[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 205 (Monday, October 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65746-65747]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-27514]



[[Page 65746]]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA 49698, CACA 51204, LLCAD07000, L51010000.FX0000, LVRWB10B3810, 
LVRWB10B3800]


Notice of Availability of Joint Final Environmental Impact 
Statement/Final Environmental Impact Report for the Tule Wind Project, 
California, and Notice of Intent To Segregate Public Lands

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 Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) have prepared a Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Final Environmental Impact 
Report (EIR) as a joint environmental analysis document for Tule Wind, 
LLC's Tule Wind Project (Tule Project) and the San Diego Gas and 
Electric's (SDG&E) East County Substation Project (ECO Project) and by 
this notice are announcing the availability of the Final EIS/EIR. By 
this Notice the BLM is also segregating the public lands within the 
Tule Project application area from appropriation under the public land 
laws including the Mining Law, but not the Mineral Leasing or Material 
Sales Act, for a period of 2 years.

DATES: The BLM will not issue a final decision on the proposal for a 
minimum of 30 days from the date that the Environmental Protection 
Agency publishes its notice in the Federal Register. This notice 
initiates the 2-year segregation period for the public lands within the 
Tule Project application area, effective as of October 24, 2011. The 
segregation will terminate as described below (see SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section).

ADDRESSES: Copies of the EIS/EIR are available for public inspection at 
the BLM El Centro Field Office, 1661 S. 4th Street, El Centro, 
California 92243, and the BLM California Desert District Office, 22835 
Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 92553. 
Interested persons may also review the Final EIS/EIR at the following 
Web site: http://www.ca.blm.gov/elcentro.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Greg Thomsen, Project Manager, 
telephone (951) 697-5237; address BLM California Desert District 
Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 
92553-9046; 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 BLM has received applications for 
rights-of-way (ROW) for two separate, but related, proposed projects in 
eastern San Diego County. Tule Wind, LLC (Tule) has submitted an 
application to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission a 201 
megawatt (MW) wind energy generation facility known as the Tule 
Project. The proposed project site is located on approximately 15,477 
acres of land under multiple jurisdictions summarized as follows: 
Private land--1,040 acres; California State Lands Commission land--619 
acres; BLM land--12,200 acres; and Tribal land belonging to the Campo 
Band of Mission Indians--8 acres for access roads only, the Ewiiaapaayp 
Band of Kumayaay Indians--1,598 acres, and the Manzanita Band of 
Mission Indians--12 acres for access roads only. The project site is 
located in the In-Ko-Pah Mountains near the McCain Valley in San Diego 
County, north of the unincorporated community of Boulevard. The project 
will consist of up to 128 wind turbines (1.5 to 3.0 MW each) with a 
generating capacity of up to 201 MW, an overhead and underground 34.5 
kilovolt (kV) collector system leading to a collector substation, an 
operations and maintenance facility, and a 138 kV transmission line as 
the generation tie-in to the existing Boulevard Substation.
    SDG&E has submitted an application to construct the ECO Project, 
including a 138 kV transmission line that would traverse approximately 
1.5 miles of public land managed by the BLM. The ECO Project includes 
the construction of a 500/230/138 kV substation on private land near 
the community of Jacumba, a short loop-in to the Southwest Power Link, 
the 138 kV transmission line mentioned above, a rebuild of the existing 
Boulevard Substation, and a rebuild of the existing White Star 
Communication Facility.
    The BLM's purpose and need for the Tule and ECO Projects is to 
respond to Tule's and SDG&E's respective applications under Title V of 
FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) for a ROW grant to construct, operate, and 
decommission an energy generation project and a 138 kV transmission 
line on public lands in compliance with FLPMA, BLM ROW regulations, and 
other applicable Federal laws and regulations. The BLM will decide 
whether to approve, approve with modification, or deny issuance of ROW 
grants to Tule and SDG&E for the proposed Tule and ECO Projects, 
respectively. 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 Tule and SDG&E applications.
    The proposed action analyzed in the EIS/EIR is to approve the Tule 
Project and the ECO Project in response to the applications received 
from Tule and SDG&E, respectively. The BLM analyzed the following 
alternatives for the ECO project: The Proposed Action, an Alternative 
Substation Site, a Partial Undergrounding alternative for the 138 kV 
Transmission line, the Highway 80 138 kV route alternative, the Highway 
80 138 kV undergrounding alternative, and No Action alternatives. The 
BLM also analyzed the following alternatives for the Tule Wind Project: 
the Proposed Action, four alternate Gen-tie routes with the substation 
and the O&M facilities on private lands or public lands, a reduced 
turbine alternative, and a No Action alternative.
    The BLM has used the NEPA process to satisfy the public involvement 
requirement for Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act 
(16 U.S.C. 470(f)) as provided in 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3). Separately, 
Native American Tribal consultations are being conducted in accordance 
with BLM and Department of the Interior 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 CPUC to conduct a joint environmental review of the Tule/ECO 
Projects on Federal land managed by the BLM. The CPUC is the lead 
agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and is 
responsible for preparing the EIR. Under NEPA, the BLM is the lead 
agency preparing the EIS. The BLM and CPUC have agreed through the MOU 
to conduct joint environmental review of the project in a single 
combined NEPA/CEQA process and document. The Final EIS/EIR is such a 
document. It evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed Tule and 
ECO Projects' impacts on air quality, biological resources, cultural 
resources, water resources, geological resources and hazards, land use, 
noise,

