[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 47 (Friday, March 9, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14416-14417]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-5703]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA-051552, LLCAD0700 L51010000 FX0000 LVRWB10B3980]


Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement 
and Final Environmental Impact Report for the Pattern Energy Group's 
Ocotillo Express Wind Energy Project and Proposed California Desert 
Conservation Area Land Use Plan Amendment, Imperial County, CA

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) has 
prepared a Proposed California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan 
Amendment (PA)/Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Final 
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Ocotillo Express Wind Energy 
Facility (OWEF) and by this notice is announcing the availability of 
the Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR.

DATES: BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
Proposed PA. A person who meets the conditions and files a protest must 
file the protest within 30 days of the date that the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its notice in the Federal Register. 
The Record of Decision (ROD) on the OWEF and PA will be issued no 
sooner than 30 days after the release of the Final EIS.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR have been sent 
to affected Federal, state, and local government agencies and to other 
stakeholders. Copies of the Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR are also 
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 
Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR at the following Web site: http://www.ca.blm.gov/elcentro.
    All protests of the BLM's Proposed PA must be in writing and mailed 
to one of the following addresses:

Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Williams, P.O. Box 
71383, Washington, DC 20024-1383.
Overnight Mail: BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda Williams, 20 M 
Street SE., Room 2134LM, Washington, DC 20003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cedric Perry, BLM Project Manager, 
telephone (951) 697-5388; address 22835 Calle San Juan De Los Lagos, 
Moreno Valley, CA 92553; email [email protected]. Persons who 
use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at (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: Ocotillo Express, LLC (Applicant), a 
subsidiary of Pattern Energy Group, LP, has submitted an application 
for a right-of-way (ROW) authorization to construct, operate, maintain, 
and decommission an approximately 12,436 acre, up to 456 megawatt (MW), 
wind energy project including up to 155 wind turbine generators; a 
substation; administration, operations and maintenance facilities; 
transmission lines; and temporary construction lay down areas. The 
BLM's purpose and need for the OWEF is to respond to the Applicant's 
application under Title V of the Federal Lands Policy and Management 
Act of 1976 (FLPMA) for a ROW grant to construct, operate, maintain, 
and decommission a wind energy facility on public lands in compliance 
with FLPMA, BLM ROW regulations, and other applicable Federal laws. The 
BLM will decide whether to grant, grant with modification, or deny a 
ROW to the Applicant for the proposed OWEF. In connection with its 
processing of the ROW application for the OWEF, the BLM will also amend 
the CDCA Plan as applicable, depending on its decision on the ROW 
grant. The CDCA Plan, while recognizing the potential compatibility of 
wind energy generation facilities with other uses on public lands, 
requires that all sites proposed for power generation or transmission 
not identified in the CDCA Plan be considered through the plan 
amendment process. Therefore, in connection with its review of the 
OWEF, the BLM is also proposing to amend the CDCA Plan to designate the 
project area as either available or unavailable for wind energy 
development, as appropriate.
    In addition to the proposed action and a no action alternative, the 
BLM analyzed a 137-turbine alternative, a 105-turbine alternative, and 
``no project'' alternatives that reject the ROW application for the 
OWEF but amend the CDCA Plan to make the project area either:
    (1) Available for future wind energy generation projects; or
    (2) Unavailable for future wind energy generation projects.
    Based on information developed during the government-to-government 
and National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 consultations for 
the OWEF, the Applicant proposed that BLM consider a new project 
configuration that eliminates 43 of the 155 turbines proposed under the 
Proposed Action (the ``Refined Project''). Under the Refined Project 
configuration, only 112 wind turbines generators would be approved and 
installed. Those 112 turbines would be located on a subset of the 155 
turbines sites evaluated under the Proposed Action in the Draft EIS/
EIR. The Refined Project is identified as the preferred alternative in 
the Final EIS/EIR. The BLM has determined that it is within the range 
of alternatives analyzed in the Draft EIS/EIR.
    The Final EIS/EIR evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed 
OWEF and alternatives 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 Intent to Prepare an EIS/EIR for the OWEF project was 
published in the Federal Register on December 13, 2010 [75 FR 77654]. 
The BLM held two public scoping meetings in El Centro and Ocotillo, 
California, on January 5 and 6, 2011, respectively. The formal scoping 
period ended on February 4, 2011. A Notice of Availability of the Draft 
EIS/EIR was published in the

[[Page 14417]]

Federal Register on July 8, 2011, and the BLM along with Imperial 
County held two public meetings on the Draft EIS/EIR on August 24, 
2011, in El Centro, and on August 25, 2011, in Ocotillo.
    Comments on the Draft PA and EIS/EIR received from the public and 
internal BLM review were considered and incorporated as appropriate 
into the Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR. Public comments resulted in the 
addition of clarifying text and modification of the preferred 
alternative but did not significantly change the analysis.
    Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM 
regarding the Proposed PA may be found in the ``Dear Reader'' letter of 
the Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. Emailed 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 email 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 emails to [email protected].
    All protests, including the follow-up letter to emails 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, email 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 and 1506.10; 43 CFR 1610.2 and 1610.5

Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director, California.
[FR Doc. 2012-5703 Filed 3-8-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P