37052 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 142 / Monday, July 27, 2009 / Notices 

water would be banked in the 

overdrafted aquifer for use in dry years. 

To help alleviate the overdraft 

condition, 10 percent of the water 

banked would remain in the aquifer. 

The Draft EIS considers the direct, 

indirect, and cumulative effects on the 

physical, natural, and human 

environment that may result from the 

construction and operation of a water 

bank on Madera Ranch. The Draft EIS 

addresses potentially significant 

environmental issues and recommends 

adequate and feasible mitigation 

measures to reduce or eliminate 

significant environmental impacts, 

where possible. Three banking 

alternatives as well as the no action 

alternative are addressed. 

Copies of the Draft EIS are available 

for public review at the following 

locations: 

• Bureau of Reclamation, Denver 

Office Library, Building 67, Room 167, 

Denver Federal Center, 6th and Kipling, 

Denver, CO 80225. 

• Natural Resources Library, U.S. 

Department of the Interior, 1849 C 

Street, NW., Main Interior Building, 

Washington, DC 20240–0001. 

• Bureau of Reclamation, Mid-Pacific 

Regional Office Library, 2800 Cottage 

Way, W–1825, Sacramento, CA 95825– 

1898. 

• Bureau of Reclamation, SouthCentral California Area Office, 1243 N 

Street, Fresno, CA 93721–1831. 

• Madera Library, 121 North G Street, 

Madera, CA 93637. 

• Chowchilla Library, 300 Kings 

Avenue, Chowchilla, CA 93610. 

• Madera Ranchos Library, 37167 Ave 

12 Suite 4C, Madera, CA 93636. 

• Fresno County Public Library, 2420 

Mariposa, Fresno, CA 93721. 

• Clovis Regional Library, 1155 Fifth 

Street, Clovis, CA 93612. 

If special assistance is required at the 

public meeting, please contact Ms. 

Patricia Clinton at 559–487–5127, TDD 

559–487–5933, or at pclinton@usbr.gov 

no less than five working days before 

the meeting to allow Reclamation to 

secure the needed services. If a request 

cannot be honored, the requestor will be 

notified. 

Before including your name, address, 

phone number, e-mail 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: March 23, 2009. 

Richard M. Johnson, 

Acting Regional Director, Mid-Pacific Region. 

Editorial Note: This document was 

received in the Office of the Federal Register 

on July 22, 2009. 

[FR Doc. E9–17793 Filed 7–24–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MN–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[LLORB06000 L14300000.ER0000.241A000; 

HAG 9–0188] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Possible Resource Management Plan 

Amendments for the North Steens 

Transmission Line Project in Harney 

County, OR 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), Burns District 

Office, Oregon, intends to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

and to solicit public comments pursuant 

to section 102(2)(C) of the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 

1969 in response to a right-of-way 

application filed by Echanis, LLC, for 

the proposed North Steens 

Transmission Line Project. The project 

will involve BLM-administered public 

lands, private lands, and lands 

administered by the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Malheur National 

Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, 

Oregon. 

DATES: This notice initiates public 

scoping. Scoping comments shall be 

submitted on or before August 26, 2009. 

The BLM will announce public 

scoping meetings to identify relevant 

issues through local news media, 

newsletters, and the BLM Web site 

(http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns) 

at least 15 days prior to each meeting. 

Public meetings will tentatively be held 

in Burns, Bend, Diamond, and 

Frenchglen, Oregon, and other 

communities if the interest warrants. 

We will provide additional 

opportunities for public participation 

upon publication of the Draft EIS, 

including a public comment period. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

to the North Steens Transmission Line 

Project Lead, BLM Burns District Office, 

28910 Highway 20 West, Hines, Oregon 

97738; Fax (541) 573–4411; or e-mail: 

OR_Burns_NS_Transmission_Line_EIS@

blm.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information and/or to have your 

name added to our mailing list, contact 

the North Steens Transmission Line 

Project Lead, BLM Burns District Office, 

28910 Highway 20 West, Hines, Oregon 

97738; (541) 573–4400; Fax (541) 573– 

4411; or e-mail: OR_Burns_NS_

Transmission_Line_EIS@blm.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

December 2008, Harney Electric 

Cooperative filed a preliminary 

application for a right-of-way with the 

BLM for construction, operation, 

maintenance, and termination of a 29- 

mile long 230 kilovolt (kV) transmission 

line that would connect the Echanis 

Wind Energy Project with Harney 

Electric Cooperative’s existing 

transmission system near Diamond 

Junction, Oregon. The application was 

subsequently assigned to Echanis, LLC, 

a subsidiary of Columbia Energy 

Partners, LLC, who proposes to fund, 

construct, and oversee the initial 

development and commissioning of the 

project. Upon commission, the 

transmission line would be deeded to 

Harney Electric Cooperative for longterm operation and maintenance as part 

of their electric transmission and 

distribution system in southeast Oregon 

and northern Nevada. The purpose of 

the project would be to transmit up to 

approximately 103.5 megawatts (MW) of 

renewable energy from the Echanis 

Wind Energy Project to target service 

areas in the Pacific Northwest. The 

proposed transmission project would 

also be designed with additional 

capacity to conduct power generated 

from other possible renewable energy 

generation facilities that may be 

planned in the future. The proposed 

transmission line would begin at the 

Echanis Wind Energy Project southeast 

of Diamond, Oregon, on private lands, 

and end at Harney Electric 

Cooperative’s existing 115 kilovolt (kV) 

line near Diamond Junction. The 

proposed line would cross 

approximately 19 miles of private land, 

9 miles of public land administered by 

the BLM, and 1.3 miles of land on the 

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 

managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, including a span over the 

Blitzen Valley of approximately 1,800 

feet. Echanis, LLC, proposes to utilize 

steel structures approximately 90 to 140 

feet in height with average spans 

between towers of 700 feet. The 

proposed right-of-way would be 150 feet 

wide. Additional temporary work space 

would also be required during 

construction for material storage, line 

tensioning sites, and construction 

access. 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 142 / Monday, July 27, 2009 / Notices 37053 

The Echanis Wind Energy Project is to 

be located entirely within private lands. 

