14416 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 47 / Friday, March 9, 2012 / Notices 

(including tribal), archeology, 

recreation, fire and fuels management, 

energy, roads, grazing and wild horses, 

and geographic information systems. 

As part of this RMP process, the BLM 

will analyze areas for potential 

designation as Areas of Critical 

Environmental Concern (ACEC) in 

accordance with 43 CFR 1610.7–2. 

Public nominations for potential ACECs 

to be considered in these revisions must 

be made by June 7, 2012. 

Edward W. Shepard, 

State Director, Oregon/Washington, Bureau 

of Land Management. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5641 Filed 3–8–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–33–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[CACA–051552, LLCAD0700 L51010000 

FX0000 LVRWB10B3980] 

Notice of Availability of a Final 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Final Environmental Impact Report for 

the Pattern Energy Group’s Ocotillo 

Express Wind Energy Project and 

Proposed California Desert 

Conservation Area Land Use Plan 

Amendment, Imperial County, CA 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

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) has 

prepared a Proposed California Desert 

Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan 

Amendment (PA)/Final Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) and Final 

Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for 

the Ocotillo Express Wind Energy 

Facility (OWEF) and by this notice is 

announcing the availability of the 

Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR. 

DATES: BLM planning regulations state 

that any person who meets the 

conditions as described in the 

regulations may protest the BLM’s 

Proposed PA. A person who meets the 

conditions and files a protest must file 

the protest within 30 days of the date 

that the Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) publishes its notice in the 

Federal Register. The Record of 

Decision (ROD) on the OWEF and PA 

will be issued no sooner than 30 days 

after the release of the Final EIS. 

ADDRESSES: Copies of the Proposed PA 

and Final EIS/EIR have been sent to 

affected Federal, state, and local 

government agencies and to other 

stakeholders. Copies of the Proposed PA 

and Final EIS/EIR are also available for 

public inspection at the BLM El Centro 

Field Office, 1661 S. 4th Street, El 

Centro, California 92243 and the BLM 

California Desert District Office, 22835 

Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno 

Valley, California 92553. Interested 

persons may also review the Proposed 

PA and Final EIS/EIR at the following 

Web site: http://www.ca.blm.gov/ 

elcentro. 

All protests of the BLM’s Proposed PA 

must be in writing and mailed to one of 

the following addresses: 

Regular Mail: BLM Director (210), 

Attention: Brenda Williams, P.O. Box 

71383, Washington, DC 20024–1383. 

Overnight Mail: BLM Director (210), 

Attention: Brenda Williams, 20 M 

Street SE., Room 2134LM, 

Washington, DC 20003. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cedric Perry, BLM Project Manager, 

telephone (951) 697–5388; address 

22835 Calle San Juan De Los Lagos, 

Moreno Valley, CA 92553; email 

Cedric_Perry@ca.blm.gov. Persons who 

use a telecommunications device for the 

deaf (TDD) may call the Federal 

Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 

(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: Ocotillo 

Express, LLC (Applicant), a subsidiary 

of Pattern Energy Group, LP, has 

submitted an application for a right-ofway (ROW) authorization to construct, 

operate, maintain, and decommission an 

approximately 12,436 acre, up to 456 

megawatt (MW), wind energy project 

including up to 155 wind turbine 

generators; a substation; administration, 

operations and maintenance facilities; 

transmission lines; and temporary 

construction lay down areas. The BLM’s 

purpose and need for the OWEF is to 

respond to the Applicant’s application 

under Title V of the Federal Lands 

Policy and Management Act of 1976 

(FLPMA) for a ROW grant to construct, 

operate, maintain, and decommission a 

wind energy facility on public lands in 

compliance with FLPMA, BLM ROW 

regulations, and other applicable 

Federal laws. The BLM will decide 

whether to grant, grant with 

modification, or deny a ROW to the 

Applicant for the proposed OWEF. In 

connection with its processing of the 

ROW application for the OWEF, the 

BLM will also amend the CDCA Plan as 

applicable, depending on its decision on 

the ROW grant. The CDCA Plan, while 

recognizing the potential compatibility 

of wind energy generation facilities with 

other uses on public lands, requires that 

all sites proposed for power generation 

or transmission not identified in the 

CDCA Plan be considered through the 

plan amendment process. Therefore, in 

connection with its review of the 

OWEF, the BLM is also proposing to 

amend the CDCA Plan to designate the 

project area as either available or 

unavailable for wind energy 

development, as appropriate. 

In addition to the proposed action and 

a no action alternative, the BLM 

analyzed a 137-turbine alternative, a 

105-turbine alternative, and ‘‘no 

project’’ alternatives that reject the ROW 

application for the OWEF but amend the 

CDCA Plan to make the project area 

either: 

(1) Available for future wind energy 

generation projects; or 

(2) Unavailable for future wind energy 

generation projects. 

Based on information developed 

during the government-to-government 

and National Historic Preservation Act 

Section 106 consultations for the OWEF, 

the Applicant proposed that BLM 

consider a new project configuration 

that eliminates 43 of the 155 turbines 

proposed under the Proposed Action 

(the ‘‘Refined Project’’). Under the 

Refined Project configuration, only 112 

wind turbines generators would be 

approved and installed. Those 112 

turbines would be located on a subset of 

the 155 turbines sites evaluated under 

the Proposed Action in the Draft EIS/ 

EIR. The Refined Project is identified as 

the preferred alternative in the Final 

EIS/EIR. The BLM has determined that 

it is within the range of alternatives 

analyzed in the Draft EIS/EIR. 

