[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 102 (Friday, May 25, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31386-31387]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-12560]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA-051552, LLCAD07000 L51010000.FX0000 LVRWB10B3980]


Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
for the Proposed McCoy Solar Energy Project and Possible Land Use Plan 
Amendment, Riverside County, CA

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, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
1976, as amended, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Palm Springs/
South Coast Field Office, Palm Springs, California, has prepared a 
Draft California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment (PA) 
and Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for McCoy Solar, LLC's 
right-of-way (ROW) application for the McCoy Solar Energy Project 
(MSEP), and by this notice is announcing the opening of the comment 
period.

DATES: To ensure comments will be considered, the BLM must receive 
written comments on the Draft EIS/PA 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 Draft EIS by any of 
the following methods:
     Web site http://www.ca.blm.gov/elcentro.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 951-697-5299.
     Mail: ATTN: Jeffery Childers, Project Manager, BLM 
California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, 
Moreno Valley, California 92553-9046.

Copies of the Draft EIS/PA are available in the California Desert 
District Office at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, or to have 
your name added to our mailing list, contact Jeffery Childers; 
telephone 951-697-5308; address BLM California Desert District Office, 
22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 92553-
9046; 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 with the above individual. You 
will receive a reply during normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The applicant, McCoy Solar, LLC, has 
requested a ROW authorization to construct, operate, maintain, and 
decommission an up to 750 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic solar energy 
generation facility and necessary ancillary facilities on about 7,700 
acres of BLM managed lands with a footprint of approximately 4,893 
acres for the solar facility. The proposed 16-mile generation tie line, 
with a ROW width of 100 feet, will require about 200 acres of public 
and private lands. The proposed 20-acre switch yard will be located 
adjacent to and connect into Southern California Edison's Colorado 
River Substation. The MSEP site is located approximately 13 miles 
northwest of the City of Blythe, California, and approximately 32 miles 
east of Desert Center.
    The BLM will decide whether to grant, grant with modification, or 
deny a ROW to McCoy Solar, LLC, for the proposed MSEP. The BLM is 
proposing to amend the CDCA Plan by designating the project area as 
either available or unavailable for solar energy projects. The CDCA 
Plan (1980, as amended), while recognizing the potential compatibility 
of renewable energy 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 
for this project, the CDCA Plan would be amended as required.
    In addition to the proposed action and a no action alternative, the 
BLM is analyzing a reduced acreage alternative and a reconfigured 
generation tie line alternative. The Draft EIS/PA also analyzes two no-
project alternatives that reject the project but amend the CDCA Plan to 
make the project area either:
    (1) Available for future solar generation energy projects; or
    (2) Unavailable for future solar energy generation projects.
    The BLM's Preferred Alternative has been identified as the Proposed 
Action.
    The Draft EIS/PA evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed 
MSEP 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/Environmental Impact Report 
for the MSEP project was published in the Federal Register on August 
29, 2011 (76 FR 167). The BLM and Riverside County held public scoping 
meetings in Palm Desert and Blythe on September 20, 2011 and October 
19, 2011. The formal scoping period ended on November 18, 2011.
    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.),

[[Page 31387]]

Monday through Friday, except holidays.
    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

Cindy Staszak,
Acting Deputy State Director, California.
[FR Doc. 2012-12560 Filed 5-24-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P