Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 84 / Monday, May 2, 2022 / Notices 25653 

Presidentially Declared Disaster Assistance— 

Disaster Housing Operations for Individuals 

and Households; 97.050, Presidentially 

Declared Disaster Assistance to Individuals 

and Households—Other Needs; 97.036, 

Disaster Grants—Public Assistance 

(Presidentially Declared Disasters); 97.039, 

Hazard Mitigation Grant. 

Deanne Criswell, 

Administrator, Federal Emergency 

Management Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2022–09289 Filed 4–29–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9111–23–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLNM930000 L51010000.ER0000 

LVRWG20G0690 20XL5017AP] 

Notice of Availability of a Draft 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Resource Management Plan 

Amendments for the SunZia Southwest 

Transmission Project, New Mexico, 

and Arizona 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM) New Mexico State 

Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico, has 

prepared a Draft Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) to analyze the 

environmental impacts associated with 

SunZia Transmission, LLC’s application 

seeking to amend its right-of-way grant 

for the SunZia Southwest Transmission 

Project. The BLM New Mexico State 

Office is the lead agency for purposes of 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

analysis with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife 

Service, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. 

National Park Service, and other 

agencies serving as cooperating 

agencies. By this Notice, the BLM is 

announcing the opening of the public 

comment period on the Draft EIS and 

Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) 

Amendments. 

DATES: To ensure that comments will be 

considered in the Final EIS and 

Proposed Resource Plan Amendments, 

the BLM must receive comments on the 

Draft EIS and Draft RMP Amendments 

by August 1, 2022. The dates and times 

of virtual public meetings will be 

announced at least 15 days in advance 

through local media, newspapers, and 

the BLM website at: https://

eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/ 

project/2011785/510. 

ADDRESSES: Comments and requests for 

additional information may also be sent 

to SunZia Comment Period, Bureau of 

Land Management, New Mexico State 

Office, 301 Dinosaur Trail, Santa Fe, 

NM 87508. Verbal comments may also 

be submitted via a telephone hotline at 

1–888–959–2510. Submit comments 

electronically via the ePlanning site: 

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

project/2011785/510. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Adrian Garcia, Project Manager, Bureau 

of Land Management, New Mexico State 

Office, 301 Dinosaur Trail, Santa Fe, 

New Mexico 87508, telephone: (505) 

954–2199. 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. 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: 

Purpose and Need for the Proposed 

Action 

The BLM’s purpose and need for 

Federal action is to respond to SunZia’s 

application to amend its right-of-way 

grant (NM 114438) under Title V of the 

Federal Land Policy and Management 

Act (FLPMA) consistent with applicable 

laws. In compliance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act, and FLPMA, 

the BLM New Mexico State Office has 

prepared a Draft EIS to analyze the 

environmental impacts associated with 

SunZia’s amendment application. 

Proposed amendments to SunZia’s 

right-of-way grant will require a plan 

amendment to the Socorro Field Office 

RMP, which the BLM has analyzed in 

the Draft EIS. The purpose and need of 

the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Federal 

action is to respond to requests to colocate the SunZia transmission line with 

existing transmission line easements 

across the Sevilleta National Wildlife 

Refuge. The purpose of the U.S. Forest 

Service Federal action is to respond to 

the Applicant’s application for a rightof-way to construct, operate, maintain, 

and decommission a transmission line 

on Federal lands. 

Proposed Action and Alternatives 

The SunZia Project is composed of 

two planned 500 kilovolt transmission 

lines located across approximately 520 

miles of Federal, State, and private 

lands between central New Mexico and 

central Arizona. The purpose of the 

Project is to transport up to 4,500 

megawatts of primarily renewable 

energy from New Mexico to markets in 

Arizona and California. The permitted 

route originates at a planned substation 

in Torrance County, New Mexico, and 

terminates at the existing Pinal Central 

Substation in Pinal County, Arizona. 

The Project traverses Lincoln, Socorro, 

Sierra, Luna, Grant, Hidalgo, Valencia, 

and Torrance counties in New Mexico 

and Graham, Greenlee, Cochise, Pinal, 

and Pima counties in Arizona. The route 

has four segments: 

• Segment 1: Pinal Central Substation 

to Willow Substation; 

• Segment 2: Willow Substation to 

SunZia South Substation (Segment 2a in 

Arizona, Segment 2b in New Mexico); 

• Segment 3: SunZia South 

Substation to New Mexico Institute of 

Mining and Technology (New Mexico 

Tech); and 

• Segment 4: New Mexico Tech to 

SunZia East Substation. 