[[Page 65747]]

paleontological resources, public health, socioeconomics, soils, 
traffic and transportation, visual resources, wilderness 
characteristics, and other resources. A Notice of Intent to Prepare an 
EIS/EIR for the Tule and ECO Projects in San Diego County, California 
was published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2009 [74 FR 
68860]. The BLM held two public scoping meetings in Jacumba and 
Boulevard, California, on January 27 and 28, 2010, respectively. The 
formal scoping period ended on February 15, 2010. A Notice of 
Availability of the Draft EIS/EIR was published in the Federal Register 
on December 23, 2010 [75 FR 80807], and the BLM along with the CPUC 
held two public meetings on the Draft EIS/EIR on January 26, 2011, in 
Jacumba, and on February 2, 2011, in Boulevard.
    In connection with its processing of Tule's application, the BLM is 
also segregating the public lands within the Project application area 
for the Tule Project from appropriation under public land laws, 
including the Mineral Law of 1872, as amended, but not the Mineral 
Leasing or the Material Sales Acts, for a period of 2 years from the 
date of publication of this notice. This is done under the authority 
contained in 43 CFR 2091.3-1(e) and 43 CFR 2804.25(e), and is subject 
to valid existing rights. The public lands contained within this 
temporary segregation total approximately 12,200 acres and are 
described as follows:

San Bernardino Meridian

T. 15 S., R. 6 E.,
    Sec. 34; and
    Sec. 35.
T. 16 S., R. 6 E.,
    Sec. 2, Lot 3 and 4, S\1/2\NW\1/4\, SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 3;
    Sec. 4;
    Sec. 9;
    Sec. 10;
    Sec. 11, S\1/2\NE\1/4\, W\1/2\, SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 12 S\1/2\N\1/2\, S\1/2\;
    Sec. 13;
    Sec. 14; and
    Sec. 15, W\1/2\NE\1/4\, W\1/2\, S\1/2\SE\1/4\.
T. 16 S., R. 7 E.,
    Sec. 17, SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 18, Lots 2, 3 and 4, E\1/2\NE\1/4\, SW\1/4\NE\1/4\, SE\1/
4\NW\1/4\, E\1/2\SW\1/4\, SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 19, Lots 1, 2 and 4, NE\1/4\NE\1/4\, W\1/2\E\1/2\, E\1/
2\W\1/2\;
    Sec. 20, NE\1/4\, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, NW\1/4\NW\1/4\, W\1/2\SE\1/4\, 
SE\1/4\SE\1/4\, SE\1/4\SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 28, W\1/2\SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 29, E\1/2\, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, SW\1/4\NW\1/4\, NE\1/4\SW\1/4\;
    Sec. 30, Lot 1, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, NW\1/4\NE\1/4\;
    Sec. 32, E\1/2\, E\1/2\W\1/2\; and
    Sec. 33, W\1/2\.
T. 17 S., R. 7 E.,
    Sec. 3, Lots 3, 4, S\1/2\NW\1/4\, SW\1/4\ ;
    Sec. 4, Lots 1, 2, 5, 6, SW\1/4\NE\1/4\, S\1/2\NW\1/4\, SW\1/4\, 
W\1/2\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 5, Lots 5, 6, 7, S\1/2\NE\1/4\, S\1/2\NW\1/4\, E\1/2\SW\1/
4\, SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 8, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, SW\1/4\SE\1/4\;
    Sec. 9, Lots 4, 5 and 6;
    Sec. 10, W\1/2\W\1/2\;
    Sec. 15, NE\1/4\, E\1/2\NW\1/4\, NW\1/4\NW\1/4\;
    Sec. 17, NW\1/4\NE\1/4\; and
    Sec. 21, NE\1/4\, NE\1/4\NW\1/4\.

    The areas described above aggregate approximately 12,200 acres 
of public lands in San Diego County.

    The BLM has determined that this temporary segregation is necessary 
to ensure the orderly administration of the public lands by maintaining 
the status quo while it processes Tule's ROW application for the above 
described lands. The temporary segregation period will terminate and 
the lands will automatically reopen to appropriation under the public 
land laws, including the Mining Law, if one of the following events 
occurs: (1) The BLM issues a decision granting, granting with 
modifications, or denying Tule's ROW authorization request; (2) 
Publication in the Federal Register of a notice terminating this 
segregation; or (3) No further administrative action occurs at the end 
of this segregation. Any segregation made under this authority is 
effective only for a period of up to 2 years.
    Comments on the Draft EIR/EIS received from the public and internal 
BLM review were considered and incorporated as appropriate into the 
Final EIR/EIS. Public comments resulted in the addition of clarifying 
text, but did not significantly change the analysis.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6 and 1506.10.

James Keeler,
Acting Deputy State Director, Natural Resources.
[FR Doc. 2011-27514 Filed 10-20-11; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P