Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 40 / Tuesday, March 1, 2022 / Notices 11405 

through the Federal Relay Service at 

(800) 877–8339. 

To file a program discrimination 

complaint, a complainant should 

complete a Form AD–3027, USDA 

Program Discrimination Complaint 

Form, which can be obtained online at 

https://www.ocio.usda.gov/document/ 

ad-3027, from any USDA office, by 

calling (866) 632–9992, or by writing a 

letter addressed to USDA. The letter 

must contain the complainant’s name, 

address, telephone number, and a 

written description of the alleged 

discriminatory action in sufficient detail 

to inform the Assistant Secretary for 

Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature 

and date of the alleged civil rights 

violation. The completed AD–3027 form 

or letter must be submitted to USDA by: 

(1) Mail: U.S. Department of 

Agriculture, Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–9410; 

(2) Fax: (833) 256–1665 or (202) 690– 

7442; or 

(3) Email: program.intake@usda.gov. 

Karama Neal, 

Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04293 Filed 2–28–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–XY–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Rural Utilities Service 

[Docket #: RUS–22–ELECTRIC–0011] 

Badger State Solar, LLC; Notice of 

Availability of a Draft Environmental 

Impact Statement and Notice of Public 

Meeting 

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft 

environmental impact statement and 

notice of public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service 

(RUS) announces that a Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

for a project proposed by Badger State 

Solar, LLC is available for public review 

and comment. RUS is publishing the 

Draft EIS to inform interested parties 

and the general public about the project 

proposal and to invite the public to 

comment on the scope, Proposed 

Action, and other issues addressed in 

the Draft EIS. The Draft EIS was 

prepared in accordance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), as amended, Council on 

Environmental Quality (CEQ) 

regulations for implementing the 

procedural provisions of NEPA, and 

RUS, Environmental Policies and 

Procedures and evaluates the potential 

direct, indirect, and cumulative 

environmental effects related to 

providing financial assistance for the 

Badger State Solar, LLC’s Alternating 

Current solar project (Project). Badger 

State Solar intends to request financial 

assistance from RUS for the Proposed 

Action and information contained in the 

EIS will serve as a basis for the decision 

regarding whether to provide the 

requested financial assistance. RUS has 

determined that its action regarding the 

Proposed Action is an undertaking 

subject to review under Section 106 of 

the National Historic Preservation Act 

and its implementing regulation, 

‘‘Protection of Historic Properties’’ and 

as part of its broad environmental 

review process, RUS must take into 

account the effect of the Proposed 

Action on historic properties. With this 

notice, RUS invites any affected federal, 

state, and local agencies, Tribes, and 

other interested persons to comment on 

the scope, alternatives, and significant 

issues to be analyzed in depth in the 

EIS. 

DATES: Written comments on this Draft 

EIS must be received during the 

comment period, which begins March 

4th and ends April 18th. A public 

meeting to solicit comments on the Draft 

EIS will be held in a virtual format on 

Tuesday, March 22nd, at 7 p.m. EST via 

Zoom. Written comments may be 

submitted via email to 

BadgerStateSolarEIS@usda.gov or by 

mail as noted in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

notice. 

Those wishing to attend the meeting 

are invited to register online at the 

virtual public meeting room website 

https://badgerstatesolar.consultation.ai. 

An email will be sent to registrants with 

information for how to access the 

meeting. Attendees will be able to 

provide oral and written comments 

during the meeting. Oral comments 

from the public will be recorded by a 

certified court reporter. The virtual 

public meeting room is an interactive 

website which will be available 

throughout the public comment period. 

Attendees will also be able to submit 

written comments through the virtual 

public meeting room website. All 

comments submitted during the public 

review period, oral or written, will 

become part of the public record. Before 

including your address, telephone 

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. 

All comments will be reviewed and 

responded to in the Final EIS. For 

consideration in the Final EIS, 

comments must be postmarked or 

received online by 11:59 p.m. EST on 

Monday, April 18th. 

ADDRESSES: The Draft EIS and other 

Project-related information is available 

at RUS’s and Badger State Solar’s 

websites located at: https://

www.rd.usda.gov/resources/ 

environmental-studies/impactstatements, https://badgerstatesolar.

consultation.ai, and https://

www.badgerstatesolar.com. 

In addition, hard copies of the 

documents are available at the Jefferson 

Public Library in Jefferson, WI, the 

Cambridge Community Library in 

Cambridge, WI and the Lake Mills 

Library in Lake Mills, WI. Parties 

wishing to be placed on the mailing list 

for future information or to receive hard 

or electronic copies of the EIS should 

also contact the person contact below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions can be directed to Peter 

Steinour, 202–961–6140, 

BadgerStateSolarEIS@usda.gov during 

the open comment period. Comments 

submitted after the comment period 

may not be considered by the agency. 

