[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 207 (Friday, October 27, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49846-49847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-23417]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[LLCAD06000.51010000.ER0000.LVRWB17B5480 17X5017AP; CACA41880]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Report and Draft Land Use 
Plan Amendment for the Palen Solar Photovoltaic Project, California

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 Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area 
(CDCA) Plan and a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) for the Palen Solar Photovoltaic (PSP) Project and by this Notice 
is announcing the opening of the comment period. This document is also 
an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) prepared by Riverside County under 
the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

DATES: To ensure that all comments will be considered, the BLM must 
receive written comments on the Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR within 45 
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, on the project Web site, and/or mailings.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the PSP Project by any of 
the following methods:
    Web site: https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&projectId=68122.
    Email: [email protected].
    Mail: Palen Solar PV Project, c/o Aspen Environmental Group, 235 
Montgomery Street, Suite 935, San Francisco, CA 94104
    Copies of the Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR are available in the BLM-
Palm Springs South Coast Field Office, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm 
Springs, CA 92262, and at the BLM California Desert District Office, 
22835 Calle San Juan De Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553, and 
electronically on the project Web site. Compact Disc copies of the 
document are available through request on this project Web site 
address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark DeMaio, BLM Project Manager, 
telephone: (760) 833-7124; address: BLM, Palm Springs-South Coast Field 
Office, 1201 Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262; email: 
[email protected].
    Persons who use telecommunication devices for the deaf may call the 
Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above individual 
during normal business hours. The Service is available 24 hours a day, 
7 days a week, to leave a message or questions with the above 
individual regarding the project. You will receive a reply during 
normal business hours.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EDF Renewable Energy has applied for a 
Right-of-Way (ROW) from the BLM to construct, operate, maintain, and 
decommission a 500 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic facility near 
Desert Center, Riverside County, California. The ROW application area 
comprises about 4,200 acres, with a proposed project footprint of about 
3,400 acres. The proposed project also includes construction of a 6.7-
mile single circuit 230 kilovolt generation interconnection (gen-tie) 
transmission line connecting the project to the Southern California 
Edison (SCE) Red Bluff Substation.
    The BLM is also considering an amendment to the CDCA Plan that 
would be necessary to authorize the project. This is a joint EIS/EIR 
for compliance with NEPA and CEQA. Riverside County is the lead agency 
under CEQA.
    This Project application was originally submitted in 2007 as the 
Palen Solar Power Project (PSPP) by Palen Solar I, LLC (PSI), a wholly 
owned subsidiary of Solar Millennium. The PSPP was proposed as a solar 
trough project, and was the subject of an EIS under NEPA. The BLM, 
pursuant to its obligations under FLPMA and NEPA, published a Draft 
EIS, followed by a Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMP) 
and Final EIS on May 13, 2011 (76 FR 28064).
    Before the BLM issued a Record of Decision (ROD), PSI informed the 
BLM that it would not construct the Project due to bankruptcy. As a 
result, the BLM did not issue a ROD, did not amend the RMP, and did not 
issue a ROW grant for the PSPP.
    On June 21, 2012, the bankruptcy court approved the transfer of the 
application from PSI to Palen Solar III, LLC (PSIII). BrightSource 
Energy Inc., (BSE) then acquired all rights to PSIII at auction. PSIII 
submitted a revised ROW application to the BLM for the Palen Solar 
Electricity Generating System Project (PSEGS), a 500 MW concentrating 
solar power tower technology facility and single-circuit 230 kV gen-tie 
line. On July 27, 2013, the BLM issued a Draft Supplemental EIS and 
Plan Amendment to evaluate the potential additional environmental 
impacts caused by PSEGS. As part of the State permitting process, the 
California Energy Commission evaluated the PSEGS under CEQA, and issued 
Preliminary and Final Staff Assessments for the amended project in June 
and November of 2013, respectively.
    The BLM did not issue a Final Supplemental EIS for the PSEGS 
Project because BSE and its partner, Abengoa Solar Inc., abandoned the 
State authorization proceedings at the California Energy Commission. In 
December 2015, EDF Renewable Energy acquired the PSEGS project. EDF 
Renewable Energy has submitted a revised ROW application for the 
Proposed Project, which is analyzed in

[[Page 49847]]

this Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR and Draft Plan Amendment.
    For the PSP Project, the BLM held public meetings on the revised 
ROW application in June and August 2016 in Palm Springs, California. 
The Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR includes analysis of the revised ROW 
application as it relates to the following issues:
    (1) Updated description of the Proposed Project, based on the 
revised ROW application;
    (2) Impacts to cultural resources and tribal concerns;
    (3) Impacts to the Sand Transport Corridor and Mojave fringe-toed 
lizard habitat and washes;
    (4) Impacts to Joshua Tree National Park;
    (5) Impacts to avian species;
    (6) Impacts to visual resources; and
    (7) Relationship between the project and the regional renewable 
energy planning in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.
    In addition to the Proposed Action, the Draft Supplemental EIS/EIR 
considers a No-Action Alternative and two additional action 
alternatives. Alternative 1, Reduced Footprint, would be a 500 MW 
Photovoltaic (PV) array on about 3,100 acres. It avoids the central and 
largest desert wash and incorporates a more efficient use of the land 
for the solar array. Alternative 2, Avoidance Alternative, would be an 
up to 230 MW solar PV array on about 1,620 acres. Like the Proposed 
Action, under each of these alternatives, the BLM would amend the CDCA 
Plan to allow the project. Under the No-Action Alternative, the BLM 
would deny the ROW application, and would not amend the CDCA Plan to 
allow the project.
    The BLM has selected Alternative 1--Reduced Footprint Alternative--
as the Agency-Preferred Alternative for the Draft Supplemental EIS. The 
BLM and other cooperating agencies involved are inviting Draft 
Supplemental EIS reviewers to offer comments on the comparison of 
alternatives, as presented in the document.
    Your input is important and will be considered in the environmental 
and land-use planning analysis. 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, 40 CFR 1506.10, 43 CFR 1610.2.

Danielle Chi,
Deputy State Director, California.
[FR Doc. 2017-23417 Filed 10-26-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-40-P