Prior environmental documents 

include a Final EIS in 2013, a 

subsequent Environmental Assessment 

and Finding of No New Significant 

Impact in 2015 to accommodate burial 

of approximately five miles of the 

transmission line in three locations 

within the White Sands Missile Range 

Northern Call-Up Area, and then a 

Record of Decision in 2015. The BLM 

issued a right-of-way grant to SunZia in 

2016, authorizing use of a 400-foot-wide 

right-of-way across 183 miles of Federal 

lands administered by the BLM. 

Construction of the lines has not begun. 

SunZia is proposing to amend the 

existing grant in four components: 

• Component 1—Localized Route 

Modifications: Six localized route 

modifications in New Mexico in 

Segments 1, 2, and 3. Five modifications 

involve BLM-administered land (an 

increase in route length of 

approximately 0.8 miles and 38.8 acres). 

The proposed route modification on 

non-BLM-administered land would 

involve an increase in route length of 

approximately 4.7 miles and 45.4 acres. 

These route modifications are being 

proposed to address a range of issues, 

including challenges in obtaining a 

private landowner right-of-way or 

easement and topography. 

• Component 2—Access Roads and 

Temporary Work Areas Outside the 

Granted Right-of-Way: Adding a rightof-way for about 844.5 miles of existing 

and new access roads, of which 

approximately 804.9 miles would be 

permanent, 39.6 miles would be 

temporary, and approximately 1,402.3 

acres of temporary work areas that fall 

outside the permitted 400-foot-wide 

right-of-way across both States. About 

230.0 miles of access roads are on BLMadministered land (179.3 miles in New 

Mexico; 50.7 miles in Arizona). About 

298.4 acres of temporary work areas are 

located on BLM-administered land in 

New Mexico and 33.4 acres in Arizona. 


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25654 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 84 / Monday, May 2, 2022 / Notices 

• Component 3—Segment 4 Reroute: 

A reroute of Segment 4 to move the line 

outside the White Sands Missile Range 

Northern Call-up Area, take advantage 

of an opportunity to partially parallel 

the Western Spirit 345 kilovolt 

Transmission Project, and move the 

eastern substation closer to proposed 

wind-generation projects. The total 

length of the currently permitted 

Segment 4 route is 91.7 miles, of which 

20.2 miles are Federal land 

administered by the BLM. SunZia is 

considering three alternative routes. 

Common to all three alternatives are 

approximately the first 65 miles, from 

the SunZia East Substation to where the 

alternative routes diverge. These 65 

miles would cross BLM (approximately 

0.2 miles), State, and private lands, 35 

miles of which are parallel to the 

Western Spirit 345 kilovolt 

Transmission Project. The three 

alternative routes (including the initial 

65 miles) are: 

Æ Alternative Route 1: Options 

ranging from 145.2 to 146.5 miles, 

would cross approximately 20.6 to 24.0 

miles of BLM-administered land and 

approximately 4.5 to 4.7 miles across 

the Cibola National Forest administered 

by the U.S. Forest Service. 

Æ Alternative Route 2: Options 

ranging from 115.2 to 123.0 miles, 

would cross approximately 6.0 miles of 

BLM-administered land and 14.2 miles 

across the Sevilleta National Wildlife 

Refuge administered by the U.S. Fish & 

Wildlife Service. About 65.5 acres of 

temporary work areas would be located 

on Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge 

outside of the existing easement 

footprint. 

Æ Alternative Route 3: Options 

ranging from 118.7 to 126.4 miles, 

would cross 8.9 to 9.6 miles of BLMadministered land and approximately 

12.1 miles across the Sevilleta National 

Wildlife Refuge administered by the 

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. About 48 

acres of temporary work areas would be 

located on Sevilleta National Wildlife 

Refuge outside of the existing easement 

footprint. 

Both Alternatives 2 and 3 are required 

for the Project. Additionally, the BLM 

has considered and analyzed additional 

route alternatives identified in the 

public scoping, Title 41 of the Fixing 

America’s Surface Transportation Act, 

and the government-to-government 

consultation process. 

• Component 4—SunZia West 

Substation: A substation to convert 

power from direct current to alternating 

current. SunZia intends for one of the 

two proposed SunZia transmission lines 

to be alternating current and the other 

transmission line to be either alternating 

current or direct current. The direct 

current line would require equipment at 

each terminus to convert the power 

from alternating current to direct 

current (SunZia East high-voltage directcurrent converter) and from direct 

current to alternating current (SunZia 

West high-voltage direct-current 

converter). The SunZia West Substation 

is being sited along the permitted 

SunZia right-of-way on approximately 

20–22 acres of Arizona State Trust Land 

just east of Red Rock, Arizona (no 

Federal right-of-way is needed). 

The width of the right-of-way for the 

transmission lines typically is a 

minimum of 400 feet on BLMadministered lands but may be up to 

1,000 feet wide in areas with terrain 

constraints. 

The BLM analyzed SunZia’s proposed 

amendments and alternatives to the 

reroute of Segment 4 in the Draft EIS. 

