Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 9 / Friday, January 12, 2024 / Notices 2239 

DOI Privacy Act systems of records. 

This notice hereby rescinds the BLM 

SORNs identified below. 

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER: 

INTERIOR/BLM–10, Vehicle Use 

Authorization. 

INTERIOR/BLM–18, Criminal Case 

Investigation. 

INTERIOR/BLM–19, Civil Trespass 

Case Investigations. 

INTERIOR/BLM–30, Uniform 

Accountability System. 

HISTORY: 

INTERIOR/BLM–10, Vehicle Use 

Authorization, 42 FR 19113 (April 11, 

1977); modification published at 73 FR 

17376, (April 1, 2008) and 86 FR 50156 

(September 7, 2021). 

INTERIOR/BLM–18, Criminal Case 

Investigation, 47 FR 55317 (December 8, 

1982); modification published at 73 FR 

17376 (April 1, 2008) and 86 FR 50156 

(September 7, 2021). 

INTERIOR/BLM–19, Civil Trespass 

Case Investigations, 47 FR 55317 

(December 8, 1982); modification 

published at 73 FR 17376 (April 1, 

2008) and 86 FR 50156 (September 7, 

2021). 

INTERIOR/BLM–30, Uniform 

Accountability System 52 FR 36635 

(September 30, 1987); modification 

published at 73 FR 17376 (April 1, 

2008) and 86 FR 50156 (September 7, 

2021). 

Teri Barnett, 

Departmental Privacy Officer, Department of 

the Interior. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00551 Filed 1–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–HC–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[BLM_NV_FRN_MO4500176465] 

Notice of Availability of the Draft 

Resource Management Plan 

Amendment and Environmental Impact 

Statement for the Rough Hat Clark 

Solar Project in Clark County, NV 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

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 (FLPMA), the 

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has 

prepared a Draft Resource Management 

Plan (RMP) Amendment and Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for the Rough Hat Clark Solar Project 

and by this notice is providing 

information announcing the opening of 

the comment period on the Draft RMP 

Amendment/EIS. 

DATES: This notice announces the 

opening of a 90-day comment period for 

the Draft RMP Amendment/EIS 

beginning with the date following the 

Environmental Protection Agency’s 

(EPA) publication of its Notice of 

Availability (NOA) in the Federal 

Register. 

To afford the BLM the opportunity to 

consider comments on the Draft RMP 

Amendment/EIS, please ensure your 

comments are received prior to the close 

of the 90-day comment period or 15 

days after the last public meeting, 

whichever is later. 

The BLM will be holding one inperson public meeting and one virtual 

public meeting during the public 

comment period. 

• In-Person Meeting

Æ Date and Time: January 30, 2024, 6

p.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific standard time

(PST)

Æ Location: Pahrump Nugget Hotel

and Casino, 681 NV Highway 160,

Pahrump, Nevada 89048

• Virtual Meeting

Æ Date and Time: February 1, 2024, 6 

p.m. to 8 p.m. PST

Æ Registration information: https://

eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/ 

project/2019992/510 

Details on public meetings will be 

provided on the National NEPA Register 

project website: https://eplanning.blm.

gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019992/510. 

ADDRESSES: The Draft RMP 

Amendment/EIS is available for review 

on the BLM National NEPA Register 

project website at https://eplanning.blm.

gov/eplanning-ui/project/2019992/510. 

Additionally, a copy of the Draft RMP 

Amendment/EIS is physically available 

at the following locations: 

• BLM Southern Nevada District Office,

Pahrump Field Office, 4701 N Torrey

Pines Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada 89130

• Pahrump Community Library, 701

East Street, Pahrump, NV 89408

• Tecopa Branch Library, 408 Tecopa

Hot Springs Road, Tecopa, CA 92389

Written comments related to the Draft

RMP Amendment/EIS for the Rough Hat 

Clark Solar Project in Clark County, NV 

may be submitted by any of the 

following methods: 

• Website: https://eplanning.blm.gov/

eplanning-ui/project/2019992/510. 

• Email: BLM_NV_SND_

EnergyProjects@blm.gov. 

• Mail: BLM Southern Nevada

District Office, Attn: Rough Hat Clark 

Solar Project, 4701 N Torrey Pines 

Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89130. 

• Documents pertinent to this

proposal may be examined online at 

https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/ 

project/2019992/510 and at the 

locations above. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Whitney Wirthlin, Project Manager, 

telephone (725) 249–3318; address 4701 

N Torrey Pines Drive, Las Vegas, NV 

89130; email BLM_NV_SND_

EnergyProjects@blm.gov. 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 

contacting Whitney Wirthlin. 

Individuals outside the United States 

should use the relay services offered 

within their country to make 

international calls to the point-ofcontact in the United States. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

document provides notice that the BLM 

Nevada State Director has prepared a 

Draft RMP Amendment/EIS and 

provides information announcing the 

opening of the comment period on the 

Draft RMP Amendment/EIS. The RMP 

Amendment is being considered to 

allow the BLM to evaluate the effects of 

modifying the Visual Resource 

Management (VRM) Class III designated 

lands south of State Route 160 and west 

of Tecopa Road to the Town of 

Pahrump, Nevada to VRM Class IV, 

which would require amending the 

existing 1998 Las Vegas RMP. 

