Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 75 / Wednesday, April 18, 2012 / Notices 23275 

Applicant: U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, Ecological Services Field 

Office, Twin Cities, MN. 

The applicant requests a permit 

amendment to add snuffbox, 

spectaclecase, and sheepnose mussels to 

existing Fish and Wildlife Permit 

Number TE206778. Proposed activities 

would occur within Minnesota and 

Wisconsin for the enhancement of 

propagation and survival of the species 

in the wild. 

Permit Application Number: TE71834A. 

Applicant: Robert J. Welch, Waupaca 

Biological Field Station, Waupaca, 

WI. 

The applicant requests a permit to 

take (capture and release) snuffbox 

mussels within Wisconsin for the 

enhancement of survival of the species 

in the wild. 

Permit Application Number: TE02360A. 

Applicant: Sydney Morgan, Charleston, 

WV. 

The applicant requests a permit 

renewal to take (capture and release) 

Indiana bats, gray bats, and Virginia bigeared bats throughout the States of 

Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, 

Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, 

Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, 

Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, 

Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, 

New York, North Carolina, Ohio, 

Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 

South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, 

Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and 

Wisconsin. Proposed activities are for 

the enhancement of survival of the 

species in the wild. 

Public Comments 

We seek public review and comments 

on these permit applications. Please 

refer to the permit number when you 

submit comments. Comments and 

materials we receive are available for 

public inspection, by appointment, 

during normal business hours at the 

address shown in the ADDRESSES

section. Before including your address, 

phone number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Dated: April 12, 2012. 

Sean Marsan, 

Acting Assistant Regional Director, Ecological 

Services, Region 3. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9391 Filed 4–17–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLCAD06000 L51010000.FX0000 

LVRWB09B3350 CACA49491] 

Notice of Availability of the Draft 

enXco Desert Harvest Solar Farm 

Project Environmental Impact 

Statement, Riverside County, CA and 

the Draft California Desert 

Conservation Area Plan Amendment 

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 Draft Environmental Impact 

Statement (Draft EIS) for the enXco 

Desert Harvest Solar Farm Project and 

draft California Desert Conservation 

Area (CDCA) Plan Amendment, and by 

this notice is announcing the opening of 

the comment period on the Draft EIS 

and Draft CDCA Plan Amendment. 

DATES: To ensure that comments will be 

considered, the BLM must receive 

written comments on the Draft EIS and 

Draft CDCA Plan Amendment within 90 

days following the date the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

publishes its Notice of Availability in 

the Federal Register. The BLM will 

announce future meetings or hearings 

and any other public involvement 

activities at least 15 days in advance 

through public notices, media releases, 

and/or mailings. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

related to the enXco Desert Harvest 

Solar Farm Project and CDCA Plan 

Amendment by any of the following 

methods: 

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

en/fo/palmsprings/Solar_Projects/ 

Desert_Harvest_Solar_Project.html. 

• Email: cadesertharvest@blm.gov. 

• Fax: (951) 697–5299. 

• Mail: Lynnette Elser, BLM, 

California Desert District Office, 22835 

Calle San Juan de Los Lagos, Moreno 

Valley, California 92553. 

Copies of the enXco Desert Harvest 

Solar Farm Project Draft EIS and Draft 

CDCA Plan Amendment are available in 

the BLM California Desert District Office 

at the above address and at the BLM 

Palm Springs Field Office, 1201 Bird 

Center Drive Palm Springs, CA 92262. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lynnette Elser, Project Manager; 

telephone (951) 697–5233; address 

BLM, 22835 Calle San Juan de Los 

Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553; email 

cadesertharvest@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 for the above referred 

individual. You will receive a reply 

during normal business hours. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

applicant, enXco, has requested a rightof-way (ROW) authorization to 

construct, operate, maintain, and 

decommission a solar photovoltaic (PV) 

generating facility with a proposed 

output of 150 megawatts (mw) and a 

facility footprint of approximately 1,280 

acres. The proposed project would be 

located on BLM-administered lands in 

Riverside County, California, about 6 

miles north of the rural community of 

Desert Center, California. The overall 

site layout and generalized land uses 

could include a substation, an 

administration building, operations and 

maintenance facilities, a transmission 

line, and temporary construction lay 

down areas. The project’s 230-kilovolt 

(kV) generation interconnection 

transmission line would either be 

located on the previously approved First 

Solar Desert Sunlight project’s 230-kV 

gen-tie (as a shared facility), or would be 

located on a combination of private and 

BLM-administered lands and would 

utilize a planned 230- to 500-kV 

substation (referred to as the Red Bluff 

Substation). The Red Bluff Substation 

would connect the project to Southern 

California Edison regional transmission 

grid. If the project is approved, 

construction would begin in late 2013 

and would take 9–12 months to 

complete. 

The BLM’s purpose and need for the 

Desert Harvest Project is to respond to 

enXco’s application under Title V of 

FLPMA (43 U.S.C. 1761) for a ROW 

grant to construct, operate, and 

decommission a solar PV facility on 

public lands in compliance with 

FLPMA, NEPA, BLM ROW and land use 

planning regulations, and other 

applicable laws and regulations. The 

BLM will decide whether to approve, 

approve with modification, or deny a 

ROW to enXco for the proposed Desert 

Harvest project. Concurrently with its 

action on the ROW request, the BLM is 

also proposing to amend the CDCA Plan 

to make the project area (or portions of 

the project area) either available or 

unavailable for future solar 

development. The CDCA Plan (1980, as 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

23276 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 75 / Wednesday, April 18, 2012 / Notices 

amended), while recognizing the 

potential compatibility of solar 

generation facilities with other uses on 

public lands, requires that all sites 

proposed for power generation or 

transmission not already identified in 

the CDCA Plan be considered through 

the plan amendment process. If the BLM 

decides to grant a ROW, the BLM would 

amend the CDCA Plan as required based 

on guidance in the BLM Land Use 

Planning Handbook (H–1601–1). 

