[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 75 (Wednesday, April 18, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23275-23276]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9338]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLCAD06000 L51010000.FX0000 LVRWB09B3350 CACA49491]


Notice of Availability of the Draft enXco Desert Harvest Solar 
Farm Project Environmental Impact Statement, Riverside County, CA and 
the Draft 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) has 
prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) for the 
enXco Desert Harvest Solar Farm Project and draft California Desert 
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment, and by this notice is 
announcing the opening of the comment period on the Draft EIS and Draft 
CDCA Plan Amendment.

DATES: To ensure that comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Draft EIS and Draft CDCA Plan Amendment within 
90 days 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 enXco Desert Harvest 
Solar Farm Project and CDCA Plan Amendment by any of the following 
methods:
     Web site: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/palmsprings/Solar_Projects/Desert_Harvest_Solar_Project.html.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: (951) 697-5299.
     Mail: Lynnette Elser, BLM, California Desert District 
Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 
92553.
    Copies of the enXco Desert Harvest Solar Farm Project Draft EIS and 
Draft CDCA Plan Amendment are available in the BLM California Desert 
District Office at the above address and at the BLM Palm Springs Field 
Office, 1201 Bird Center Drive Palm Springs, CA 92262.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynnette Elser, Project Manager; 
telephone (951) 697-5233; address BLM, 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 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 
for the above referred individual. You will receive a reply during 
normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The applicant, enXco, has requested a right-
of-way (ROW) authorization to construct, operate, maintain, and 
decommission a solar photovoltaic (PV) generating facility with a 
proposed output of 150 megawatts (mw) and a facility footprint of 
approximately 1,280 acres. The proposed project would be located on 
BLM-administered lands in Riverside County, California, about 6 miles 
north of the rural community of Desert Center, California. The overall 
site layout and generalized land uses could include a substation, an 
administration building, operations and maintenance facilities, a 
transmission line, and temporary construction lay down areas. The 
project's 230-kilovolt (kV) generation interconnection transmission 
line would either be located on the previously approved First Solar 
Desert Sunlight project's 230-kV gen-tie (as a shared facility), or 
would be located on a combination of private and BLM-administered lands 
and would utilize a planned 230- to 500-kV substation (referred to as 
the Red Bluff Substation). The Red Bluff Substation would connect the 
project to Southern California Edison regional transmission grid. If 
the project is approved, construction would begin in late 2013 and 
would take 9-12 months to complete.
    The BLM's purpose and need for the Desert Harvest Project is to 
respond to enXco's application under Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) 
for a ROW grant to construct, operate, and decommission a solar PV 
facility on public lands in compliance with FLPMA, NEPA, BLM ROW and 
land use planning regulations, and other applicable laws and 
regulations. The BLM will decide whether to approve, approve with 
modification, or deny a ROW to enXco for the proposed Desert Harvest 
project. Concurrently with its action on the ROW request, the BLM is 
also proposing to amend the CDCA Plan to make the project area (or 
portions of the project area) either available or unavailable for 
future solar development. The CDCA Plan (1980, as

[[Page 23276]]

amended), while recognizing the potential compatibility of solar 
generation facilities with other uses on public lands, requires that 
all sites proposed for power generation or transmission not already 
identified in the CDCA Plan be considered through the plan amendment 
process. If the BLM decides to grant a ROW, the BLM would amend the 
CDCA Plan as required based on guidance in the BLM Land Use Planning 
Handbook (H-1601-1).

The Draft EIS Analyzes 12 Alternatives

    Four no action/no development alternatives (Alternative 1: No 
Action (No Plan Amendment), Alternative 2: No Project Alternative (with 
Plan Amendment to Find the Site Suitable for Solar), Alternative 3: No 
Project Alternative (with Plan Amendment to Find the Site Unsuitable 
for Solar), Alternative A: No Gen-Tie),
    Four generation plan development alternatives (Alternative 4: 
Proposed Solar Project, Alternative 5: Solar Project Excluding WHMA, 
Alternative 6: Reduced Footprint Solar Project Alternative 7: High-
Profile Reduced Footprint Solar Project), and
    Four transmission line alternatives (Alternative B: Proposed Gen-
Tie (Shared Towers), Alternative C: Separate Transmission Towers within 
Same ROW, Alternative D: Cross-Valley Alignment, Alternative E: New 
Cross-Valley Alignment). The BLM has identified Alternative 7 as the 
preferred alternative for the generation plant, and Alternative B as 
the preferred alternative for the transmission line.
    The Draft EIS analyzes the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts 
of the Proposed Action and alternatives to the affected resources 
identified by the BLM and the public during project scoping.
    The BLM published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS on 
September 15, 2011, in the Federal Register Volume 76, Number 179. 
Publication of the NOI began a 30-day scoping period, which ended on 
October 17, 2011. The BLM provided a Web site with project information 
that also described the various methods of providing public comment on 
the project, including an email address for the BLM to receive scoping 
comments electronically.
    Notifications for public scoping meetings were posted on the BLM's 
Web site. Additionally, notices were sent to all landowners within 300 
feet of the project boundary and to other interested parties during the 
week of September 19, 2011.
    Public Scoping Meetings were held on October 3, 2011, at the 
University of Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center and at the Lake 
Tamarisk Clubhouse. An additional public scoping meeting was held on 
October 6, 2011, at the Joshua Tree Community Center. Attendees were 
documented through a voluntary sign-in sheet, and included 6 attendees 
at the University of Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center along with 
KMIR TV; 30 attendees at the Lake Tamarisk Clubhouse; and 7 attendees 
at the Joshua Tree Community Center. A court reporter documented the 
questions and public comments made at the three scoping meetings.
    Attendees included residents from Desert Center and Lake Tamarisk, 
federal and state agency representatives, nearby business owners, 
Tribes, Chamber of Commerce members, and an environmental group 
representative.
    Twelve comment letters were received within the scoping period. 
Comments received at the public meetings and through the submitted 
letters identified the following issues and concerns to be considered 
when developing the EIS: the BLM's purpose and need, monitoring, 
decommissioning, public participation, biological resources, climate 
change, air resources, fire and fuels management, lands and realty, 
recreation, social and economic resources, environmental justice, water 
resources, solid and hazardous wastes, visual resources, cumulative 
impacts, and alternatives development.
    The BLM considered these comments in developing the Draft EIS and 
Draft CDCA Plan Amendment.
    The BLM used an updated inventory of wilderness characteristics to 
determine that none of the project area has wilderness characteristics. 
This information was used in the preparation of the Draft EIS and Draft 
CDCA Plan Amendment.
    Please note that public comments and information submitted 
including names, street addresses, and email addresses of persons who 
submit comments will be available for public review and disclosure at 
the above address during regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), 
Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    Before including your address, phone number, email 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, 506.10, and 43 CFR 1610.2

Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director.
[FR Doc. 2012-9338 Filed 4-13-12; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P