The planning area in Clark and Nye 

Counties, Nevada encompasses 

approximately 9,890,365 acres within 

the Southern Nevada District area. The 

total acreage for the VRM Class I 

through IV areas designated under the 

1998 Las Vegas RMP is approximately 

3,297,016 acres. 

The RMP Amendment would 

encompasses approximately 9,960 acres 

of BLM-administered land currently 

designated as VRM Class III. An 

amendment to the Las Vegas RMP is 

being considered to update the BLM’s 

VRM management objectives in this area 

to VRM Class IV. The amendment area 

would include the proposed Rough Hat 

Clark Solar Project area along with other 

constructed projects and proposed solar 

applications within the Pahrump 

Valley. 

The BLM is utilizing the NEPA 

substitution process to comply with the 

requirements of section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act, 54 

U.S.C. 306108, consistent with 36 CFR 

800.8(c). The BLM, as lead Federal 

agency, has incorporated information 

and the steps of the section 106 process 

into the Draft EIS, and publication of the 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES
2240 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 9 / Friday, January 12, 2024 / Notices 

Draft EIS will allow the consulting 

parties and the public an opportunity to 

review and comment on the process as 

provided in 36 CFR 800.8(c)(2). 

Purpose and Need 

The need for the BLM’s action 

(processing the Applicant’s application) 

is to respond to the Applicant’s request 

for a right-of-way (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. In particular, 

the Applicant’s proposed Project does 

not conform with the management 

objectives of the Project area’s VRM 

classification (Class III). 

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. 

The Draft EIS addresses the direct, 

indirect, and cumulative environmental 

impacts of the Proposed Action and 

alternatives. Alternatives to the 

Proposed Action were developed by the 

BLM to avoid or reduce various resource 

conflicts. Key resource constraints 

include habitat for and presence of 

Mojave desert tortoise, which is listed as 

threatened under the Endangered 

Species Act, presence of waters of the 

United States, limited groundwater 

resources, vegetation at the Project site, 

and generation of dust. 

Alternatives Including the Preferred 

Alternative 

The BLM has analyzed three 

alternatives in detail, including the no 

action alternative. These are the 

Applicant Proposed Action, Alternative 

Action 1, and the No Action Alternative. 

Alternative Action 1 (referred to as 

the Resources Integration Alternative) 

was identified in response to issues 

raised by the public and agency 

considerations. The intent of the 

Resources Integration 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 for solar panel array 

installation. Setting a disturbance cap 

would ensure a consistent comparison 

of alternatives and outcomes for NEPA 

analysis purposes. Specifically, 

Alternative Action 1—Resources 

Integration Alternative would 

implement non-traditional development 

methods (overland travel), as this 

construction method is less intensive 

than traditional methods 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 no new action would be taken. 

The BLM further considered seven 

additional alternatives but dismissed 

these alternatives from detailed analysis 

as explained in the Draft RMP 

Amendment/EIS. 

The State Director has identified 

Alternative Action 1—Resources 

Integration Alternative as the Preferred 

Alternative. Alternative Action 1— 

Resources Integration Alternative was 

found to best meet the State Director’s 

planning guidance and is designed to be 

a Project lifecycle alternative to not only 

address the impacts of construction, but 

also operations, maintenance, and 

decommissioning of the solar facility. 

Alternative Action 1—Resources 

Integration Alternative minimizes 

disturbance to vegetation and soils 

within the solar facility, thereby 

minimizing impacts to wildlife habitat, 

soils, air quality, and water quality. 

Mitigation 

The BLM included seven mitigation 

measures: dust control and stabilization 

(MM AIR–1), reducing the Project 

footprint (MM WILD–1), holding a job 

fair in a nearby community (MM EJ–1), 

facilitating Tribal consultation (MM 

NA–1), fire prevention and safety (MM 

PS–3), reducing cumulative 

transportation effects (MM TRAF–1), 

and advanced notification to Clark 

County Department of Aviation (MM V– 

1). These mitigation measures, along 

with required Solar Programmatic EIS 

Programmatic Design Features (PDFs), 

Southern Nevada District Office PDFs, 

and required management plans, are 

described in appendix B of the Draft 

RMP Amendment/EIS. 

Schedule for the Decision-Making 

Process 

The BLM will provide additional 

opportunities for public participation 

consistent with the NEPA and land use 

planning processes, including a 30-day 

public protest period and a concurrent 

60-day Governor’s consistency review 

on the Proposed RMP Amendment. The 

Proposed RMP Amendment/Final EIS is 

anticipated to be available for public 

protest by August 2024 with an 

Approved RMP Amendment and Record 

of Decision by October 2024. 

The BLM will continue to consult 

with Indian Tribal Nations on a 

government-to-government basis in 

accordance with Executive Order 13175, 

BLM MS 1780 and other Departmental 

policies. Tribal concerns, including 

impacts on Indian trust assets and 

potential impacts to cultural resources, 

will be given due consideration. 

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, 40 CFR 1506.10, 

43 CFR 1610.2) 

Jon K. Raby, 

State Director. 

[FR Doc. 2024–00393 Filed 1–11–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–21–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Park Service 

[NPS–WASO–BSAD–CONC–NPS0036729; 

PPWOBSADC6, PPMVSCS1Y.Y00000, (244) 

P103601; OMB Control Number 1024–0233] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; National Park Service 

Leasing Program 

AGENCY: National Park Service, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we, 

the National Park Service (NPS) are 

proposing to renew an information 

collection. 


khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with NOTICES