[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 7, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17762-17763]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7832]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA 49016, LLCAD05000, L51010000.FX0000. LVRWB092990]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement/Staff Assessment for the Solar Millennium's Ridgecrest Solar 
Power Project and Possible California Desert Conservation Area Plan 
Amendment

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), 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 Ridgecrest Solar Power 
Project (RSPP), Kern County, California, 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 of this document 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 RSPP by any of the 
following methods:
     Web site: http://www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/solar_millennium_ridgecrest/index.html.
     E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected].
     Fax: (916) 651-0966
     Mail: Eric Solorio, Project Manager, Siting, Transmission, 
and Environmental Protection Division, California Energy Commission, 
1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento, California 95814.
    Copies of the Solar Millennium's RSPP Draft EIS/SA are available 
from the CEC and the BLM at the above addresses and in the BLM 
Ridgecrest Field Office, 300 South Richmond Road, Ridgecrest, 
California 92555, or the California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle 
San Juan de los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 92553.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janet Eubanks, BLM Project Manager, 
telephone: (951) 697-5376, address: Bureau of Land Management, 22835 
Calle San Juan de los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 92553; or e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Solar Millennium has submitted to the BLM an 
amended application to develop a dry-cooled, utility-scale solar 
thermal electric power generating facility. The project will have a 
nominal output of 250 megawatts, consisting of a single power plant 
utilizing two solar fields.
    The project would be located in northeastern Kern County, 
California, about five miles southwest of Ridgecrest, California. The 
proposed project right-of-way (ROW) would encompass approximately 3,995 
acres of public lands administered by the BLM. The total disturbance 
area would encompass approximately 1,944 acres. The dry-cooled project 
would use solar parabolic trough technology to generate electricity. 
The project also includes the relocation of two Southern California 
Edison electrical transmission lines, construction of a new 5-mile long 
water supply pipeline, and an access road.
    The BLM's purpose and need for the RSPP is to respond to Solar 
Millennium's application under Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) for a 
ROW grant to construct, operate, and decommission a solar thermal 
facility on public lands in compliance with FLPMA, the BLM ROW 
regulations, and other applicable Federal laws and regulations. The BLM 
will decide whether to approve, approve with modification, or deny 
issuance of a ROW grant to Solar Millennium for the proposed RSPP. The 
BLM will also amend the CDCA Plan in this NEPA analysis by designating 
the project area as either available or unavailable to solar energy 
projects. The CDCA Plan (1980, as amended), while recognizing the 
potential placement of solar generation facilities on public lands, 
requires that all sites proposed for power generation or transmission 
not identified in the plan be considered through the plan amendment 
process.
    In response to the application received from Solar Millennium, the 
BLM's proposed action is to authorize the RSPP and amend the CDCA Plan 
to designate the project area as available for solar energy projects. 
The project area would avoid El Paso Wash. In addition to the proposed 
action, the BLM is analyzing the following action alternatives: An 
alternative that limits the project to the Northern Unit to avoid 
Mohave Ground Squirrel designated critical habitat; an alternative that 
limits the project to the Southern Unit to avoid high population 
densities of desert tortoise and other resources; and the original 
proposed project alternative. All action alternatives would amend the 
CDCA Plan to make the area available to solar energy development.
    In addition to the above, as required under NEPA, the Draft EIS 
analyzes a no action alternative that would not require a CDCA Plan 
amendment. The Draft EIS also analyzes two additional no action 
alternatives that reject the project, but amend the CDCA Plan to 
either: (1) Designate the project area as available to future solar 
energy power generation projects; or (2) designate the project area as 
unavailable to future solar energy power generation projects. 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 Solar Millennium 
application.

[[Page 17763]]

    The BLM will use the NEPA commenting process to satisfy the public 
involvement process of Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f) as provided for in 36 CFR 
800.2(d)(3). Native American Tribal consultations are being conducted 
in accordance with policy, and Tribal concerns will be given due 
consideration, including impacts on Indian trust assets.
    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. The BLM 
and CEC have agreed through the MOU to conduct a joint environmental 
review of the project in a single combined NEPA/California 
Environmental Quality Act process and document. The BLM and CEC have 
prepared the Draft EIS/SA evaluating the potential impacts of the 
proposed RSPP on air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, 
water resources, geological resources and hazards, land use, noise, 
paleontological resources, public health, socioeconomic impacts, soils, 
traffic and transportation, visual resources, and other resources.
    A Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS/SA and Proposed Land Use Plan 
Amendment for the Proposed Ridgecrest Solar Power Project in Kern 
County, California was published in the Federal Register on November 
23, 2009 (74 FR 61168). The BLM held two public scoping meetings in 
Ridgecrest and Inyokern, California, on January 5 and 6, 2010. The 
formal scoping period ended January 21, 2010.
    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.

Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director.

    Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 1506.10 and 43 CFR 1610.2.
[FR Doc. 2010-7832 Filed 4-6-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P