[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 231 (Friday, November 30, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59809-59811]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29707]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Notice of Availability of the Supplemental Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement for the Proposed Moapa Paiute Energy Center and 
Associated Facilities, Located on the Moapa River Indian Reservation 
and on Bureau of Land Management Lands in Clark County, NV

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA) intends to file a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (SDEIS) for the proposed Moapa Paiute Energy Center with the 
Environmental Protection Agency. It was prepared by the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with the 
cooperation of the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians (Tribe) and the Calpine 
Corporation (Calpine). The Notice of Availability for the Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was published on Friday, March 
20, 2001, in the Federal Register (66 FR 17437). The proposed action is 
for the Tribe to lease land and water on the Moapa River Indian 
Reservation (Reservation) to Calpine for the construction, operation 
and maintenance of a nominal baseload 760-megawatt, natural gas-fired, 
combined cycle power plant. In addition, proposed elements associated 
with the power plant would require permits and easements on Reservation 
lands and rights-of-way actions or temporary use permits on adjacent, 
BLM lands. The proposed term for the lease and rights-of-way is 25 
years, with the possibility of renewal for an additional 20 years. The 
purpose of the proposed action is to provide viable economic 
development for the Tribe and to provide an alternative power supply to 
meet the growing demand for power in southern Nevada and the 
southwestern United States.
    We are issuing this SDEIS to address and invite public comments on 
minor changes made to the proposed action since the DEIS was issued. 
These changes involve structural and routing modifications in the power 
distribution system for the proposed power plant. The SDEIS actually 
contains all of the information that we anticipate including in the 
Final Environmental Impact Statement, in order to provide a full 
context in which to view the changes. However, we are seeking public 
comments on the new information only. We will not consider further 
comments on matters already addressed in the DEIS, or on the public 
comments on the DEIS included in the SDEIS. We will address any 
comments we receive on the new information in the SDEIS in the Final 
Environmental Impact Statement. Details on the project location, 
proposed action, alternatives and areas of environmental concern, and 
on the new information addressed in the SDEIS, are provided below (see 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION).

DATES: Written comments on the SDEIS must arrive by January 14, 2002.

ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand carry written comments to Amy L. 
Heuslein or Ben Burshia. Written comments for Ms. Heuslein may be 
mailed to Regional Environmental Protection Officer, Western Regional 
Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Environmental Quality Services, PO 
Box 10, Phoenix, Arizona 85001, or hand delivered to 400 N. 5th St., 
14th Floor, Phoenix, Arizona 85004. Written comments for Mr. Burshia 
may be mailed to Field Representative, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
Southern Paiute Field Station, PO Box 720, St. George, Utah 84771, or 
hand delivered to 180 N. 200 E., Suite 111, St. George, Utah.
    To obtain a hard copy or compact disk of the SDEIS, contact any one 
of the following: (1) Amy L. Heuslein, Regional Environmental 
Protection Officer, Western Regional Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
Environmental Quality Services, PO Box 10, Phoenix, Arizona 85001, 
telephone 602-379-6750, telefax 602-379-3833, or E-mail 
[email protected]; (2) Ben Burshia,

[[Page 59810]]