This email address may also be used to 

request consulting party status and to 

inquire about additional information. 

Written comments may also be 

submitted by mail to United States 

Department of Agriculture, Attention: 

Peter Steinour, Mail Stop 1570, Rural 

Utilities Service, WEP/EES, 1400 

Independence Ave. SW, Washington, 

DC 20250 during the open comment 

period. Comments submitted after the 

comment period may not be considered 

by the agency. This mail address may 

also be used to request consulting party 

status and to inquire about additional 

information. 

Project-related information will be 

available at RUS’s and Badger State 

Solar’s websites located at: https://

www.rd.usda.gov/resources/ 

environmental-studies/impactstatements, https://badgerstatesolar.

consultation.ai, and https://

www.badgerstatesolar.com. 

Due to the COVID–19 pandemic, 

electronic communication is preferred 

because delivery of hard copies by mail 

may not be delivered in a timely 

manner. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

1. Agencies Involved and Status 

Rural Utilities Service, Lead Agency 

United States Army Corps of Engineers, 

Consulting Party for Section 106 


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11406 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 40 / Tuesday, March 1, 2022 / Notices 

United States Fish and Wildlife Service, 

Participating Agency 

2. Project Description and Location 

Badger State Solar proposes to 

construct, install, operate, and maintain 

a 149-megawatt photovoltaic 

Alternating Current solar energy 

generating facility on a site in the 

Townships of Jefferson and Oakland, in 

Jefferson County, Wisconsin. The 

Proposed Action involves 

approximately 1,200 acres located on 

the north and south sides of U.S. 

Highway 18, approximately 2-miles 

west of the City of Jefferson and west of 

State Highway 89. Site land cover is 

predominantly agricultural crops and 

pasture, with some forest and wetland. 

Bader State Solar estimates the total 

project cost will be approximately 

$225,000,000. Project construction 

would begin in October 2022. 

Construction would be complete and 

the project would be expected to come 

online by Fall 2023. 

Construction involves the installation 

on leased lands of 487,848 single-axis 

tracking PV panels. The PV panels 

would be mounted on a steel racking 

frame. Supporting facilities include an 

electrical substation. The lease 

agreement allows for an operating 

period of 40 years. A power purchase 

agreement (PPA) has been executed 

with Dairyland Power Cooperative for 

the entire output of the Project. The 

proposed site is near the point of 

interconnection to the grid at the 

American Transmission Company 

Jefferson substation near the 

intersection of State Trunk Highway 89 

and U.S. Highway 18. 

Construction equipment would 

include graders, bulldozers, excavators, 

forklifts, trailers, plows, trenchers, pile 

drivers, and directional boring rigs. 

Vehicles for transporting construction 

materials and components primarily 

would be legal load over-the road 

flatbed and box trucks. Transport would 

use existing regional roads, bridges, and 

intersections. Laydown areas would be 

established within the Project site. 

Internal site access roads would be 

required. The site would be fenced. 

3. Purpose and Need for the Action 

The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 

(REA), as amended (7 U.S.C. 901 et seq.) 

authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture 

to make rural electrification and 

telecommunication loans, and specifies 

eligible borrowers, references, purposes, 

terms and conditions, and security 

requirements. RUS is authorized to 

make loans and loan guarantees to 

finance the construction of electric 

distribution, transmission, and 

generation facilities, including system 

improvements and replacements 

required to furnish and improve electric 

service in rural areas, as well as 

demand-side management, electricity 

conservation programs, and on- and offgrid renewable electricity systems. 

The Applicant intends to request 

financing assistance from RUS for the 

Project’s 149–MW solar array in 

Jefferson County, Wisconsin. RUS’s 

proposed federal action is to decide 

whether to provide financing assistance 

for the Project. 

As part of its review process, RUS is 

required to complete the NEPA process 

along with other technical and financial 

considerations in processing the 

Applicant’s application. RUS agency 

actions include the following: 

1. Provide engineering reviews of the 

purpose and need, engineering 

feasibility, and cost of the Project. 

2. Ensure that the Project meets the 

borrower’s requirements and prudent 

utility practices. 

3. Evaluate the financial ability of the 

borrower to repay its potential financial 

obligations to RUS. 

4. Ensure that NEPA and other 

environmental laws and requirements 

and RUS environmental policies and 

procedures are satisfied prior to taking 

a federal action. 

While RUS is authorized under REA 

to finance electric generation 

infrastructure in rural areas, it is the 

Midcontinent Independent System 

Operator, Inc. (MISO), not RUS, who is 

responsible for electric grid planning. 

