[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 34 (Monday, February 22, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7624-7625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-3443]



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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA 47740, LLCAD07000, L51030000.FX0000, LVRAB109AA01]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement/Staff Assessment for the Stirling Energy Systems Solar Two 
Project and Possible California Desert Conservation Area Plan Amendment

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) of 1969, as amended, and the Federal Land Policy and Management 
Act (FLPMA) of 1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
and the California Energy Commission (CEC) have prepared a Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Draft California Desert 
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment, and Staff Assessment (SA) as a 
joint environmental analysis document for the Stirling Energy Systems 
(SES) Solar Two Project and by this notice are announcing the opening 
of the comment period.

DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Draft EIS/SA within 90 days following the date 
the Environmental Protection Agency publishes its Notice of 
Availability in the Federal Register. The BLM will announce future 
meetings or hearings and any other public involvement activities at 
least 15 days in advance through public notices, media releases, and/or 
mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the SES Solar Two Project 
by any of the following methods:
     Web site: http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solartwo/index.html.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: (818) 597-8001.
     Mail or other delivery service: Christopher Meyer, Project 
Manager, Siting, Transmission and Environmental Protection Division, 
California Energy Commission, 1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento, 
California, 95814.
    Copies of the SES Solar Two Draft EIS/SA are available from the CEC 
at the above address and in the BLM El Centro Field Office, 1661 S. 4th 
Street, El Centro, California, 92243.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact Jim 
Stobaugh, BLM Project Manager, by telephone at (775) 861-6478; through 
mail at Bureau of Land Management, P.O. Box 12000, Reno, Nevada 89520; 
or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SES has submitted an application to the BLM 
for development of the proposed SES Solar Two Project, a concentrated 
solar electrical generating facility capable of generating 750 
megawatts of renewable power. The entire project encompasses 
approximately 6,144 acres of BLM-managed lands. The project site is in 
Imperial County, California, approximately four miles east of Ocotillo 
and 14 miles west of El Centro. Generally, the site is bounded on the 
north by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System/San Diego & Arizona 
Eastern Railway and on the south by Interstate 8. The eastern boundary 
is approximately 1.5 miles west of Dunaway Road and the western 
boundary is the westerly section line in Section 22 in Township 16 
South, Range 12 East. An additional 110-acre construction area is 
proposed east of Dunaway Road.
    SES proposes to use SunCatcher technology on the site. A SunCatcher 
is a 25-kilowatt solar dish designed to automatically track the sun and 
collect and focus solar energy onto a power conversion unit (PCU), 
which generates electricity. The system consists of a 38-foot high by 
40-foot wide solar concentrator in a dish structure that supports an 
array of curved glass mirror facets. These mirrors collect and 
concentrate solar energy onto the solar receiver of the PCU.
    The project also includes an electrical transmission line, water 
supply pipeline, and an access road. A new 230-kilovolt (kV) substation 
would be constructed in approximately the center of the project site 
near a main services complex that is also part of the proposal. The 
substation would be connected to the existing San Diego Gas and 
Electric Imperial Valley Substation by about a 10.3-mile long, double-
circuit 230 kV transmission line. Approximately 7.6 miles of this new 
line would be outside the project area but is included in the analysis. 
The transmission line would require the use of approximately 92 acres.
    The BLM's purpose and need for the Solar Two project is to respond 
to SES' application under Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) for a 
right-of-way (ROW) grant to construct, operate, and decommission a 
solar thermal facility on public lands in compliance with FLPMA, BLM 
ROW regulations, and other applicable Federal laws. The BLM will decide 
whether to approve, approve with modification, or deny a ROW grant to 
SES for the proposed Solar Two project. The BLM will also consider 
amending the CDCA Plan in this analysis. The CDCA Plan (1980, as 
amended), while recognizing the potential compatibility of solar 
generation facilities on public lands, requires that all sites 
associated with power generation or transmission not identified in that 
plan be considered through the plan amendment process. If the BLM 
decides to grant a ROW, the BLM would also amend the CDCA Plan as 
required.
    In the draft EIS analysis, the BLM's proposed action is to 
authorize the SES Solar Two project and approve a CDCA Plan amendment 
in response to the application received from SES. In addition to the 
proposed action, the BLM is analyzing the following action 
alternatives:
     Authorize the proposed action;
     Authorize a smaller 300 MW alternative and amend the CDCA 
Plan;
     Authorize the project as described in the Drainage 
Avoidance 1 alternative that may reduce impacts to primary 
water drainages of the U.S. and amend the CDCA Plan; and
     Authorize the project as described in the more restrictive 
Drainage Avoidance 2 alternative that may substantially reduce 
impacts in eastern and western high flow water drainages of the U.S. 
and amend the CDCA Plan.
    As required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 
and NEPA, the EIS analyzes three no action alternatives:
     Deny the application and not amend the CDCA Plan;
     Deny the project but amend the CDCA Plan to allow other 
solar energy power generation projects on the project site; and
     Deny the project and amend the CDCA Plan to prohibit solar 
energy power generation projects on the project site.
    The BLM will take into consideration the provisions of the Energy 
Policy Act of 2005 and Secretarial Orders 3283 Enhancing Renewable 
Energy Development on the Public Lands and 3285 Renewable Energy 
Development by the Department of the Interior in responding to the SES 
application.
    The BLM has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with 
the CEC to conduct a joint environmental review of solar thermal 
projects that are proposed on Federal land managed by the BLM with the 
CEC as the lead agency preparing the environmental documents. The BLM 
and CEC have agreed through the MOU to conduct joint environmental 
review of the project in a single combined NEPA/CEQA process and 
document. In

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addition, the BLM and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) entered 
into an MOU to formalize the Corps as a Federal cooperating agency in 
developing the EIS. The BLM and CEC, in coordination with the Corps, 
have prepared the Draft EIS/SA evaluating the potential impacts of the 
proposed Solar Two Project on air quality, biological resources, 
cultural resources, water resources, geological resources and hazards, 
land use, noise, paleontological resources, public health, 
socioeconomics, soils, traffic and transportation, visual resources, 
and other resources. The Corps requirements under the Clean Water Act 
(CWA), Section 404(b)(1) Guidelines are to identify and authorize only 
the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative which 
maximizes avoidance and minimization of impacts to aquatic resources of 
the U.S. The Corps and the applicant are working with the BLM and CEC 
to identify the project proposal that would reasonably comply with the 
Corps' requirements under the CWA and 404(b)(1) Guidelines. The 
applicant has applied to the Department of Energy (DOE) for a loan 
guarantee under Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, as amended 
by Section 406 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 
Public Law 111-5. Should the DOE decide to enter into negotiation of a 
possible loan guarantee with the applicant, the DOE would become a 
cooperating agency in developing the final EIS. A Notice of Intent to 
Prepare an EIS/SA and Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment for the Proposed 
SES Solar Two Project in Imperial County, California was published 
October 17, 2008 (see 73 FR 61902). The BLM held two public scoping 
meetings in El Centro, California, on November 24 and December 18, 
2008. The formal scoping period ended January 2, 2009.
    Please note that public comments will be available for public 
review and disclosure at the above address during regular business 
hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment 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; and 43 CFR 1610.2.

Vickie Weed,
Field Manager, El Centro Field Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-3443 Filed 2-19-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P