Notice2024-12460
Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project in Jerome, Lincoln, and Minidoka Counties, ID
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 7, 2024
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentLand Management Bureau
Abstract
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) announces the availability of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Lava Ridge Wind Project.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 111 (Friday, June 7, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 111 (Friday, June 7, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48681-48682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12460]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_ID_FRN_MO4500177431]
Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact
Statement for the Proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project in Jerome, Lincoln,
and Minidoka Counties, ID
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)
announces the availability of the final environmental impact statement
(EIS) for the Lava Ridge Wind Project.
DATES: The BLM will not issue a decision on the proposal for a minimum
of 30 days after the date that the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) publishes its Notice of Availability in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: The final EIS and documents pertinent to this proposal are
available for review on the BLM ePlanning project website at <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013782/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2013782/510</a> and in hardcopy at
the BLM Shoshone Field Office, 400 West F Street, Shoshone, ID 83352.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kasey Prestwich, Project Manager,
telephone 208-732-7204; address BLM Shoshone Field Office, 400 West F
Street, Shoshone, ID 83352; email <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#f69d8684938582819f959eb6949a9bd8919980"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="ed869d9f889e999a848e85ad8f8180c38a829b">[email protected]</span></a>. 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 for contacting Mr. Prestwich.
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:
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action
Magic Valley Energy, LLC (MVE) has applied for a right-of-way (ROW)
to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission the Lava Ridge Wind
Project (the project), a wind energy facility and ancillary facilities
primarily on BLM-administered public lands in Jerome, Lincoln, and
Minidoka Counties, Idaho. The BLM's purpose is to respond to the ROW
application submitted by MVE in compliance with FLPMA, BLM regulations,
and other applicable Federal laws and policies. The need for the BLM's
Proposed Action arises from FLPMA, which establishes a multiple use
mandate for management of Federal lands, including ``systems for
generation, transmission, and distribution of electric energy'' (FLPMA
title V). The BLM will decide whether to grant, grant with
modifications, or deny MVE's ROW application.
Proposed Action and Alternatives
Under Alternative A, the BLM would deny MVE's application for
construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of the
project. The project facilities would not be built, and existing land
uses and present activities in the area would continue. The land would
continue to be available for other uses that are consistent with the
BLM's Monument Resource Management Plan (1986) and its amendments,
including the 2015 Idaho and Southern Montana Greater Sage-Grouse
Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment. Federal and regional
renewable energy goals would have to be met using other alternative
energy projects at other locations.
Under Alternative B (Applicant Proposed Action), the BLM would
authorize the wind energy facility as proposed by MVE, subject to
certain terms and conditions. Alternative B could have up to 400 3-
megawatt (MW) turbines or up to 349 6-MW turbines, or a combination of
3-MW and 6-MW turbines not to exceed 400. The maximum height of the
turbines would be between 390 and 740 feet, depending on their MW
capacity. Siting corridors would span 84,051 acres, with the project
area footprint within these corridors totaling 9,114 acres.
Alternative C (Reduced Western Corridors) would reduce the
project's footprint by authorizing project development except within
specific corridors. Siting corridors in Alternative C would span 65,215
acres. Project activity would disturb 6,953 acres. The intent of this
alternative is to avoid and minimize potential impacts to Wilson Butte
Cave and Minidoka National Historic Site (NHS). Alternative C would
also aim to encourage development in areas that have already been
impacted by energy infrastructure and reduce the extent of wildlife
habitat fragmentation.
Like Alternative C, Alternative D (Centralized Corridors) would
reduce the project's footprint by authorizing
[[Page 48682]]
project development except within specific siting corridors. Siting
corridors in Alternative D would span 48,597 acres. Project activity
would disturb 4,838 acres. Similar to Alternative C, Alternative D
would focus on minimizing fragmentation of wildlife habitat and
potential impacts to Wilson Butte Cave and Minidoka NHS. Alternative D
would avoid development in areas that have higher sagebrush cover and
protect functional Greater sage-grouse habitat. The reduced footprint
would also avoid or minimize impacts to other resources and areas of
concern.
