[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 232 (Friday, December 2, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87025-87026]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-28842]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army
Programmatic Environmental Assessment for Construction and
Operation of Solar Photovoltaic Renewable Energy Projects on Army
Installations
AGENCY: Department of the Army, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Department of the Army has completed a Programmatic
Environmental Assessment (PEA) for construction, operation, and
maintenance of solar photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy projects on
Army installations and is making the PEA and a draft Finding of No
Significant Impact (FNSI) available for public comment. The draft FNSI
incorporates the PEA, which does not identify any significant
environmental impacts from the proposed action or any of the
alternatives. The draft FNSI concludes that preparation of an
environmental impact statement (EIS) is not required, and therefore
will not be prepared.
The PEA is programmatic and nationwide in scope. For years, the
Army has analyzed and implemented solar PV projects at Army
installations across the country. In the PEA, the Army leveraged this
experience with the goal of streamlining the National Environmental
Policy Act process for future solar PV proposals, as appropriate, in a
manner consistent with Council on Environmental Quality and Department
of the Army regulations.
DATES: The public comment period will end 30 days after publication of
the Notice of Availability in the Federal Register by the Department of
the Army.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: U.S. Army Environmental
Command, Attn: Solar PV PEA Public Comments, 2450 Connell Road
(Building 2264), JBSA--Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234-7664; email:
[email protected].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact the U.S. Army
Environmental Command Public Affairs Office, (210) 466-1590 or toll-
free 855-846-3940, or email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed action is to construct,
operate, and maintain solar PV arrays and/or ancillary power systems on
Army installations, to include U.S. Army Reserve facilities, Army
National Guard sites, and joint bases managed by the Department of the
Army (with all henceforth referred to only as ``Army installations'' or
``installations''). The proposed action includes, for those solar PV
projects where the existing infrastructure is insufficient,
constructing (or upgrading) and maintaining the associated
infrastructure required for the transmission and management of the
generated electricity to the electric grid. Associated infrastructure
includes but is not limited to electricity transformers, transmission
and distribution lines, and sub or switching stations; as well as
ancillary power control systems such as energy storage systems, micro-
grid components, and back-up power generators. The proposed action may
include real estate actions on Army lands where the projects could be
funded and constructed by the Army, funded through a third party Power
Purchase Agreement utilizing a lease of Army or Joint Base land to an
independent power producer or the local regulated utility company, or
funded via some other relationship with a private or public entity.
The projects being evaluated and analyzed would generally range
from approximately 10 megawatt (MW) to 100 MW per site; however, the
projects outside of this MW range (e.g., less than 10 MW) are inclusive
in this proposed action. On average, seven acres of land are currently
required to produce one MW of power. As this technology has evolved,
the acreage requirement for one MW generating capacity has decreased;
therefore, it is possible that future solar PV technologies may require
even less acreage per MW; currently, approximately 70 acres of land
would be required for a 10 MW site and 700 acres of land for a 100 MW
site. PV systems on rooftops would generally expect to have capacity
measured in watts or kilowatts (kW), not MW, and be of a much smaller
size and scope.
After construction, equipment monitoring, routine maintenance
(including vegetation control, snow removal, solar module washing, and
periodic module/other equipment
[[Page 87026]]
replacement), and as-needed repairs by the system operator would follow
to ensure proper operation of the solar PV system.
The alternatives considered and analyzed in the PEA are the No
Action alternative and three action alternatives, which are to
implement the proposed action on greenfield sites (Alternative 1), on
previously developed sites (Alternative 2), and on or over structures
or impervious surfaces, such as buildings and carports (Alternative 3).
Installations may choose any or all of the action alternative
approaches to solar PV.
The goal of this programmatic approach is to streamline the NEPA
process for the construction, operation, and maintenance of solar PV
renewable energy projects by providing installations with sufficient
detail about environmental impacts on resources to enable them to tier
off of the PEA, as appropriate. Tiering from this PEA would avoid or
reduce the costs of repetitive, similar analyses, and allow the Army to
focus resources on only those site-specific environmental issues that
merit a deeper analysis. Installations tiering from the PEA would use
the checklist contained in the PEA to identify site-specific NEPA
requirements. Where further analysis would be required to meet site-
specific NEPA requirements, the PEA may still be used for tiering,
allowing the installation to focus on those resources which require
site-specific analysis.
Members of the public, federally-recognized Native American Tribes,
Alaska Native Tribes, Native Hawaiian Organizations, and federal,
state, and local agencies are invited to submit written comments on the
PEA and/or draft FNSI.
The PEA and draft FNSI may be accessed at: http://www.aec.army.mil/Services/Support/NEPA/Documents.aspx.
Brenda S. Bowen,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-28842 Filed 12-1-16; 8:45 am]
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