[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 175 (Tuesday, September 10, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73429-73431]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19544]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management

[BLM_NV_FRN_MO4500180600]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement and Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendments for the 
Proposed Greenlink North Transmission Project in White Pine, Eureka, 
Lander, Churchill, and Lyon Counties, Nevada

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In compliance 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 Draft Resource Management Plan Amendments (RMPA) and a Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Greenlink North 
Transmission Project and by this notice is providing information 
announcing the opening of the comment period on the Draft RMPA/EIS. The 
BLM Nevada State Office is the lead agency for purposes of the NEPA 
analysis, with the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies participating 
as Cooperating Agencies.

DATES: This notice announces the opening of a 90-day comment period for 
the Draft RMPA/EIS beginning with the date following the Environmental 
Protection Agency's (EPA) publication of its Notice of Availability 
(NOA) in the Federal Register. The EPA usually publishes its NOAs on 
Fridays.
    To afford the BLM the opportunity to consider comments in the Draft 
RMPA/EIS, please ensure your comments are received prior to the close 
of the 90-day comment period or 15 days after the last public meeting, 
whichever is later.

ADDRESSES: The Draft RMPA/EIS is available for review on the BLM 
project website at: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2017033/510.
     Website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2017033/510.
     Email: [email protected].
     Mail: BLM, Nevada State Office, Attn: Greenlink North 
Transmission Project, 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, NV 89502.
    Documents pertinent to this proposal may be examined online at 
https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2017033/510 and at the 
BLM Nevada State Office in Reno.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Buttazoni, Project Manager, 
telephone: (775) 861-6491; address: 1340 Financial Boulevard, Reno, NV 
89502; email: [email protected]. Contact us at this email 
address to have your name added to our mailing list. Individuals in the 
United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a 
speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access 
telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United 
States should use the relay services offered within their country to 
make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document provides notice that the BLM 
Nevada State Director has prepared a Draft RMPA/EIS, and provides 
information announcing the opening of the comment period. The RMP 
amendments would change the existing 2001 Consolidated Resource 
Management Plan in the Carson City District, 1986 Shoshone-Eureka 
Resource Management Plan/Record of Decision in the Battle Mountain 
District, and 2008 Record of Decision/Resource Management Plan in the 
Ely District. The Draft RMPA is being considered to allow the BLM to 
evaluate the establishment of a 210 mile long by 3,500 foot wide 
utility corridor within greater sage-grouse habitat management areas 
and in proximity to lek buffers on BLM-administered lands, which would 
require amending the land use plans listed above. The original proposed 
utility corridor width (3 miles) and length (235 miles) was reduced 
after scoping to be consistent with other national utility corridor 
widths, and to clarify the length applies to BLM-administered lands 
only.
    The planning area is in White Pine, Eureka, Lander, Churchill, and 
Lyon counties, Nevada, and encompasses approximately 84,700 acres of 
BLM-administered lands.
    A Notice of Intent to Amend the Resource Management Plans for the 
Greenlink North Transmission Project and Prepare an Associated 
Environmental Impact Statement was published in the Federal Register on 
March 11, 2024 (89 FR 17510), providing notice to the public of 
potential amendments to RMPs, as required by 43 CFR 1610.2(c). The 
public scoping period closed on April 10, 2024. The BLM held one 
virtual meeting and received approximately 25 public scoping comment 
emails and letters during the 30-day scoping period. The scoping 
comments focused on biological resources; alternatives development; 
visual resources; cultural resources; impacts to general and special-
status wildlife species, including threatened and endangered species 
and their habitat; social and economic conditions; vegetation/riparian/
noxious and invasive weeds/special status plant species; water 
resources; special designations; recreation; socioeconomic concerns; 
and Native American cultural/sacred sites. The BLM prepared a scoping 
report, which is available on the project's website--https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2017033/510.

Purpose and Need

    The BLM's purpose and need for this Federal action is to respond to 
the right-of-way (ROW) application submitted by NV Energy under Title V 
of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) on July 20, 2020, to construct, operate, 
maintain, and decommission a proposed system of new 525-kV, 345-kV, 
230-kV, and 120-kV electric transmission facilities on BLM-administered 
lands in White Pine, Eureka, Lander, Churchill, and Lyon counties, in 
compliance with FLPMA, BLM ROW regulations, NEPA, the BLM NEPA Handbook 
(BLM 2008), U.S. Department of the Interior NEPA regulations, and other 
applicable federal and state laws and policies. In accordance with 
FLPMA, public lands are to be managed for multiple uses that consider 
the long-term needs of future generations for renewable and non-

[[Page 73430]]

renewable resources. The BLM is authorized to grant ROWs on public 
lands for systems of generation, transmission, and distribution of 
electrical energy (FLPMA section 501(a)(4)).
    The U.S. Forest Service, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest also 
received an application from NV Energy for an approximately 10-mile 
segment of the project. The Forest Service's purpose and need is to 
respond to NV Energy's application for a Special Use Permit to 
construct, operate, maintain, and decommission the proposed 500-kV 
transmission line on National Forest System land in Lander County in 
compliance with FLPMA, the National Forest Management Act (16 U.S.C. 
1601-1614), and the Toiyabe National Forest Land and Resource 
Management Plan (Forest Service 1986 as amended), which provides 
standards and guidelines for managing the National Forest.