The Final EIS/EIR evaluates the 

potential impacts of the proposed 

OWEF and alternatives 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 OWEF project was published 

in the Federal Register on December 13, 

2010 [75 FR 77654]. The BLM held two 

public scoping meetings in El Centro 

and Ocotillo, California, on January 5 

and 6, 2011, respectively. The formal 

scoping period ended on February 4, 

2011. A Notice of Availability of the 

Draft EIS/EIR was published in the 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 47 / Friday, March 9, 2012 / Notices 14417 

Federal Register on July 8, 2011, and 

the BLM along with Imperial County 

held two public meetings on the Draft 

EIS/EIR on August 24, 2011, in El 

Centro, and on August 25, 2011, in 

Ocotillo. 

Comments on the Draft PA and EIS/ 

EIR received from the public and 

internal BLM review were considered 

and incorporated as appropriate into the 

Proposed PA and Final EIS/EIR. Public 

comments resulted in the addition of 

clarifying text and modification of the 

preferred alternative but did not 

significantly change the analysis. 

Instructions for filing a protest with 

the Director of the BLM regarding the 

Proposed PA may be found in the ‘‘Dear 

Reader’’ letter of the Proposed PA and 

Final EIS/EIR and at 43 CFR 1610.5–2. 

Emailed and faxed protests will not be 

accepted as valid protests unless the 

protesting party also provides the 

original letter by either regular or 

overnight mail postmarked by the close 

of the protest period. Under these 

conditions, the BLM will consider the 

email or faxed protest as an advance 

copy and it will receive full 

consideration. If you wish to provide 

the BLM with such advance 

notification, please direct faxed protests 

to the attention of the BLM protest 

coordinator at (202) 912–7212, and 

emails to Brenda_HudgensWilliams@blm.gov. 

All protests, including the follow-up 

letter to emails or faxes, must be in 

writing and mailed to the appropriate 

address, as set forth in the ADDRESSES

section above. 

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 and 1506.10; 43 

CFR 1610.2 and 1610.5 

Thomas Pogacnik, 

Deputy State Director, California. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5703 Filed 3–8–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–40–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLMT922200–12–L13100000–FI0000– 

P;NDM 90965 and NDM 90966] 

Notice of Proposed Reinstatement of 

Terminated Oil and Gas leases NDM 

90965 and NDM 90966 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Per 30 U.S.C. 188(d), Oasis 

Petroleum North America LLC timely 

filed a petition for reinstatement of 

competitive oil and gas leases NDM 

90965 and NDM 90966, McKenzie 

County, North Dakota. The lessee paid 

the required rentals accruing from the 

date of termination. 

No leases were issued that affect these 

lands. The lessee agrees to new lease 

terms for rentals and royalties of $10 per 

acre and 162⁄3 percent. The lessee paid 

the $500 administration fee for the 

reinstatement of each lease and $163 

cost for publishing this Notice. 

The lessee met the requirements for 

reinstatement of the leases per Sec. 31 

(d) and (e) of the Mineral Leasing Act of 

1920 (30 U.S.C. 188). We are proposing 

to reinstate the leases, effective the date 

of termination subject to: 

• The original terms and conditions 

of the leases; 

• The increased rental of $10 per 

acre; 

• The increased royalty of 162⁄3

percent; and 

• The $163 cost of publishing this 

Notice. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Teri 

Bakken, Chief, Fluids Adjudication 

Section, Bureau of Land Management 

Montana State Office, 5001 Southgate 

Drive, Billings, Montana 59101–4669, 

406–896–5091, Teri_Bakken@blm.gov. 

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. 

Teri Bakken, 

Chief, Fluids Adjudication Section. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5709 Filed 3–8–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–DN–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLIDT03000 LF20000ES.JS0000 

LFESFTF60000] 

Notice of Temporary Closure on Public 

Lands in Gooding and Elmore 

Counties, ID 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of temporary closure. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the Blair Fire closure to motorized 

vehicle use is in effect on public lands 

administered by the Four Rivers and 

Shoshone Field Offices, Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM). 

DATES: The closure will be in effect on 

the date this notice is published in the 

Federal Register and will remain in 

effect until September 5, 2013, or until 

rescinded or modified by an authorized 

officer. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Terry Humphrey, Four Rivers Field 

Manager, at 3948 Development Avenue, 

Boise, Idaho 83705, via email at 

thumphrey@blm.gov, or phone (208) 

384–3430 or Ruth Miller, Shoshone 

Field Manager, at 400 West F St., 

Shoshone, Idaho 83352, via email at 

ramiller@blm.gov, or phone (208) 732– 

7227. Persons who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Information 

Relay Service (FIRS) at (800) 877–8339 

to contact the above individuals 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 individuals. You will receive a 

reply during normal hours. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Blair 

Fire motorized closure affects public 

lands burned August 15, 2011, by the 

Blair Fire, 1 mile north of King Hill, 

Idaho. The legal description of the 

affected public lands is: 

Boise Meridian, Idaho 

T. 3 S., R. 10 E., 

Sec. 35. 

T. 4 S., R. 10 E., 

Secs. 1 and 2; 

Secs. 12 to 15, inclusive; 

Sec. 17; 

Secs. 20 to 28, inclusive; 

Secs. 33 to 35, inclusive. 

T. 5 S., R. 10 E., 

Secs. 3 and 4. 

T. 3 S., R. 11 E., 

Secs. 31 and 33. 

T. 4 S., R. 11 E., 

Secs. 3 to 15, inclusive; 

Secs. 17 to 35, inclusive. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES