[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 33 (Tuesday, February 19, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11672-11673]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03695]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[CACA-052537, LLCAD05000, L51010000.LVRWB11B4520.FX0000]


Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Alta East Wind Project, Kern County, CA, and Proposed 
Land Use Plan Amendment

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/Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Alta East 
Wind Project (Project), and by this notice is announcing its 
availability.

DATES: BLM planning regulations state that any person who meets the 
conditions set forth in the regulations may protest the BLM's proposed 
plan amendment. A person who meets those conditions and wishes to file 
a protest must file the protest within 30 days of the date that the 
Environmental Protection Agency publishes its notice of availability 
for the Project's final EIS in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Alta East proposed plan amendment/final EIS 
have been sent to affected Federal, State, and local government 
agencies and to other stakeholders. Copies of the proposed plan 
amendment/final EIS are also available for public inspection at the 
Ridgecrest Field Office, 300 S. Richmond Road, Ridgecrest, CA 93555, 
and the California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los 
Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553-9046. Interested persons may also review 
the proposed plan amendment/final EIS 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:

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: Jeffery Childers, telephone 951-697-
5308; address BLM California Desert District Office, 22835 Calle San 
Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 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: Alta Windpower Development, LLC (AWD) has 
requested a right-of-way (ROW) authorization to construct, operate, 
maintain, and decommission the proposed 318-megawatt, wind-energy 
Project. The Project would be located on the north and south sides of 
State Route 58 in southeastern Kern County, California. The proposed 
project area is 3 miles northwest of the town of Mojave and 11 miles 
east of the city of Tehachapi. The project would include wind turbines, 
access roads, energy collection lines, and other ancillary facilities 
on 2,592 acres, of which 2,024

[[Page 11673]]

acres are on public land under the jurisdiction of the BLM and 568 
acres are on private land under the jurisdiction of Kern County. The 
Project, if approved, would require approximately 418 acres of the 
private land portion of the Project site to be re-zoned to be 
consistent with the Kern County Zoning Ordinance Wind Energy Combining 
District.
    The BLM's purpose and need for the Project is to respond to AWD's 
application 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 requirements. The BLM 
will decide whether to grant, grant with modification, or deny a ROW on 
public lands to AWD for the proposed Project. The BLM is proposing to 
amend the CDCA Plan by designating the project area as either available 
or unavailable for wind-energy projects. The CDCA Plan (1980, as 
amended), 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 already 
identified in the plan be considered through the plan amendment 
process. In order for the BLM to grant a ROW for this Project, the CDCA 
Plan would need to be amended.
    In addition to the proposed action (106 turbines) and a no action 
alternative, the BLM is analyzing an alternative layout configuration 
and two reduced footprint (97 and 87 turbines) alternatives. The 
proposed plan amendment/final EIS also analyzes two ``no project'' 
alternatives that reject the Project but amend the CDCA Plan to find 
the project area either (1) Suitable for future wind energy generation 
projects; or (2) Unsuitable for future wind energy generation projects. 
The BLM has selected Alternative C (97 turbines) as the preferred 
alternative in the proposed plan amendment/final EIS.
    The proposed plan amendment/final EIS evaluates the potential 
impacts of the Project and the cumulative effects on air quality and 
greenhouse gas emissions, biological resources including Golden Eagles 
and California Condors, special status species, cultural resources, 
geology and soils, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water 
quality, land use, noise, recreation, traffic, visual resources, lands 
with wilderness characteristics, and areas with high potential for 
renewable energy development.
    A Notice of Availability of the draft proposed plan amendment/EIS/
environmental impact report (EIR) for the Project was published on June 
29, 2012 followed by a BLM/Kern County joint public meeting on August 
1, 2012 in Mojave, California. A Notice of Intent to prepare a plan 
amendment/EIS/EIR for the Project was published in the Federal Register 
on July 15, 2011 (76 FR 41817) followed by a joint public scoping 
meeting with Kern County in Mojave, California, on August 4, 2011. The 
County completed its California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review 
process and has already certified its EIR for the Project. For 
additional information about or copies of the Project's certified EIR, 
interested members of the public should contact Kern County. As a 
result of the County's certification of the EIR, the BLM is releasing 
its final EIS document as a NEPA document; it is no longer a joint 
NEPA/CEQA document.
    Comments on the draft plan amendment/EIS/EIR received from 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, but did not significantly 
change proposed actions or land use plan decisions analyzed here.
    Instructions for filing a protest with the BLM Director regarding 
the proposed plan amendment/final EIS may be found in the ``Dear 
Reader'' Letter of the proposed plan amendment/final EIS 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 
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 faxed or emailed protests to the attention 
of the BLM protest coordinator at 202-245-0028 or [email protected].
    All protests 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, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2.

Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director, California.
[FR Doc. 2013-03695 Filed 2-15-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-40-P