Supporting renewable energy projects 

meets both RUS’s goal to support 

infrastructure development in rural 

communities and USDA’s support of the 

June 2013 Climate Action Plan, which 

encourages voluntary actions to increase 

energy independence. 

The Applicant’s purpose and need for 

the Proposed Action is to develop a 

utility-scale solar facility in Jefferson 

County, Wisconsin, to replace load 

demand on local utilities, including 

Dairyland Power, resulting from coalfired power plant closures or scheduled 

decommissioning. 

4. Issues of Concern 

In the EIS, the effects of the proposal 

are compared to the existing conditions 

in the affected area of the proposal. 

Issues of concern evaluated in the EIS 

include soils and geology, water 

resources, air quality, acoustic 

environment, biological resources, land 

resources, visual resources, 

transportation, cultural resources, site 

contamination public health and safety, 

socioeconomics, and environmental 

justice. 

Badger State has submitted an 

Application for a Certificate of Public 

Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) to 

the Public Service Commission of 

Wisconsin (PSC). Consultations have 

been conducted with the Wisconsin 

Department of Natural Resources 

(WDNR) and an endangered resource 

review (ER) has been submitted to the 

agency. Consultations with other 

agencies include the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), Natural 

Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

(USEPA), and informal consultation 

with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

(USFWS). Badger State has consulted 

property owners, local town and county 

officials and staff, state elected 

representatives, Wisconsin Department 

of Agriculture Trade and Consumer 

Protection, and engaged the general 

public. 

The USFWS concurred that the 

proposed project may affect, but is not 

likely to adversely affect, whooping 

crane. The USFWS concurred that 

Project minimization measures during 

constriction are expected to avoid or 

minimize disturbance to the whooping 

cranes and that minor loss of stopover 

and feeding habitat would not be likely 

to negatively impact the species. 

Additionally, the USFWS concurred 

that the Project is consistent with 

activities analyzed in the Programmatic 

Biological Opinion for the northern 

long-eared bat. Finally, the USFWS 

provided guidance on National Bald 

Eagle Management Guidelines and 

incidental take permits, 

recommendations for site selection and 

layout, and recommendations for project 

construction. 

5. Alternatives To Be Considered 

Potential locations for development of 

the solar facility in Wisconsin were 

evaluated in an initial preliminary site 

review to identify locations where 

electric transmission infrastructure 

would be sufficient to connect a solar 

project to the power grid. The Site 

Selection Study consisted of three 

phases of evaluation which began with 

18 potential sites and ended with the 

identification of the proposed site in 

Jefferson County as the most feasible for 

consideration. The potential impacts of 

the No Action Alternative and the 

Proposed Action, construction of the 

Badger State Solar project in Jefferson 

County, Wisconsin, are analyzed in 

detail. 

6. Overview of the Scoping Process 

RUS is using its procedures for public 

involvement under NEPA to meet its 

responsibilities to solicit and consider 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 40 / Tuesday, March 1, 2022 / Notices 11407 

the views of the public during Section 

106 review. Accordingly, comments 

submitted in response to this Notice 

will inform RUS decision-making 

during Section 106 review. As noted in 

the Federal Register notice announcing 

the intent to prepare an EIS on October 

5, 2021, the RUS invited any interested 

party wishing to participate directly 

with the agency as a ‘‘consulting party’’ 

in Section 106 review may submit a 

written request to the RUS contact 

provided below. Pursuant to 36 CFR 

800.3(f)(3), RUS will consider, and 

provide a timely response to, any and 

all requests for consulting party status. 

The Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare 

the Badger State Solar EIS and to hold 

a virtual public scoping meeting was 

published in the Federal Register on 

October 5, 2021, initiating the 30-day 

public scoping period. The NOI also 

announced a virtual public scoping 

meeting held on October 26. The NOI is 

provided in the Scoping Report. In 

addition to the NOI, a notice was 

published in the Daily Jefferson County 

Union and Watertown Daily Times 

newspapers published on October 6, 7, 

and 8, 2021. 

The NOI and other project 

information (including the Alternative 

Evaluation and Site Selection Studies) 

was available for review on the RUS and 

Badger State Solar websites (https://

www.rd.usda.gov/resources/ 

environmental-studies/impactstatements, https://badgerstatesolar.

consultation.ai, and https://www.badger

statesolar.com) and also at the following 

locations (Jefferson Public Library in 

Jefferson, WI; the Cambridge 

Community Library in Cambridge, WI 

and the Lake Mills Library in Lake 

Mills, WI). 

RUS hosted the virtual public scoping 

meeting on October 26. RUS also hosted 

an interagency meeting on October 28. 