The BLM also considered a no action 

alternative in the Draft EIS, i.e., the BLM 

and other Federal agencies would not 

approve the localized route 

modifications, access roads and 

temporary work areas outside the 

granted right-of-way, the Segment 4 

reroute, and the new location for the 

SunZia West Substation. 

Summary of Expected Impacts 

Impacts from the proposed action 

would include ground disturbanceassociated impacts to natural and 

cultural resources; visual impacts; 

potential impacts to threatened and 

endangered species at the Rio Grande 

River crossing, including the 

Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, 

Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, and the Silvery 

Minnow; and socioeconomic effects 

from construction, operation, and 

maintenance. If an alternative reroute is 

selected, Federal agencies may need to 

amend land use plans. The public 

scoping, Title 41 of the Fixing America’s 

Surface Transportation Act, and 

government-to-government Tribal 

consultation process yielded several 

issues of concern. Accordingly, the 

disciplines represented and used to 

analyze applicable issues in the EIS 

include: 

• Issues analyzed in brief: Regional 

air quality, fugitive dust, locatable 

minerals, common variety minerals, 

sensitive soils, water quality, 

sedimentation to surface water 

resources, native vegetation, vegetation 

monitoring transects, riparian habitat, 

invasive species (noxious weeds), Desert 

Bighorn Sheep habitat, grasslands and 

Pronghorn habitat, sensitive time 

periods and habitat fragmentation, 

wildlife corridors, Sandhill Crane 

habitat, Sonoran Desert Tortoise habitat, 

Monarch Butterfly breeding habitat, 

Lesser Long-nosed Bat and Mexican 

Long-tongued Bat, recreation, hunting 

access, livestock grazing, transportation, 

civilian airports and flight paths, 

wilderness study areas, and hazardous 

materials. 

• Issues analyzed in detail: Climate 

change, paleontological resources, avian 

collisions, migratory bird corridors, 

federally listed wildlife species, New 

Mexico Meadow Jumping Mouse, BLM 

sensitive wildlife species, federally 

listed plant species, BLM sensitive plant 

species, cultural resources, traditional 

cultural properties and resources with 

Tribal importance, national scenic and 

historic trails, visual resources, existing 

and future land uses, proposed and 

future rights-of-way, military 

operations, BLM special designations, 

U.S. Forest Service inventoried roadless 

areas, Sevilleta National Wildlife 

Refuge, fiscal economics and job 

creation, environmental justice, noise, 

and electric and magnetic fields. 

Anticipated Permits and Authorizations 

If approved, the BLM would issue a 

right-of-way grant and temporary use 

permit for Federal lands. Any 

alternative reroute selected that would 

cross the Cibola National Forest or the 

Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge 

would require authorization from the 

U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Fish & 

Wildlife Service, respectively. The No 

Action Alternative would result in no 

change to the current right-of-way grant. 

Agency-Preferred Alternative 

The BLM has identified parts of the 

four proposed Project components as 

the agency’s Preferred Alternative. The 

agency’s Preferred Alternative is as 

follows: 

• Component 1: Localized route 

modifications 1–5, and the 2015 

Selected Route (the no action 

alternative in this EIS) for local route 

modification 6 in the Pinal Central 

area 

• Component 2: All access roads and 

temporary workspaces outside the 

granted right-of-way 

• Component 3: Alternative Route 2 

(Subroute 2A–4) and Alternative 

Route 3 (Subroute 3A–4), which 

include crossing the Sevilleta 

National Wildlife Refuge as well as 

co-locating the proposed SunZia 

transmission line with the Western 

Spirit transmission line at the Rio 

Grande crossing. For Subroute 3A–4, 

the agency Preferred Alternative 

includes Local Alternative 3B–2 to 

avoid two private residences near the 

Project 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 84 / Monday, May 2, 2022 / Notices 25655 

• Component 4: The revised location for 

the SunZia West substation 

Consultation Efforts 

On July 29, 2021, this project became 

a FAST–41 project pursuant to Title 41 

of the Fixing America’s Surface 

Transportation Act. FAST–41 status 

means this project is closely monitored 

by Federal agencies and the Federal 

Permitting Improvement Steering 

Council at the national level. The 

Project can be viewed on the FAST–41 

Dashboard at https://

www.permits.performance.gov/ 

permitting-project/sunzia-southwesttransmission-project. 

The BLM is utilizing and coordinating 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

process to help fulfill the public 

involvement process under the National 

Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S.C. 

306108) as provided in 36 CFR 

800.2(d)(3). The information about 

historic and cultural resources within 

the area potentially affected by the 

proposed action has been used to assist 

the BLM in identifying and evaluating 

impacts to such resources. The BLM 

will continue to consult with Native 

American Tribes on a government-togovernment basis in accordance with 

Executive Order 13175 and other 

policies. Tribal concerns, including 

impacts on Indian trust assets and 

potential impacts to cultural resources, 

will continue to be given due 

consideration. 