Field Representative, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Southern Paiute Field 
Station, PO Box 720, St. George, Utah 84771, telephone 435-674-9720, 
telefax 435-674-9714, or E-mail [email protected]; (3) Jacqueline 
Gratton, Realty Specialist, Bureau of Land Management, 4765 Vegas 
Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89108, telephone 702-647-5000, telefax 702-
647-5023, or E-mail Jacqueline--Gratton @nv.blm.gov; or (4) the Moapa 
Band of Paiutes, Tribal Hall, Number 1 Lincoln Street, Moapa River 
Indian Reservation, Moapa, Nevada, 89025, telephone 702-865-2787, 
extension 202, or telefax 702-865-2875.
    A hard copy of the SDEIS will be available for review at the Clark 
County Library--Urban Branch, 1401 East Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, 
Nevada, telephone 702-733-7810. Electronic copies of the SDEIS will be 
available on the BIA Internet web site at http://www.phxao.az.bia.gov/branches/environment/EIS/EIS.htm, and on the BLM web site at http://www.nv.blm.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amy L. Heuslein, 602-379-6750, or Ben 
Burshia, 435-674-9720.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SDEIS incorporates revisions to the DEIS 
made in response to comments submitted during the 60-day public comment 
period, plus revisions made in response to changing conditions and new 
information that affected the design of both action alternatives. These 
revisions address modifications to the proposed project made after the 
DEIS was issued. Details on these modifications are provided later in 
this section.
    The project proposed in the SDEIS would use up to 222 acres of 
Reservation and federal lands under the jurisdiction of the BIA, BLM 
and the Tribe. It would be located in Clark County, Nevada, 
approximately 45 miles northeast of the City of Las Vegas, 15 miles 
southwest of the City of Glendale, and approximately 3 miles northwest 
of the Interstate 15 and State Route 169 interchange (location of Moapa 
Tribal Enterprises). The proposed power plant would be located on 
approximately 65 acres of Reservation land within Sections 14 and 15 of 
Township 16 South, Range 64 East (reference: Arrow Canyon Southeast 
U.S. Geological Survey Map 7.5-minute series).
    The proposed transmission lines would be located on Reservation and 
federal lands within Sections 14, 15, 22, 27, 28, 32 and 33 of Township 
16 South, Range 64 East; and Section 9 of Township 17 South, Range 64 
East (reference: Arrow Canyon Southeast and Dry Lake U.S. Geological 
Survey Maps 7.5-minute series). The access road for the proposed well 
field and power plant would be located on Reservation and federal lands 
within Sections 15, 21, 22, 28 and 33 of Township 16 South, Range 64 
East; sections 10 and 15 of Township 17 South, Range 64 East 
(reference: Arrow Canyon Southeast and Dry Lake U.S. Geological Survey 
Maps 7.5-minute series).
    The proposed nominal 760-megawatt, natural gas-fired, combined 
cycle power plant project would employ three gas turbines, three heat 
recovery steam generators and one steam turbine. The stacks would be 
approximately 145 to 199 feet high and approximately 18 feet in 
diameter. Up to 7000 acre feet per year of Tribal groundwater would be 
used for operations and for power plant cooling. Both storm water and 
process wastewater would be confined to the site. The plant would be 
fueled by natural gas from the existing Kern River (Williams) natural 
gas pipeline that is located within an existing right-of-way 
(administered by the BLM) on the Reservation, approximately 4000 feet 
from the proposed plant location. The project would include 
construction of a gas supply lateral pipeline on Reservation land and a 
power grid interconnection at the Nevada Power Company-owned Crystal 
Substation, located approximately four miles south-southwest of the 
power plant.
    Power would transmit along a single or double-circuit 500-kV 
transmission line supported by steel lattice towers, traversing both 
Reservation land and federal land, within an existing utility corridor. 
Although only one 500-kV circuit is necessary for the proposed energy 
center, a second circuit is included as a possibility to allow a 
generator north of the proposed energy center to interconnect at the 
Crystal Substation without having to cross the proposed 500-kV circuit. 
If a second circuit is built, Calpine would employ both circuits in 
order to increase transmission system reliability until a user for the 
second circuit has been determined. If a user is determined, Calpine 
would transfer the rights of a circuit to that user, and the user would 
be responsible for obtaining separate permitting for its project.
    The proposed project includes an access road to connect the site to 
Interstate Highway 15. A portion of this access road would require new 
construction. The remainder would make use of an existing frontage road 
and an existing dirt road, which is proposed to be improved.
    The modifications made to the proposed action after the DEIS was 
issued, and which are addressed in this SDEIS, involve the transmission 
line for the proposed project. In the DEIS, the proposed line consists 
of a power grid interconnection at the Nevada Power Company-owned Harry 
Allen Substation, with two single-circuit, 230-kV transmission lines 
supported on mono-poles. In this SDEIS, the line consists of an 
interconnection to the Nevada Power Company's Crystal Substation, with 
a single or double-circuit 500-kV transmission line supported on steel 
lattice towers. These modifications were made in order to be consistent 
with the most recent regional transmission plan identified in the 
Nevada Power 2001 Resource Plan filing, which was published after the 
release of the DEIS.
    To compare: (1) The power grid connection to the Crystal Substation 
is seven miles shorter than the connection to the Harry Allen 
Substation; (2) the width of the right-of-way for the single or double-
circuit 500-kV transmission line is150 feet, while the width for the 
two single-circuit 230-kV transmission lines is 260 feet; (3) the 
height of the steel lattice towers is between 180 to190 feet, while the 
width for the 230-kV mono-poles is between 80 and 100 feet; (4) the 
number of steel lattice towers that would be required is approximately 
27, while the number of mono-poles would be approximately 120; and (5) 
the single or double-circuit 500-kV line would disturb about 40 acres 
of land, which is approximately 83 acres less than what the two single-
circuit 230-kV lines would disturb.
    The SDEIS discusses potential impacts of proposed power plant 
development and operation on environmental and cultural resources in 
the study area. It describes alternatives that were considered but 
eliminated from further consideration, and analyzes the proposed 
action, a southern site alternative, and the no action alternative. 
Issues addressed in the SDEIS include geology and soils, surface and 
groundwater resources, biological resources, visual resources, air 
quality, land use, noise, public services/utilities, hazardous 
materials, paleontological and cultural resources, socio-economic 
conditions, environmental justice, Indian trust assets, and cumulative 
impacts. In addition, the SDEIS describes project modifications in 
comparison to the DEIS, discusses the reasons for these modifications, 
explores, but eliminates from further consideration, alternatives for 
the modifications, and analyzes environmental impacts with respect to 
the modifications.

