[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 242 (Friday, December 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 91187-91188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-30346]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLWY920000.L51010000.ER0000.LVRWK09K1000.15X; WYW174597; COC72909; 
UTU87237]


Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Energy 
Gateway South Transmission Project and Approved Land Use Plan 
Amendments in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces the availability 
of the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Energy Gateway South 
Transmission Project (Project) and approved land use plan amendments of 
the Rawlins, Little Snake, Pony Express, Price, and Vernal Resource 
Management Plans (RMPs). The ROD constitutes the BLM's final decision 
regarding: granting a right-of-way to PacifiCorp (doing business as 
Rocky Mountain Power) to construct and operate an extra-high voltage 
alternating-current transmission system; and amending certain BLM land 
use plans. The decisions are effective immediately.

ADDRESSES: The complete text of the ROD along with the Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and supporting documents are 
available for public viewing on the BLM Web site: http://bit.ly/2eErxWA.
    Copies of the ROD text will be placed in all involved BLM offices 
for public viewing as well as at public libraries in Colorado, Utah, 
and Wyoming. For a list of these libraries, please see the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamara Gertsch, National Project 
Manager, Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Office, P.O. Box 
21150, Cheyenne, WY 82003; by telephone at (307) 775-6115; or email to 
[email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications 
device for the deaf may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at (800) 
877-8339 to contact the above individual during normal business hours. 
The FRS 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: Copies of the ROD text are available at the 
following public libraries:
     Carbon County Library, Rawlins, WY;
     Carbon County Library-Little Snake River Branch, Baggs, 
WY;
     Moffat County Library, Craig, CO;
     Rangely Regional Library District, Rangely, CO;
     Mesa County Library, Grand Junction, CO;
     Grand County Public Library, Moab, UT;
     Uintah County Library, Vernal, UT;
     Duchesne County Library, Duchesne, UT;
     Emery County Library, Castle Dale, UT; and
     Nephi Public Library, Nephi, UT.
    PacifiCorp (doing business as Rocky Mountain Power), a regulated 
public utility, filed an application for a right-of-way to construct, 
operate and maintain a 500-kilovolt (kV) overhead, alternating current 
transmission line across public and private lands for the Project on 
November 28, 2007. Pacificorp amended the application on December 17, 
2008; October 11, 2010; January 15, 2013; and April 8, 2015. When 
completed, the Project will transmit about 1,500 megawatts of 
electricity generated from renewable sources at planned facilities in 
Wyoming, as well as from existing thermal sources.
    The Project will begin in south central Wyoming near Medicine Bow, 
at the permitted Aeolus Substation, and traverses from northeast to 
southwest across northwestern Colorado to the existing Clover 
Substation near Mona, Utah, a distance of approximately 416 miles.
    The facilities will include:
     Construction of a single-circuit, alternating current 
500kV overhead transmission line (including associated structures, 
shield wires, conductors, and insulators) between the Aeolus Substation 
and Clover Substation;
     Construction of two series compensation stations, at 
points between the Aeolus and Clover substations, to improve the 
transport capacity and efficiency of the transmission line;
     Construction of communication regeneration stations 
associated with the transmission line (approximately every 55 miles);
     Rebuilding of two existing 345kV transmission lines 
between the Clover and Mona Substations (in the existing rights-of-
way);
     Rerouting of the Mona to Huntington 345kV transmission 
line through the Clover Substation; and
     Relocation of an approximate 2-mile portion of an existing 
line (Bears Ears to Bonanza 345kV transmission line) to eliminate 
multiple line crossings in a short distance and avoid the BLM Raven 
Ridge Area of Critical Environmental Concern.
    The Selected Alternative is the Agency Preferred Alternative 
identified in the Final EIS. The EIS has been developed in accordance 
with applicable laws, regulations, policies, and plans, and discloses 
the impacts of the Project. The Selected Alternative was identified as 
the route that best meets the BLM's purpose and need, and the 
Applicant's objectives, and that avoids and minimizes minimized impacts 
to sensitive resources to the extent possible. The ROD addresses the 
mitigation and monitoring requirements applicable to the Project, 
including identifying and requiring compensatory mitigation where 
impacts to sensitive resources cannot be avoided, as further described 
in the ROD and its appendices.
    Based on the analysis in the Final EIS, the ROD also amends five 
BLM RMPs, as follows:
     Rawlins RMP (Wyoming)--modifies 21 acres of visual 
resource management (VRM) Class III to Class IV;

[[Page 91188]]

     Little Snake RMP (Colorado)--modifies 18 acres of VRM 
Class III to Class IV;
     Pony Express RMP (Salt Lake Field Office, Utah)--
establishes the 1.3 miles of the Project right-of-way as a 250 foot 
wide utility corridor;
     Price Field Office, Utah--widens a portion of a utility 
corridor designated in a land use plan from 1 mile to 1.5 miles in 
width, to include the Project right-of-way; and
     Vernal Field Office, Utah--modifies 58 acres of VRM Class 
II to Class III.
    The approved land use plan amendments specifically amend the RMPs 
to allow for the development of the Project and ancillary facilities on 
land managed by the BLM. NEPA disclosure of these plan amendments has 
been integrated with the EIS process for the Project, including the 
scoping and public availability periods for the EIS. With these 
amendments, the Selected Alternative will conform with the applicable 
the BLM land use plan along the project's route (43 CFR 1610.5-3).
    On May 13, 2016, the Notice of Availability (NOA) for the Final EIS 
and Proposed Land use Plan Amendments for the Project was published in 
the Federal Register (81 FR 29912). The publication of the NOA 
initiated a 30-day protest period for the proposed land use planning 
decisions and a 60-day Governors' consistency review. At the close of 
the 30-day protest period, five protests were received and subsequently 
resolved as explained in the Director's Protest Resolution Report, 
available online at http://bit.ly/2eErxWA. The proposed land use plan 
amendments were not modified as a result of the protests. Individual 
protest response letters were sent to the protesting parties.
    Copies of the ROD are available for public inspection during normal 
business hours at the following locations.
     BLM, Wyoming State Office, Public Reading Room, 5353 
Yellowstone Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009;
     BLM, Colorado State Office, Public Reading Room, 2850 
Youngfield Street, Lakewood, Colorado 80215-7093; and
     BLM, Utah State Office, Public Reading Room, 440 West 200 
South, Suite 500, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101-1345.
    Simultaneous with the protest period, the Governors of Wyoming, 
Colorado, and Utah conducted consistency reviews for the proposed land 
use plan amendments to identify any inconsistencies with State or local 
plans, policies, or programs. No inconsistencies were identified.

    Authority:  40 CFR 1506.6.

Mary Jo Rugwell,
Wyoming State Director.
[FR Doc. 2016-30346 Filed 12-15-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-22-P