[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 151 (Friday, August 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47608-47609]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-19916]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA 51022 DOE/EIS-0439]


Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Rice Solar Energy, LLC Rice Solar Energy Project and 
Proposed 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 Western Area Power Administration 
(Western), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the California 
Energy Commission (CEC) prepared a Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) and California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment for 
the Rice Solar Energy Project (RSEP) in Riverside County, California. 
By this Notice, the BLM is announcing the availability of the Proposed 
CDCA Plan Amendment/Final EIS.

DATES: The BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
Proposed CDCA Plan Amendment. A person who meets the conditions and 
files a protest must file the protest by September 6, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the RSEP Proposed CDCA Plan Amendment/Final EIS 
have been sent to affected Federal, State, and local government 
agencies and to other stakeholders. Copies are available for public 
inspection at the Palm Springs South Coast Field Office, 1201 Bird 
Center Drive, Palm Springs, California 92262. Interested persons may 
also review the document at the following Web site: http://www.wapa.gov/transmission/RiceSolar.htm. All protests must be in 
writing and mailed to one of the following addresses:
    Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Hudgens-
Williams, P.O. Box 71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383.
    Overnight Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Hudgens-
Williams, 20 M Street, SE, Room 2134LM, Washington, DC 20003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Liana Reilly, NEPA Document 
Manager, Western Area Power Administration, P.O. Box 281213, Lakewood, 
Colorado 80228-8213, e-mail: [email protected]; or Ms. Allison 
Shaffer, Realty Specialist, telephone 760-833-7100, address (see above 
field office address), e-mail [email protected]. Persons who use a 
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above 
individual during normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours 
a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above 
individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed Rice Solar Energy Project 
(Project) is a 150 megawatt (MW) solar electric power plant that would 
use concentrating solar ``power tower'' technology to capture the sun's 
heat to make steam, which would power traditional steam turbine 
generators.

[[Page 47609]]

The solar generation facility, located on privately owned land, would 
contain the power block, a central receiver or tower, a solar field 
consisting of mirrors or heliostats to reflect the sun's energy to the 
central tower, a thermal energy storage system, technical and non-
technical buildings, a storm water system, a water supply and treatment 
system, a wastewater system, evaporation ponds, construction parking 
and laydown areas, and other supporting facilities. The Project would 
use an air-cooled condenser (i.e., dry cooling technology) for power 
plant cooling. Water for the project (approximately up to 180 acre-feet 
per year) would be obtained from two new on-site wells.
    Rice Solar Energy, LLC (RSE) has applied to Western to interconnect 
the proposed Project to Western's transmission system. A new 10-mile-
long 230-kV generator tie-line would extend from the southern boundary 
of the solar facility to a new substation adjacent to Western's 
existing Parker-Blythe transmission line. The substation would be owned 
and operated by Western and would be approximately 3 acres in size. RSE 
has submitted a right-of-way (ROW) application to the BLM for the 
Project components (the generator tie-line, substation, and access 
road) to be constructed on a total of about 150 acres of land managed 
by the BLM. The project site is in an undeveloped area of the Mojave 
Desert in eastern Riverside County, California, near State Route 62, 
about 40 miles west of Blythe, California, and 15 miles west of Vidal 
Junction, California, on lands managed by the BLM.
    The BLM's purpose and need for the RSEP is to respond to RSE's 
application under Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) for a ROW grant to 
construct the 161-kV/230-kV transmission line, substation, and access 
road 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 the ROW for the proposed RSEP 
project. 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 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.
    The Final EIS evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed RSEP 
and CDCA Plan Amendment 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, wilderness 
characteristics, and other resources.
    A Notice of Availability for the RSEP Draft CDCA Plan Amendment/
Draft EIS was published by the EPA in the Federal Register on October 
27, 2010 (75 FR 66078). The formal 90-day comment period ended on 
January 20, 2011. Comments were considered and incorporated as 
appropriate into the Proposed CDCA Plan Amendment/Final EIS. Public 
comments resulted in the addition of clarifying text, but did not 
significantly change proposed land use plan decisions.
    On June 10, 2011, the EPA published a Notice of Availability in the 
Federal Register for the RSEP (76 FR 34073). That notice, however, did 
not identify the BLM's proposed plan amendment or the associated 
opportunity for protest. Today's notice fulfills the BLM's requirement, 
found at 43 CFR 1610.5-2, to provide eligible persons such opportunity.
    Instructions for filing a protest with the BLM Director regarding 
the Proposed CDCA Plan Amendment may also be found at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. 
E-mail and faxed protests will not be accepted as valid protests unless 
the protesting party also provides the original letter by either 
regular or overnight mail postmarked by the close of the protest 
period. Under these conditions, the BLM will consider the e-mail or 
faxed protest as an advance copy and it will receive full 
consideration. If you wish to provide the BLM with such advance 
notification, please direct faxed protests to the attention of the BLM 
protest coordinator at 202-912-7212, and e-mails to [email protected]. All protests, including the follow-up letter to e-
mails or faxes, must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate 
address, as set forth in the ADDRESSES section above.
    Before including your phone number, e-mail address, or other 
personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware 
that your entire protest--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your protest 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, 43 CFR 1610.2, 43 CFR 
1610.5.

Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director, Natural Resources.
[FR Doc. 2011-19916 Filed 8-4-11; 8:45 am]
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