[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 74 (Monday, April 19, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20379-20380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-8905]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA 048880, LLCAD06000, L51010000.FX0000, LVRWB09B2520]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement/Staff Assessment for the NextEra Energy Resources Genesis 
Solar Energy 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 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 Genesis Solar Energy 
Project (GSEP), Riverside 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 and plan amendment within 90 days

[[Page 20380]]

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 GSEP by any of the 
following methods:
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Mail or other delivery service: Allison Shaffer, Project 
Manager, Palm Springs South Coast Field Office, Bureau of Land 
Management, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, California 92262.
    Copies of the GSEP Draft EIS/SA are available from the BLM at the 
above addresses.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allison Shaffer, BLM project manager, 
at (760) 833-7100. See also ADDRESSES above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NextEra Energy Resources has submitted a 
right-of-way (ROW) application to the BLM for development of the 
proposed GSEP on public lands, consisting of two concentrating solar 
electric generating power plants each producing 125 megawatts (MW) for 
a total output of approximately 250 MW of electricity at full 
development. The project would use a wet-cooling tower for power plant 
cooling. Water for the project (approximately 1,644 acre-feet per year) 
would be obtained from on-site wells. The project would include a 15-
mile transmission line to the Colorado River Substation; 5.6 miles of 
this line would use the existing 230-kilovolt Blythe Energy 
Transmission Line. The total expected project footprint is about 1,800 
acres of BLM-managed lands for the two power plants, and approximately 
80 to 90 acres in support of ancillary facilities. The project is sited 
in an undeveloped area of the Sonoran Desert, near Ford Dry Lake, north 
of Interstate 10 in Riverside County, approximately 25 miles west of 
Blythe, California, on lands managed by the BLM. The BLM's purpose and 
need for the GSEP is to respond to NextEra's application for a ROW 
grant to construct, operate, and decommission a solar power facility on 
public lands in compliance with Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761), BLM 
ROW regulations, and other applicable Federal laws. The BLM will decide 
whether to grant, grant with modification, or deny a ROW to NextEra for 
the proposed GSEP. The BLM will also consider amending the CDCA Plan 
(1980, as amended) in this analysis. The CDCA Plan, while recognizing 
the potential compatibility 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 BLM 
land use plan amendment process. If the BLM decides to grant a ROW for 
this project, the CDCA Plan would be amended as required.
    The proposed action is to authorize the GSEP and amend the CDCA 
Plan to designate the project area as available for solar energy 
projects. In addition to the proposed action, the BLM is analyzing an 
alternative that would reduce the project footprint by half, to 
approximately 900 acres of disturbance, by constructing only one power 
plant for a total output of 125 MW. The BLM is also analyzing a dry-
cooling alternative. All three action alternatives would amend the CDCA 
Plan to designate the area as available for commercial solar energy 
development. 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 alternatives that reject the project, but amend the CDCA 
Plan to either: (1) Designate the project area as available for future 
solar energy power generation projects; or (2) designate the project 
area as unavailable for future solar energy power generation projects. 
The BLM will take into consideration the provisions of the Energy 
Policy Act of 2005 and Secretarial Order 3283 Enhancing Renewable 
Energy Development on the Public Lands and Secretarial Order 3285 
Renewable Energy Development by the Department of the Interior in 
responding to the NextEra application.
    The BLM has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding 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 to conduct joint environmental review of the project in a single 
combined NEPA/California Environmental Quality Act process and 
document. The Draft EIS/SA analyzes site-specific impacts of the 
proposed project on air quality; biological, cultural, water, soil, 
visual, paleontological, and geological resources; recreation; land 
use; noise; public health; socioeconomics; and traffic and 
transportation. The Draft EIS/SA also addresses hazardous materials 
handling, waste management, worker safety, fire protection, facility 
design engineering, efficiency, reliability, transmission system 
engineering, transmission line safety, and nuisance.
    A Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS/SA and Proposed Land Use Plan 
Amendment for the NextEra Genesis Solar Energy Project in Riverside 
County was published in the Federal Register on November 23, 2009 (74 
FR 61167). The BLM held two public scoping meetings in Blythe, 
California, and Palm Desert, California, on December 10th and11th, 
2009. The formal scoping period ended December 23, 2009.
    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, 1506.10, and 43 CFR 1610.2

Karla D. Norris,
Associate Deputy State Director.
[FR Doc. 2010-8905 Filed 4-16-10; 8:45 am]
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