[Federal Register: January 4, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 2)]
[Notices]
[Page 381-382]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04ja11-86]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[CACA 49698, CACA 51204, LLCAD07000, L51010000.FX0000, LVRWB10B3810,
LVRWB10B3800]
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement/Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Iberdrola
Renewable/Pacific Wind Development Tule Wind Project and San Diego Gas
and Electric's East County Substation Project, San Diego County, 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) and
the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) have prepared a Draft
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and Draft Environmental Impact
Report (EIR) as a joint environmental analysis document for the
Iberdrola Renewable/Pacific Wind Development Tule Wind Project (Tule
Project) and the San Diego Gas and Electric's (SDG&E) East County
Substation Project (ECO Project) and by this notice are announcing the
opening of the comment period on the Draft EIS/EIR.
DATES: To ensure that your comments will be considered, the BLM must
receive written comments on the Draft EIS/EIR by close of business on
February 16, 2011. The comment period began on December 23, 2010, with
publication of the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register by
the Environmental Protection Agency. Recognizing that the public review
period began during the holidays, the BLM has decided to extend the 45-
day comment period cited in the EPA notice until close of business on
February 16, 2011 (55 days total). The BLM and CPUC will hold two joint
public informational workshop meetings on the projects; the first in
Jacumba, at 7 p.m., on January 26, 2011, at the Jacumba Highland Center
on 44681 Old Highway 80, Jacumba, California 91934, and the second in
Boulevard, at 7 p.m., on February 2, 2011, at the Boulevard Volunteer
Fire Department at 39223 Highway 94, Boulevard, California 91905. The
public will be notified in advance of any updates or changes to these
public meetings through local media, newspapers and the BLM Web site
at: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/elcentro.html.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments related to the Tule Wind Project and
East County Substation Project by any of the following methods:
Web site: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/cdd.html.
E-mail: catulewind@blm.gov.
Fax: (951) 697-5299.
Mail: ATTN: Greg Thomsen, BLM California Desert District
Office (CDDO), 22835 Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley,
California 92553-9046.
Copies of the EIS/EIR are available on the BLM Web site at: http://
www.ca.blm.gov/elcentro and also from the CPUC and the CDDO at the
above addresses and in the BLM El Centro
[[Page 382]]
Field Office, 1661 S. 4th Street, El Centro, California 92243.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information and/or to have
your name added to our mailing list, contact Greg Thomsen, telephone:
(951) 697-5237; address: BLM California Desert District Office, 22835
Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, California 92553-9046; or
via e-mail to catulewind@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The BLM has received applications for
rights-of-way (ROW) for two separate, but related, proposed projects in
eastern San Diego County. Pacific Wind Development (Iberdrola) has
submitted an application to construct, operate, maintain and
decommission a 200 megawatt (MW) wind energy generation facility known
as the Tule Wind Project. The proposed project site is located on
approximately 15,390 acres of land under multiple jurisdictions
summarized as follows: Private land--1,040 acres, California State
Lands Commission land--619 acres, BLM land--12,133 acres and Tribal
land belonging to the Campo/Cuyapaipe/Manzanita Tribes--1,598 acres.
The project site is located in the In-Ko-Pah Mountains near the McCain
Valley in San Diego County, north of the unincorporated community of
Boulevard. The project will consist of approximately 134 wind turbines
(1.5 to 3.0 MW each), an overhead and underground 34.5 kilovolt (kV)
collector system leading to a collector substation, an operations and
maintenance facility, and a 138 kV transmission line as the generation
tie-in to the existing Boulevard Substation.
The SDG&E has submitted an application to construct the ECO
Project, including a 138 kV transmission line that would traverse
approximately 1.5 miles of public land managed by the BLM. The ECO
Project includes the construction of a 500/230/138 kV substation on
private land near the community of Jacumba, a short loop-in to the
Southwest Power Link, the 138 kV transmission line mentioned above, a
rebuild of the existing Boulevard Substation, and a rebuild of the
existing White Star Communication Facility.
The BLM's purpose and need for the Tule and ECO Projects is to
respond to Iberdrola Renewable/Pacific Wind Development and SDG&E
applications for a ROW grant to construct, operate, and decommission an
energy generation project and a 138 kV transmission line on public
lands in compliance with Title V of FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761), BLM ROW
regulations, and other applicable Federal laws and regulations. The BLM
will decide whether to approve, approve with modification, or deny
issuance of a ROW grant to Iberdrola Renewable/Pacific Wind Development
and SDG&E for the proposed Tule and ECO Projects, respectively. The BLM
will take into consideration the provisions of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 and Secretarial Orders 3283 Enhancing Renewable Energy Development
on the Public Lands and 3285 Renewable Energy Development by the
Department of the Interior in responding to the Iberdrola and SDG&E
applications.
The BLM's proposed action in the EIS/EIR is to authorize the Tule
Project and the ECO Project in response to the applications received
from Iberdrola Renewable/Pacific Wind Development and SDG&E,
respectively. The BLM will analyze the following alternatives: for the
ECO project; the Proposed Action and No Action alternatives; for the
Tule Wind Project; the Proposed Action, authorization of the proposed
project with a relocation of the 138 kV generation tie-in line,
authorization of the proposed project with a reduction in the number of
wind turbines, authorization of the 113 wind turbines, but moving them
away from critical habitat and areas having wilderness characteristics,
and a No Action alternative.
The BLM will use the NEPA process to satisfy the public involvement
requirement for Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act
(16 U.S.C. 470f) as provided in 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3). Native American
Tribal consultations are being conducted in accordance with BLM and
Department of the Interior policy, and Tribal concerns will be given
due consideration, including impacts on Indian trust assets.
The BLM has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with
the CPUC to conduct a joint environmental review of the Tule/ECO
Projects on Federal land managed by the BLM. The CPUC is the CEQA lead
agency preparing the EIR and the BLM is the lead agency preparing the
EIS. The BLM and CPUC have agreed through the MOU to conduct joint
environmental review of the project in a single combined NEPA/CEQA
process and document. The Draft EIS/EIR evaluates the potential impacts
of the proposed Tule and ECO Projects' impacts 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/EIR for the Tule and ECO Projects in
San Diego County, California was published in the Federal Register on
December 29, 2009 (74 FR 68860). The BLM held two public scoping
meetings in Jacumba and Boulevard, California, on January 27 and 28,
2010, respectively. The formal scoping period ended on February 15,
2010. Please note that public 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, e-mail 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 and 1506.10 and 43 CFR 1610.2.
Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director, Natural Resources.
[FR Doc. 2010-33181 Filed 1-3-11; 8:45 am]
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