Notice2024-25573
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Rough Hat Clark Solar Project in Clark County, NV
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
November 4, 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 (FLMPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Rough Hat Clark Solar Project and by this notice is announcing the start of a 30-day protest period of the Proposed RMP Amendment to the BLM Director.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 213 (Monday, November 4, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 213 (Monday, November 4, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87594-87596]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-25573]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[BLM_NV_FRN_MO4500183047]
Notice of Availability of the Proposed Resource Management Plan
Amendment and Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Rough Hat
Clark Solar Project in Clark County, NV
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 (FLMPA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
prepared a Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) Amendment and Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Rough Hat Clark Solar
Project and by this notice is announcing the start of a 30-day protest
period of the Proposed RMP Amendment to the BLM Director.
DATES: This notice announces the opening of a 30-day protest period for
the Proposed RMP Amendment. Protests must be postmarked or
electronically submitted on the BLM's National NEPA Register site
within 30 days of the date that the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) publishes its Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federal
Register. The EPA usually publishes its NOAs on Fridays.
ADDRESSES: The Proposed RMP Amendment, Final EIS, and associated
documents are available on the BLM National NEPA Register project
website at <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019992/510">https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019992/510</a>.
Documents pertinent to this proposal may also be examined at the
Southern Nevada District Office, Las Vegas Field Office, 4701 N Torrey
Pines Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89130.
Instructions, including addresses, for filing a protest with the
BLM for the Rough Hat Clark Solar Project can be found at: <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest">https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/filing-a-plan-protest</a> and at 43 CFR 1610.5-2.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jessica Headen, Project Manager,
telephone (702) 515-5206, address Bureau of Land Management, 4701 N
Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89130. 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
[[Page 87595]]
contacting Ms. Headen. 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: The Proposed RMP Amendment is being
considered to allow the BLM to evaluate the effects of granting a
right-of-way (ROW) for the Rough Hat Clark Solar Project. This process
requires amending the existing 1998 Las Vegas Resource Management Plan
(Las Vegas RMP) to modify the Visual Resource Management (VRM) Class of
lands south of State Route 160 and west of Tecopa Road to the Town of
Pahrump, Nevada. The Applicant's proposed Project does not conform with
the management objectives of the Project area's current VRM
classification (Class III), and therefore the designated lands would be
modified from VRM Class III to VRM Class IV.
The Proposed RMP Amendment covers a larger area than the Rough Hat
Clark Solar Project application area. The Proposed RMP Amendment area
would encompass approximately 9,960 acres of BLM-administered land.
This area includes the location where the Yellow Pine Solar Project is
currently under construction, as well as lands within the application
areas for the Copper Rays, Mosey, and Purple Sage Solar Projects. Given
the existing and proposed uses of this area, amending the VRM from
Class III to Class IV is necessary to ensure activities conform with
the Las Vegas RMP.
Purpose and Need
The need for the BLM's action is to respond to the Applicant's
request for a ROW authorization to construct, operate, maintain, and
decommission the proposed Project in accordance with the BLM's
responsibility under Title V of FLPMA and 43 CFR part 2800. The BLM's
action of considering the ROW application also would meet the BLM's
obligation to contribute towards the legislative and administrative
goals of advancing the development of renewable energy production on
Federal public lands, as directed by Section 3104 of the Energy Act of
2020 and Executive Order 14057.
The Project as proposed would not conform to the 1998 Las Vegas RMP
as required by 43 CFR 1610.5-3(a). The BLM would need to amend the RMP
to bring it into compliance, as discussed above.
The purpose of the BLM's action is to determine if the Applicant's
Project and alternatives are consistent with relevant laws,
regulations, and policies, and to consider whether to grant, grant with
modifications, or deny the ROW. The purpose of the RMP Amendment is to
ensure that any development of renewable energy production in the
general vicinity of the Applicant's proposed Project area conforms with
the RMP's provisions, as provided for in 43 CFR 1610.5-3(c),
specifically by reclassifying this geographic area as VRM Class IV.
Alternatives Considered
The Applicant, Candela Renewables, LLC, applied to the BLM's Las
Vegas Field Office for a ROW grant to provide the necessary land and
access for the construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual
decommissioning of the proposed Rough Hat Clark Solar Project and
interconnection to the regional transmission system. The Proposed
Action would include up to a 400-megawatt (MW) alternating current
solar photovoltaic power generating facility with up to 700 MW of
battery energy storage on approximately 2,469 acres of BLM-managed
public land. The Project area is located in the Pahrump Valley in Clark
County, Nevada, immediately adjacent to the Clark/Nye county line,
three miles southeast of the Town of Pahrump, and approximately 38
miles west of the City of Las Vegas. The expected life of the Project
is 30 years.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action were developed by the BLM to
avoid or reduce various resource conflicts. Key resource constraints
include the habitat for and presence of the Mojave desert tortoise
listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, along with
limited groundwater resources, vegetation at the Project area, and the
generation of dust.
The BLM analyzed three alternatives in detail: the Applicant
Proposed Action, Alternative Action 1, and the No Action Alternative.
Alternative Action 1, referred to as the Resources Integration
Alternative, was developed in response to issues raised by the public
and agency considerations. The intent of the Resources Integrated
Alternative is to minimize disturbance to vegetation and soils within
the solar facility by setting maximum allowable disturbance thresholds
to vegetation during construction, setting restoration goals, and
utilizing topography-spanning technologies. The Resources Integration
Alternative would implement overland travel for project construction as
this method is less intensive than others and is expected to improve
the retention of native vegetation, wildlife habitat, soils, seed
banks, and biological soil crusts while minimizing water quality
impacts and air quality impacts from fugitive dust.
The No Action Alternative would be a continuation of existing
conditions and the ROW would not be approved.
The BLM evaluated the alternatives in consultation with other
Federal and State agencies, Tribes, the public, and cooperating
agencies. The BLM's Preferred Alternative is Alternative 1, the
Resources Integration Alternative.
The BLM analyzed a combination of Project Design Features and Best
Management Practices to eliminate or minimize impacts associated with
the BLM Preferred Alternative. This includes required Solar PEIS
Programmatic Design Features, Southern Nevada District Office Project
Design Features, and required management plans, all of which are
detailed in Appendix B of the Final EIS.
The BLM published the NOA of the Draft EIS and RMP Amendment in the
Federal Register on January 12, 2024. The publication of the NOA began
a 90-day public comment period that ended on April 11, 2024. The BLM
hosted two public meetings, held on January 30, 2024 (in-person in
Pahrump, Nevada), and February 1, 2024 (virtual), to provide the public
with the opportunity to speak with BLM representatives, ask questions,
and submit comments.
The BLM received a total of 207 substantive and non-substantive
letters and verbally recorded comments from 7 Federal, State, and local
agencies; 1 member of a Native American Tribe; 9 non-governmental
organizations; 1 private company; and 189 individual members of the
public. Detailed responses to comments can be found in Appendix G of
the Final EIS. In response to the substantive comments received, the
BLM made corrections to analyses or data in the EIS or explained why
the comments did not warrant additional changes to the EIS. For
example, the BLM updated the acreages of impacts for the Proposed
Action and Alternative 1, added information regarding the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service Biological Opinion and impacts to desert tortoise,
revised descriptions of Project infrastructure, updated the groundwater
analysis, revised the cultural resources and recreation analysis, and
included two new mitigation measures addressing the monarch butterfly
and desert tortoise.
Protest of the Proposed RMP Amendment
The BLM planning regulations state that any person who participated
in the preparation of the RMP and has an interest that will or might be
adversely
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affected by approval of the Proposed RMP Amendment may protest its
approval to the BLM. Protest of the Proposed RMP Amendment constitutes
the final opportunity for administrative review of the proposed land
use planning decisions prior to the BLM adopting an approved RMP
Amendment. Instructions for filing a protest with the BLM regarding the
Proposed RMP Amendment may be found online (see ADDRESSES). All
protests must be in writing and mailed to the appropriate address
(found in the instructions for filing a protest) or submitted
electronically through the BLM National NEPA Register project website
(see ADDRESSES). Protests submitted by any other means will be invalid.
The BLM will render a written decision on each protest. The decision of
the BLM on the protest shall be the final decision of the Department of
the Interior. Responses to valid protest issues will be compiled and
documented in a Protest Resolution Report made available following the
protest resolution online at: <a href="https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/protest-resolution-reports">https://www.blm.gov/programs/planning-and-nepa/public-participation/protest-resolution-reports</a>. Upon
resolution of protests, the BLM will issue a Record of Decision and
Approved RMP Amendment.
Before including your phone number, email address, or other
personal identifying information in your protest, you should be aware
that your entire protest--including your personal identifying
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your protest 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 (2023), 43 CFR 1610.2, 43
CFR 1610.5, and 43 CFR part 2800)
Jon K. Raby,
State Director.
[FR Doc. 2024-25573 Filed 11-1-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4331-21-P
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