Federal, State, and local agencies, 

along with Tribes and other 

stakeholders that may be interested in or 

affected by the proposed Project that the 

BLM is evaluating are invited to 

participate in the comment period and, 

if eligible, may request, or be requested 

by the BLM, to participate in updating 

the environmental analysis as a 

cooperating agency. Authorization of 

this proposal will require an 

amendment to the Socorro Field Office 

RMP. By this notice, the BLM is 

complying with requirements in 43 CFR 

1610.2(c) to notify the public of 

potential plan amendments. The BLM 

will integrate the land use planning 

process with the National 

Environmental Policy Act analysis 

process for this project. The Forest 

Service’s 2012 Planning Rule (36 CFR 

part 219) requires consideration of the 

applicable substantive requirements as 

described in 36 CFR 219.8 through 

219.11 that are directly related to the 

plan direction being added, modified, or 

removed by the amendment (36 CFR 

219.13). 

Request for Substantive Comments 

The BLM encourages substantive 

comments (comments that avoid 

opinions and are specific; describe the 

significance of the impacts and how 

they affect you, others, places, and 

activities; provide any new information 

that is relevant to the project [e.g., 

potential affected resources]; and 

discuss modifications to existing 

alternatives or suggest other reasonable 

alternatives with justification) 

concerning the proposed SunZia 

Southwest Transmission Project. You 

may submit comments at any time 

during the 90-day comment period by 

using one of the methods listed in the 

ADDRESSES section of this Notice. Public 

meetings will be conducted virtually 

with BLM staff to explain Project details 

and gather information from interested 

individuals or groups. Representatives 

from SunZia will be available to answer 

questions. 

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. Any persons wishing to be added 

to a mailing list of interested parties can 

call or write to the BLM, as described in 

this Notice. Additional information 

meetings may be conducted throughout 

the process to keep the public informed 

of the progress of the EIS. 

Authority: 40 CFR 1501.7 and 43 CFR 

1610.2. 

Steven R. Wells, 

New Mexico Associate State Director. 

[FR Doc. 2022–09379 Filed 4–29–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–FB–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[22X.LLAZ921000.L14400000.BJ0000.

LXSSA2250000.241A] 

Notice of Filing of Plats of Survey; 

Arizona 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of official filing. 

SUMMARY: The plats of survey of the 

following described lands were 

officially filed in the Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), Arizona State 

Office, Phoenix, Arizona on the dates 

indicated. The surveys announced in 

this notice are necessary for the 

management of lands administered by 

the agency indicated. 

ADDRESSES: These plats will be available 

for inspection in the Arizona State 

Office, Bureau of Land Management, 

One North Central Avenue, Suite 800, 

Phoenix, Arizona 85004–4427. Protests 

of any of these surveys should be sent 

to the Arizona State Director at the 

above address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Geoff Graham, Chief Cadastral Surveyor 

of Arizona; (623) 580–5579; ggraham@

blm.gov. Persons who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) 

at 7–1–1 to leave a message or question 

for the above individual. The FRS is 

available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

You will receive a reply during normal 

business hours. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The Gila and Salt River Meridian, 

Arizona 

The plat, in two sheets, representing 

the dependent resurvey of a portion of 

the Gila and Salt River Base Line (south 

boundary) and a portion of the 

subdivisional lines, the subdivision of 

certain sections and a metes-and-bounds 

survey in sections 4, 9, 21, 28 and 33, 

Township 1 North, Range 19 West, 

accepted April 12, 2022, and officially 

filed April 15, 2022, for Group 1201, 

Arizona. 

This plat was prepared at the request 

of the United States Army. 

The plat, in one sheet, representing 

the dependent resurvey of a portion of 

the south boundary, a portion of the 

subdivisional lines, the subdivision of 

sections 32 and 33, and a metes-andbounds survey in section 33, Township 

2 North, Range 19 West, accepted April 

12, 2022, and officially filed April 15, 

2022, for Group 1201, Arizona. 

This plat was prepared at the request 

of the United States Army. 

The plat, in two sheets, representing 

the dependent resurvey of a portion of 

the south boundary, the west boundary, 

and a portion of the subdivisional lines, 

and the subdivision of sections 28 and 

33, Township 1 South, Range 19 West, 

accepted April 12, 2022, and officially 

filed April 15, 2022, for Group 1201, 

Arizona. 

This plat was prepared at the request 

of the United States Army. 

The plat, in three sheets, representing 

the dependent resurvey of a portion of 

the west boundary and a portion of the 

subdivisional lines, the subdivision of 

certain sections and a metes-and-bounds 

survey in sections 4, 8, 9, and 17, 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1