list of planning criteria and invites the public to provide 
written comments on these criteria. The draft Northern and Eastern 
Colorado Desert (NECO) Plan and draft EIS shall be considered to ensure 
that there are no inconsistencies between NECO and the IID proposal. 
This is critical as the NECO Plan has been prepared to addressed 
recovery of the Federally listed desert tortoise. The IID proposal 
itself will be subject to Section 7 consultation in accordance with the 
Endangered Species Act of 1973 as amended to address potential impacts 
to desert tortoise, including cumulative impacts.
    The planning process and environmental review analysis for the CDCA 
Plan Amendment shall be conducted from an interdisciplinary perspective 
to ensure all issues are adequately addressed. At minimum, input shall 
be sought from the following disciplines: biological resources, 
cultural resources, visual resource management, recreation, wilderness, 
and lands and realty.
    Interested members of the public are invited to participate in this 
planning/NEPA process, and are requested to help identify issues or 
concerns, additional planning criteria, and alternatives to be 
considered related to this proposed CDCA Plan amendment and proposed 
230 kV transmission line. When available, the public will be provided a 
90-day public review period on the draft plan amendment/EIS/EIR and a 
30-day protest period on the proposed plan amendment/ final EIS/EIR. 
These documents will be made available on the Internet at BLM's 
website: www.ca.blm.gov and at local public libraries in the cities of 
Blythe, Niland, La Quinta and Cathedral City, California. Contact the 
BLM if you would like to be included in the mailing list to receive 
copies of all public notices relevant to this project. Local notice 
will be provided a minimum of 15 days prior to the meeting dates.

James G. Kenna,
Field Manager.
[FR Doc. 01-7310 Filed 3-23-01; 8:45 am]
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