Alternative E (Reduced Southern Corridors) would avoid and minimize
potential impacts to Minidoka NHS. Alternative E builds from
Alternative C but would further avoid and minimize potential impacts to
Minidoka NHS by removing additional siting corridors from development.
Siting corridors in Alternative E would span 50,680 acres. Project
activity would disturb 5,136 acres.
The BLM has identified a Preferred Alternative based on a
combination of elements of Alternatives B through E. The Preferred
Alternative responds to resource impact concerns raised by Tribes,
cooperating agencies, and the public through the public comments
received on the draft EIS. The Preferred Alternative would reduce
visual impacts to Minidoka NHS, reduce disturbance to big game
migration routes and winter concentration areas, reduce impacts to
Jerome County Airport and agricultural aviation uses, and reduce
impacts to adjacent private landowners. The combination of Alternatives
B-E for development of the Preferred Alternative included adjusting the
siting corridor and infrastructure to avoid or minimize impacts while
balancing development of the wind resource. The BLM considered results
of the analysis of potential impacts prepared for the draft EIS;
feedback from Tribes, agencies, and various interested parties; input
from the BLM Idaho Resource Advisory Council's Lava Ridge Wind Project
Subcommittee; new wildlife datasets provided by the Idaho Department of
Fish and Game; and publicly available wind-speed information for the
project area to develop the Preferred Alternative. Siting corridors in
the Preferred Alternative would span 44,768 acres. Project activity
would disturb 4,492 acres.
Compliance With NEPA, as Amended by the Fiscal Responsibility Act
In response to the amendments to NEPA under the Fiscal
Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA), Pub. L. 118-5, section 321(e)(1)(B),
42 U.S.C. 4336a(e), the BLM revised the organization of the final EIS
so that it is under the FRA's 300-page limit for a proposed agency
action of ``extraordinary complexity.'' The BLM moved the evaluation of
certain environmental impacts that it determined not to be significant
to an appendix.
Public Input
The BLM continues to engage in government-to-government
consultation with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the Shoshone-Paiute
Tribes on the project. These Native American Tribes have expressed
concerns focused on potential impacts to Wilson Butte Cave, wildlife,
and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' Treaty rights. The BLM published a
Notice of Availability for the draft EIS for the project in the Federal
Register on January 20, 2023 (88 FR 3759). The notice began a 60-day
public comment period, which was extended to 90 days ending on April
20, 2023. The BLM held public meetings on the draft EIS in February and
March 2023. Meetings were held virtually and in person in Shoshone and
Twin Falls, Idaho; Portland, Oregon; and Mercer Island, Washington. The
BLM received a total of 11,179 submissions via mail, fax, email,
ePlanning online comment form, and handwritten and verbal comments
given to a transcriptionist at public meetings. The BLM considered
comments within each submission and determined if comments were
substantive or non-substantive. The BLM identified and categorized
3,303 individual substantive comments from the various submissions.
Comments on the draft EIS received from the public and internal BLM
review were considered and incorporated, as appropriate, into the final
EIS. The final EIS includes all substantive comments with a BLM
response.
The BLM conducted additional meetings in April and May 2024, with
the Idaho Governor's Office; numerous Idaho state agencies; Friends of
Minidoka; Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee; Shoshone-Bannock
Tribes; county commissioners from Jerome, Lincoln, and Minidoka
counties; grazing permittees; other Federal agencies; and others,
consistent with Section 441, Division E, of Public Law 118-42, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024.
Public comments informed clarifying text, developing the Preferred
Alternative, developing new issue statements, identifying project-
specific interim Visual Resource Management classes, and refining a
mitigation framework.
(Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10)
Michael Courtney,
BLM Twin Falls District Manager.
[FR Doc. 2024-12460 Filed 6-6-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-21-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 7, 2024.
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