[[Page 59811]]

Public Participation

    The SDEIS was prepared subsequent to the issuance of a DEIS. Public 
scoping meetings for the DEIS were held August 10 and September 19, 
2000, at the Reservation, and August 11 and September 20, 2000, at the 
North Las Vegas Airport in the City of North Las Vegas, Nevada. The 
DEIS was made available for public review and comment from March 30, 
2001, to May 29, 2001. A Notice of Availability of the DEIS was 
published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2001 (66 FR 17437). 
Public notices were also published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the 
Las Vegas Sun, and the St. George Spectrum on April 6-8, 2001, and 
April 13-15, 2001. In addition, copies of the DEIS were mailed to a 
list of interested parties, including all attendees of the public 
scoping meetings and anyone who requested a copy, and the DEIS was 
available from the BIA in hard copy, on CD, and on the Internet. Public 
hearings on the DEIS were held on April 18, 2001, at the Reservation 
and April 19, 2001, at the Guy Elementary School in the City of North 
Las Vegas, Nevada.

Public Comment Solicitation

    As an alternative to submitting written comments regarding the 
content of the SDEIS to the locations identified in the ADDRESSES 
section, interested persons may instead comment via the Internet to 
[email protected] or to [email protected]. Please submit Internet 
comments as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters and 
any form of encryption. If you do not receive confirmation from the 
system that your Internet message was received, contact Amy L. Heuslein 
at (602) 379-6750, or Ben Burshia at (435) 674-9720, respectively.
    Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the mailing addresses shown in the 
ADDRESSES section, during regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individuals may request 
confidentiality. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or address 
from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of Information 
Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your written 
comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by law. We 
will not, however, consider anonymous comments. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses, and from individuals identifying 
themselves as representatives or officials of organizations or 
businesses will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

    Authority: This notice is published in accordance with section 
1503.1 of the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR 
parts 1500 through 1508), implementing the procedural requirements 
of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and the Department of the Interior Manual (516 
DM 1-6), and is in the exercise of authority delegated to the 
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8.

    Dated: November 19, 2001.
Neal A. McCaleb,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 01-29707 Filed 11-29-01; 8:45 am]
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