In addition to the public involvement 

process described above, Badger State 

Solar consulted with the Wisconsin 

Department of Natural Resources 

(WDNR) and an endangered resource 

review has been submitted to the 

agency. Badger State Solar also 

consulted with the Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), property owners, 

local town and county officials and 

staff, state elected representatives, and 

Wisconsin Department of Agriculture 

Trade and Consumer Protection. RUS 

has initiated consultation with the 

Wisconsin State Historic Preservation 

Officer (SHPO), Natural Resources 

Conservation Service (NRCS), and 

informal consultation with the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service (USFWS). RUS 

initiated informal consultation with the 

USFWS in a letter dated October 15, 

2021. USFWS concurred with the 

finding that the Proposed Action may 

affect, but is not likely to adversely 

affect listed or proposed species or 

designated critical habitat in an email 

dated December 21, 2021. A summary of 

the scoping process and public input is 

provided in the Draft EIS. 

7. Decision Process 

The Draft EIS will be available for 

review and comment for 45 days. 

Following the 45-day review period, 

RUS will prepare a Final EIS. All 

comments received on the Draft EIS will 

be duly considered in preparing the 

Final EIS, which is expected to be 

available by August 2022. The 

availability of the Final EIS for public 

review will be announced in the 

Federal Register and the local 

newspapers used in previous public 

notices. After publication of the Final 

EIS a Record of Decision (ROD) will be 

prepared documenting the Agency’s 

decision regarding Badger State Solar’s 

request for financial assistance. Notices 

announcing the availability of the ROD 

will be published in the Federal 

Register and in local newspapers. 

Any final action by RUS related to the 

proposal will be subject to, and 

contingent upon, compliance with all 

relevant executive orders and federal, 

state, and local environmental laws and 

regulations in addition to the 

completion of the environmental review 

requirements as prescribed in RUS 

Environmental Policies and Procedures, 

7 CFR part 1970. 

Christopher A. McLean, 

Acting Administrator, Rural Utilities Service, 

U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04203 Filed 2–28–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–15–P 

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Notice of Public Meeting of the 

Pennsylvania Advisory Committee to 

the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 

AGENCY: U.S. Commission on Civil 

Rights. 

ACTION: Announcement of meeting. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given, 

pursuant to the provisions of the rules 

and regulations of the U.S. Commission 

on Civil Rights (Commission) and the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act that 

the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee 

(Committee) to the U.S. Commission on 

Civil Rights will hold a meeting on 

Friday April 8, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. 

Eastern time. The Committee will 

continue to discuss civil rights and fair 

housing in the state. 

DATES: The meeting will take place on 

Friday April 8, 2022 from 12:00 p.m.– 

1:00 p.m. Eastern time. 

Online Regisration (Audio/Visual): 

https://bit.ly/3HPpBoV. 

Telephone (Audio Only): Dial 800– 

360–9505 USA Toll Free; Access code: 

2761 149 6319. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Melissa Wojnaroski, DFO, at 

mwojnaroski@usccr.gov or 312–353– 

8311. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Members 

of the public may listen to these 

discussions. Committee meetings are 

available to the public through the 

above listed online registration link or 

call in number. Any interested member 

of the public may call this number and 

listen to the meeting. An open comment 

period will be provided to allow 

members of the public to make a 

statement as time allows. Callers can 

expect to incur regular charges for calls 

they initiate over wireless lines, 

according to their wireless plan. The 

Commission will not refund any 

incurred charges. Callers will incur no 

charge for calls they initiate over landline connections to the toll-free 

telephone number. Individuals who are 

deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing may 

also follow the proceedings by first 

calling the Federal Relay Service at 1– 

800–877–8339 and providing the 

Service with the conference call number 

and conference ID number. 

Members of the public are also 

entitled to submit written comments; 

the comments must be received in the 

regional office within 30 days following 

the meeting. Written comments may be 

emailed to Corrine Sanders at csanders@

usccr.gov. Persons who desire 

additional information may contact the 

Regional Programs Unit at (312) 353– 

8311. 

Records generated from this meeting 

may be inspected and reproduced at the 

Regional Programs Unit Office, as they 

become available, both before and after 

the meeting. Records of the meeting will 

be available via www.facadatabase.gov 

under the Commission on Civil Rights, 

Pennsylvania Advisory Committee link. 

Persons interested in the work of this 

Committee are directed to the 

Commission’s website, http://

www.usccr.gov, or may contact the 

Regional Programs Unit at the above 

email or street address. 

Agenda 

Welcome and Roll Call 

Discussion: Civil Rights and Fair 

Housing in Pennsylvania 

Future Plans and Actions 

Public Comment 


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