Alternatives Including the Preferred Alternative

    The BLM has analyzed 3 action alternatives in detail, plus the No 
Action Alternative. The State Director and Forest Supervisor have 
identified NV Energy's Proposed Action with three modified segments 
crossing BLM and National Forest System land as the Preferred 
Alternative. The first modified segment realigns the Proposed Action 
south of the public purpose conveyance parcels that will be transferred 
to Churchill County as a result of the National Defense Authorization 
Act of 2023. This alternative segment would be approximately 8 miles 
long and would slightly reduce the disturbance footprint of the 525 kV 
transmission line on BLM-administered lands. The second modified 
segment would realign the Proposed Action further away from the 
recently established Desatoya Wilderness Area. The third modified 
segment is the U.S. Forest Service preferred northern alternative route 
from the Lander Substation that would cross approximately 10 miles of 
the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and approximately 9 miles of 
adjacent BLM administered lands to the east. The route would parallel 
an existing 230 kV transmission line within the Forest's existing 
utility corridor until reconnecting with the Proposed Action route. The 
reconnection with the Proposed Action route 9 miles east of the 
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest provides the most technically feasible 
way to reduce the cost, line angles, and disturbances from the proposed 
525 kV transmission line. The BLM further considered 9 additional 
transmission alternatives but dismissed these alternatives from 
detailed analysis as explained in the Draft RMPA/EIS.
    The Preferred Alternative was found to best meet the State 
Director's planning guidance and would meet the project's purpose and 
need while addressing impacts to greater sage-grouse habitats primarily 
through co-location, which limits new disturbance to areas already 
impacted by existing transmission lines. The Greenlink North 
Transmission Project would be co-located for approximately 210 miles of 
the 233-mile-long proposed transmission line.

Mitigation

    The Preferred Alternative for the portions of the project within 
and adjacent to greater sage-grouse habitats includes the requirement 
for NV Energy to install anti-perching/nesting deterrents on 
transmission poles to minimize potential predation by ravens.

Schedule for the Decision-Making Process

    Consistent with NEPA and BLM's land use planning regulations, the 
BLM will include a 30-day public protest period and a concurrent 60-day 
Governor's consistency review when the BLM publishes the Final EIS/
Proposed RMPA. The Final EIS/Proposed RMPA is anticipated to be 
available in March 2025, with a Record of Decision anticipated in July 
2025.
    The BLM will be holding a combination of virtual and in-person 
public meetings. The specific date(s) and location(s) of these meetings 
will be announced at least 15 days in advance through the Project 
website.
    The BLM will utilize and coordinate the NEPA and land use planning 
processes for this planning effort to help support compliance with 
applicable procedural requirements under the Endangered Species Act (16 
U.S.C. 1536). The BLM is utilizing the NEPA substitution process to 
comply with the requirements of section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act (NHPA), 54 U.S.C. 306108, consistent with 36 CFR 
800.8(c). The BLM, as lead federal agency, has incorporated information 
and the steps of the Section 106 process into the Draft EIS, and 
publication of the Draft EIS will allow the consulting parties and the 
public an opportunity to review and comment on the process as provided 
in 36 CFR 800.8(c)(2). The information about historic and cultural 
resources and threatened and endangered species within the area 
potentially affected by the proposed plan will assist the BLM in 
identifying and evaluating impacts to such resources.
    The BLM and U.S. Forest Service will continue to consult with 
Indian Tribes on a government-to-government basis in accordance with 
Executive Order 13175, BLM MS 1780, and other Departmental policies. 
Tribal concerns, including impacts on Indian trust assets and potential 
impacts to cultural resources, will be given due consideration. 
Additional government-to-government meetings will occur during this 
review period.

Forest Service Administrative Review Process

    The decision that the U.S. Forest Service will make is subject to a 
pre-decisional administrative review process, also known as an 
objection process (36 CFR part 218, subparts A and B). The objection 
process provides an opportunity for members of the public who have 
participated in the planning process for the action to have any 
unresolved concerns reviewed by the U.S. Forest Service prior to a 
final decision by the Responsible Official.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such manner that they are useful to the agency's preparation of 
the Final EIS; therefore, comments should be provided prior to the 
close of the comment period and should clearly articulate the 
reviewer's concerns and contentions. Commenting during scoping and any 
other designated opportunity to comment provided by the Responsible 
Official as prescribed by the applicable regulations will also govern 
eligibility to object once the Final EIS and draft Record of Decision 
has been published. Comments received in response to this solicitation, 
including names and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the 
public record for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously 
will be accepted and considered; however, they will not be used to 
establish eligibility for the objection process.
    Objections will be accepted only from those who have previously 
submitted specific written comments regarding the proposed project 
during scoping or other designated opportunity for public comment in 
accordance with 36 CFR 218.5(a). Issues raised in objections must be 
based on previously submitted timely, specific written comments 
regarding the proposed project unless based on new information arising 
after designated opportunities.
    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that

[[Page 73431]]

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 1501.7 and 43 CFR 1610.2)

Jon K. Raby,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-19544 Filed 9-9-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-21-P