The Draft EIS Analyzes 12 Alternatives 

Four no action/no development 

alternatives (Alternative 1: No Action 

(No Plan Amendment), Alternative 2: 

No Project Alternative (with Plan 

Amendment to Find the Site Suitable 

for Solar), Alternative 3: No Project 

Alternative (with Plan Amendment to 

Find the Site Unsuitable for Solar), 

Alternative A: No Gen-Tie), 

Four generation plan development 

alternatives (Alternative 4: Proposed 

Solar Project, Alternative 5: Solar 

Project Excluding WHMA, Alternative 

6: Reduced Footprint Solar Project 

Alternative 7: High-Profile Reduced 

Footprint Solar Project), and 

Four transmission line alternatives 

(Alternative B: Proposed Gen-Tie 

(Shared Towers), Alternative C: 

Separate Transmission Towers within 

Same ROW, Alternative D: Cross-Valley 

Alignment, Alternative E: New CrossValley Alignment). The BLM has 

identified Alternative 7 as the preferred 

alternative for the generation plant, and 

Alternative B as the preferred 

alternative for the transmission line. 

The Draft EIS analyzes the direct, 

indirect, and cumulative impacts of the 

Proposed Action and alternatives to the 

affected resources identified by the BLM 

and the public during project scoping. 

The BLM published a Notice of Intent 

(NOI) to prepare an EIS on September 

15, 2011, in the Federal Register 

Volume 76, Number 179. Publication of 

the NOI began a 30-day scoping period, 

which ended on October 17, 2011. The 

BLM provided a Web site with project 

information that also described the 

various methods of providing public 

comment on the project, including an 

email address for the BLM to receive 

scoping comments electronically. 

Notifications for public scoping 

meetings were posted on the BLM’s Web 

site. Additionally, notices were sent to 

all landowners within 300 feet of the 

project boundary and to other interested 

parties during the week of September 

19, 2011. 

Public Scoping Meetings were held on 

October 3, 2011, at the University of 

Riverside Palm Desert Graduate Center 

and at the Lake Tamarisk Clubhouse. An 

additional public scoping meeting was 

held on October 6, 2011, at the Joshua 

Tree Community Center. Attendees 

were documented through a voluntary 

sign-in sheet, and included 6 attendees 

at the University of Riverside Palm 

Desert Graduate Center along with 

KMIR TV; 30 attendees at the Lake 

Tamarisk Clubhouse; and 7 attendees at 

the Joshua Tree Community Center. A 

court reporter documented the 

questions and public comments made at 

the three scoping meetings. 

Attendees included residents from 

Desert Center and Lake Tamarisk, 

federal and state agency representatives, 

nearby business owners, Tribes, 

Chamber of Commerce members, and an 

environmental group representative. 

Twelve comment letters were 

received within the scoping period. 

Comments received at the public 

meetings and through the submitted 

letters identified the following issues 

and concerns to be considered when 

developing the EIS: the BLM’s purpose 

and need, monitoring, 

decommissioning, public participation, 

biological resources, climate change, air 

resources, fire and fuels management, 

lands and realty, recreation, social and 

economic resources, environmental 

justice, water resources, solid and 

hazardous wastes, visual resources, 

cumulative impacts, and alternatives 

development. 

The BLM considered these comments 

in developing the Draft EIS and Draft 

CDCA Plan Amendment. 

The BLM used an updated inventory 

of wilderness characteristics to 

determine that none of the project area 

has wilderness characteristics. This 

information was used in the preparation 

of the Draft EIS and Draft CDCA Plan 

Amendment. 

Please note that public comments and 

information submitted including names, 

street addresses, and email addresses of 

persons who submit comments will be 

available for public review and 

disclosure at the above address during 

regular business hours (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), 

Monday through Friday, except 

holidays. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

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, 506.10, and 43 

CFR 1610.2 

Thomas Pogacnik, 

Deputy State Director. 

[FR Doc. 2012–9338 Filed 4–13–12; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4310–40–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLAK920000–L14100000–BJ0000] 

Notice of Filing of Plats of Survey; 

Alaska 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of filing of plat of survey. 

SUMMARY: The plat and field notes 

representing the dependent resurvey of 

U.S. Survey No. 4385, Alaska, has been 

accepted by the Chief Cadastral 

Surveyor for Alaska. This notice 

provides an opportunity for the public 

to comment on the proposed action. 

This survey is located along Mentasta 

Lake Road, approximately 11⁄2 miles 

northeasterly of the village of Mentasta, 

within Tps. 13 and 14 N., R. 3 E., 

Copper River Meridian, Alaska. 

DATES: The plat of survey described 

above is scheduled to be officially filed 

in the Alaska State Office, Bureau of 

Land Management, Anchorage, Alaska, 

May 18, 2012. Protests of the survey 

must be filed before May 18, 2012 to be 

considered. 

ADDRESSES: Bureau of Land 

Management, Alaska State Office; 222 

W. 7th Ave., Stop 13; Anchorage, AK 

99513–7599. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael H. Schoder, Chief Cadastral 

Surveyor, Division of Cadastral Survey, 

BLM–Alaska State Office; 222 W. 7th 

Ave., Stop 13; Anchorage, AK 99513– 

7599; Tel: 907–271–5481; fax: 907–271– 

4549; email: mschoder@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, seven 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 

survey plat and field notes will be 

available for inspection in the Public 

Information Center, Alaska State Office, 

Bureau of Land Management, 222 West 

7th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99513– 

7599; telephone (907) 271–5960. Copies 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES