[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 129 (Friday, July 5, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40497-40498]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-16128]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLCAC07000 L913100000 EI0000 LXSIGEOT0000]
Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact
Statement/Environmental Impact Report for the Casa Diablo IV Geothermal
Development Project, Mono 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); the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of
1976, as amended; and the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970
(CEQA), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States Forest
Service (USFS), and the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control
District (GBUAPCD), a California State agency, have prepared a Final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Environmental Impact Report (EIR)
for the proposed Casa Diablo IV Geothermal Development Project near the
town of Mammoth Lakes in Mono County, California, and by this notice
are announcing its availability.
DATES: The BLM will not issue a final decision on the proposal for a
minimum of 30 days after the date that the Environmental Protection
Agency publishes its notice of availability in the Federal Register.
[[Page 40498]]
ADDRESSES: You may request an electronic copy of the Casa Diablo IV
Geothermal Development Project Final EIS/EIR by any of the following
methods:
Mail: BLM Bishop Field Office, 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100,
Bishop, CA 93514; Attn: Casa Diablo IV Geothermal Development Project
Final EIS/EIR, c/o Collin Reinhardt, Project Manager.
Email: [email protected]; Subject: Casa Diablo IV
Geothermal Development Project Final EIS/EIR.
Fax: 760-872-5050; Attn: Collin Reinhardt.
Interested persons may also review the Final EIS/EIR on the
Internet at http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/bishop.html.
Copies of the Final EIS/EIR are also available for public
inspection at the BLM Bishop Field Office at the above address and at
the Mono County Library at 400 Sierra Park Road, Mammoth Lakes,
California.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Collin Reinhardt, Project Manager,
telephone 760-872-5024; address 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100, Bishop, CA
93514; email [email protected]. Persons who use a telecommunications
device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay
Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above individual during
normal business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week, to leave a message or question with the above individual. You
will receive a reply during normal business hours.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Final EIS/EIR analyzes the potential
impacts of authorizing the proposed Casa Diablo IV Geothermal
Development Project near the town of Mammoth Lakes in Mono County,
California. In accordance with the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970, as
amended (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), the BLM Bishop Field Office is the
lead Federal agency responsible for permitting the proposed project and
for completing the required environmental analysis under NEPA. The USFS
Inyo National Forest is a cooperating Federal agency. The GBUAPCD is
the lead State agency responsible for permitting the proposed project
and for completing the required environmental analysis under CEQA.
The purpose and need for action is to respond to an application to
construct and operate the Casa Diablo IV project on Federal geothermal
leases administered by the BLM Bishop Field Office. The project would
be located on Inyo National Forest lands and adjacent private lands
within portions of Federal geothermal leases CACA-11667, CACA-14407,
CACA-14408, and CACA-11672. The project would be located adjacent to
three currently operating geothermal plants.
The 33 megawatt binary geothermal power plant would be the fourth
geothermal plant in the vicinity. It would include up to 16 wells for
production and injection, drilled 1,600 to 2,500 feet deep. Pipelines
would be constructed to transport geothermal fluid from production
wells to the power plant and the return of fluids from the power plant
to injection wells. A 650-foot-long transmission line would connect the
new power plant to the Southern California Edison substation at
Substation Road. The power plant, access roads, well pads, pipelines,
and transmission line would occupy approximately 80 acres. Of the 16
proposed production/injection well locations, 14 were previously
analyzed and approved by the BLM as exploration wells in EA-170-02-15
(2001) and EA-170-05-04 (2005). Three of these exploration wells have
already been drilled as of the time of the publication of this notice.
Three action alternatives and a no action alternative are analyzed
in the Final EIS/EIR. Alternative 1 is the applicant's proposed action
as outlined above; Alternative 2 considers an alternative location for
the proposed power plant; and Alternative 3 (the BLM's preferred
alternative) considers alternative pipeline alignments in Basalt Canyon
and slightly alters the location of one proposed well. The GBUAPCD has
identified Alternative 3 as the ``environmentally superior
alternative'' pursuant to CEQA (14 C.C.R. 15126.6(e)(2)).
Alternative 4, the No Action Alternative, would not construct the
CD-IV Project. The three existing geothermal power plants, the pipeline
from Basalt Canyon, and two existing production wells would continue
operating in accordance with their respective permits. Under the No
Action Alternative, geothermal exploration in Basalt Canyon and Upper
Basalt Canyon previously approved would be expected to continue.
Previous analyses resulted in the approval of up to ten small diameter
(slim hole) and six geothermal exploratory (large diameter) geothermal
wells, some of which have been already drilled. Under the No Action
Alternative, while no activities related to the Proposed Action would
occur, nine additional small diameter and two large diameter
exploratory wells could be drilled as previously authorized.
The Final EIS/EIR describes and analyzes the project's site-
specific impacts on the following resources: Air, biological, climate
change, cultural and paleontological, geothermal and groundwater,
geologic, soil, mineral, grazing, wild horses and burros, land use,
noise and vibration, population and housing, public safety, hazardous
materials, fire, recreation, socioeconomics and environmental justice,
traffic, utilities and public service, visual, and surface water.
In addition to scoping activities, a Notice of Availability of the
Draft EIS/EIR was published in the Federal Register on November 16,
2012 (77 FR 68813), announcing a 60-day comment period ending January
15, 2013. In response to requests, the NEPA comment period was extended
to January 30, 2013 and the CEQA comment period was extended to
February 20, 2013. Additionally, two public meetings were held on
December 5 and 6, 2012, in Mammoth Lakes and Lake Crowley, California,
respectively.
One oral comment and 28 comment letters were received. Comments on
the Draft EIS/EIR primarily pertained to the NEPA and CEQA processes,
project alternatives, and impacts to various resources and uses. The
agencies also received statements in support of the proposal.
All comments were addressed in the Final EIS/EIR, some of which
resulted in corrections and clarifying text that did not significantly
change the alternatives or analysis. Similarly, consultation pursuant
to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and Section 7
of the Federal Endangered Species Act has resulted in revisions to the
project as reflected in the Final EIS/EIS that further avoid impacts to
cultural and biological resources.
Authority: 40 CFR 1506.6, 40 CFR 1506.10.
Thomas Pogacnik,
Deputy State Director.
[FR Doc. 2013-16128 Filed 7-3-13; 8:45 am]
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