[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 26, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76067-76069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-30855]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA-051552, LLCAD0700 L51010000 FX0000 LVRWB10B3980]


Notice of Availability of a Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment and 
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed McCoy Solar 
Energy Project, 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 (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 and final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the McCoy 
Solar Energy Project (project)--a photovoltaic solar electricity 
generation

[[Page 76068]]

project--and by this notice is announcing its availability.

DATES: BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions as described in the regulations may protest the BLM's 
proposed plan amendment/final EIS. 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 publishes its notice of 
availability in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the proposed plan amendment/final EIS have been 
sent to affected Federal, State, local government agencies, and to 
other stakeholders. Copies of the proposed plan amendment/final EIS are 
available for public inspection at the Palm Springs/South Coast Field 
Office, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262 and the 
California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, 
Moreno Valley, CA 92553-9046. Interested persons may also review the 
plan amendment/final EIS on the Internet at http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/cdd.html. All protests must be in writing and mailed to one of 
the following addresses:

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               Regular mail:                       Overnight mail:
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BLM Director (210), Attention: Brenda       Attention: BLM Director
 Williams, P.O. Box 71383, Washington, DC    (210), Brenda Williams 20 M
 20024-1383.                                 Street SE., Room 2134LM,
                                             Washington, DC 20003
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffery Childers; telephone, 951-697-
5308; mail, BLM California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan 
de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553-9046; or email [email protected]. 
Also contact Mr. Childers to have your name added to our mailing list. 
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 right-of-way (ROW) authorization to construct, operate, 
maintain, and decommission an up to 750-megawatt photovoltaic solar 
energy generation facility and necessary ancillary facilities including 
a generation tie (gen-tie) line, access road and switch yard. The 
precise generation capacity or megawatts are dependent on the 
technology selected and efficiencies available at the time of ROW 
authorization. The proposed project includes an approximately 4,437-
acre solar plant site, and linear facilities outside the solar plant 
site including a 14.5-mile gen-tie within a ROW width of 100 feet 
(Eastern Route), access roads, a distribution line, and a 2-acre switch 
yard (total linear disturbance is 146 acres, for a total project area 
of 4,583 acres) to be located adjacent to and connect into Southern 
California Edison's Colorado River Substation. The proposed project 
would require approximately 477 acres of private lands. The project 
site is located approximately 13 miles northwest of Blythe, California 
and approximately 32 miles east of Desert Center.
    The BLM's purpose and need for the project is to respond to McCoy 
Solar, LLC's application for a ROW grant to construct, operate, 
maintain, and decommission a solar energy facility on public lands. The 
BLM will decide whether to grant, grant with modification, or deny a 
ROW to McCoy Solar, LLC.
    The project would be located in the Riverside East Solar Energy 
Zone as designated in the Solar Programmatic EIS Record of Decision 
(ROD) signed October 12, 2012. However, the Solar Programmatic EIS ROD 
specifically excluded certain ``pending applications'' from the land 
use planning decision amending the CDCA Plan, and the ROW application 
for the project is subject to that exclusion (Programmatic EIS ROD 
Section B.1.2). This project would still require a CDCA Plan amendment 
since the CDCA Plan (1980, as amended), while recognizing the potential 
compatibility of solar energy generation facilities with other uses on 
public lands, requires that all sites proposed for power generation or 
transmission not already identified be considered through the plan 
amendment process.
    In addition to the proposed action identified above and a no action 
alternative, the BLM analyzed a reduced acreage alternative, where the 
solar plant site would occupy approximately 2,259 acres, and a 
reconfigured gen-tie line and access road alternative including either 
an approximately 12.5-mile gen-tie and access road route (Central 
Route) or a 15.5-mile route to the west (Western Route). The Agency 
Preferred Alternative consists of an approximately 4,437-acre solar 
plant site and the Central Route Gen-tie alternative that would disturb 
136.2 acres, including a 2-acre switch yard interconnection to the 
Colorado River Substation, for a total project area of 4,573.2 acres.
    The proposed plan amendment/final EIS evaluates the potential 
impacts of the proposed project 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 project was published in the Federal Register on August 29, 
2011 (76 FR 167). The BLM and Riverside County held joint public 
scoping meetings in Palm Desert and Blythe on September 20, 2011 and 
October 19, 2011. The formal scoping period ended on November 28, 2011.
    A Notice of Availability of the draft plan amendment/EIS for the 
project was published on May 25, 2012. The BLM held two public 
meetings: In Palm Desert on June 27, 2012, and in Blythe on June 28, 
2012. The purpose of these meetings was to provide additional 
information to the public regarding the analysis.
    In March 2012, the BLM and Riverside County bifurcated the joint 
process, and the BLM proceeded with an EIS, satisfying the Federal 
requirements under NEPA. The County will issue any required 
documentation under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 
separately before issuing its authorizations.
    Comments on the draft plan amendment/EIS received from agencies, 
members of the public, and internal BLM review were considered and 
incorporated as appropriate into the proposed plan amendment/final EIS. 
Public comments resulted in the addition of clarifying text, 
modification of the western boundary to avoid additional resource 
conflicts, and changes to the drainage design to accommodate the 
revised boundary. These changes were to the physical project footprint 
and did not significantly change proposed land use plan decisions.
    Instructions for filing a protest with the Director of the BLM 
regarding the project may be found in the ``Dear Reader'' letter of the 
proposed plan amendment/final EIS and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2. All protests 
must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate address as set forth 
in the ADDRESSES section above. Emailed and faxed protests will not be 
accepted as valid protests unless the protesting party also provides 
the original letter by either

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regular or overnight mail postmarked by the close of the protest 
period. Under these conditions, the BLM will consider the emailed 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 emails to [email protected] 
and faxed protests to the attention of the BLM protest coordinator at 
202-245-0028.
    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, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2.

Karen Montgomery,
Acting Deputy State Director, California.
[FR Doc. 2012-30855 Filed 12-21-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P