A conditional use permit for the wind 

project was issued to Columbia Energy 

Partners by Harney County in April 

2007. Although wind testing and project 

feasibility studies are currently ongoing 

on private, State, and Federal lands in 

several areas throughout Harney 

County, the Echanis project is the only 

wind energy project approved for 

development, to date, by Harney County 

or any other jurisdiction. Currently 

there are no transmission facilities 

available in the Diamond/North Steens 

area to transport electrical power 

produced from the Echanis Wind 

Energy Project to the existing 

transmission grid. 

Public scoping will aid in 

determining relevant issues influencing 

the scope of the environmental analysis, 

including alternatives, and guide the 

process for developing the EIS. At 

present, the BLM has identified the 

following preliminary issues: sagegrouse, migratory birds, recreation, local 

and regional social/economic 

conditions, visual resource 

management, and special management 

areas including the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service, Malheur National 

Wildlife Refuge and the Steens 

Mountain Cooperative Management and 

Protection Area. 

An interdisciplinary approach will be 

used to develop the EIS in order to 

consider the variety of resource issues 

and concerns identified through the 

scoping process. Resources addressed in 

the EIS process will include (but are not 

limited to) air quality, American Indian 

traditional practices, biological soil 

crusts, cultural heritage, fire 

management, fisheries, grazing 

management, migratory birds, minerals, 

noxious weeds, recreation, soils, social/ 

economic values, special status species, 

transportation/roads, vegetation, visual 

resources, water quality, riparian zones, 

wildlife, and wilderness values. The 

BLM will analyze the proposed action 

and no action alternatives, as well as 

other reasonable alternatives to the 

proposed transmission line location, 

access routes, and construction/design 

methods. 

Authorization of this proposal may 

require amendments to one or more 

Resource Management Plans (RMP). By 

this notice, the BLM is complying with 

requirements in 43 CFR 1610.2(c) to 

notify the public of potential RMP 

amendments, predicated on the findings 

of the EIS. If RMP amendments are 

necessary, the BLM will integrate the 

RMP process with the NEPA process for 

this project. 

Any authorization of the project on 

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge lands 

would require a formal determination 

by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

that the proposal is compatible with 

Refuge purposes. This compatibility 

determination would be incorporated 

into the NEPA process for this project. 

The BLM is the lead Federal agency 

for the NEPA analysis process and 

preparation of the EIS. U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service-Malheur National 

Wildlife Refuge and Harney County 

have agreed to be cooperating agencies 

in the EIS. Other potential cooperating 

agencies identified at this time include 

the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Bend 

Field Office, Burns Paiute Tribe, and 

State of Oregon Department of Fish and 

Wildlife. Other cooperating agencies 

having specific expertise or interests in 

the project could also be invited to 

participate based on the outcome of 

scoping. 

You may submit comments on issues 

in writing to the BLM at any public 

scoping meeting, or you may submit 

them to the BLM using one of the 

methods listed in the ADDRESSES section 

above. Comments, including the names 

and addresses of respondents will be 

available for public review at the BLM 

Burns District Office during regular 

business hours 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except 

holidays, and may be published as part 

of the EIS. Before including your 

address, phone number, e-mail 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. All submissions from 

organizations and businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, will be 

available for public inspection in their 

entirety. 

(Authority: 43 CFR part 2800) 

Joan Suther, 

Acting Burns District Manager. 

[FR Doc. E9–17780 Filed 7–24–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–33–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[CACA 49834; L51010000.ER0000 

LLCAD09000 LVRWB09B3160] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare a Joint 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Final Environmental Impact Report for 

the Southern California Edison, 

Eldorado-Ivanpah Transmission 

Project; California, Nevada 

Agency: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), as amended, and the 

California Environmental Quality Act of 

1970 (CEQA), the Department of the 

Interior, Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM), together with the California 

Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), 

intend to prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement/Environmental 

Impact Report (EIS/EIR) on the impacts 

of the Eldorado-Ivanpah Transmission 

Project (EITP). 

DATES: This notice initiates the public 

participation and scoping processes for 

the EIS. A public scoping period of at 

least 30 days is hereby announced, and 

at least one public meeting has been 

announced through the local news 

media, newspapers, and BLM’s Web 

page (http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/ 

needles.html). During the public 

scoping period, the BLM solicits public 

comment on issues, concerns, and 

opportunities that should be considered 

in the analysis of the proposed action. 

Comments on issues, potential impacts, 

or suggestions for additional alternatives 

may be submitted in writing to the 

address listed below. In order to be 

included in the Draft EIS all comments 

must be received prior to the close of 

the scoping period or 15 days after the 

last public meeting, whichever is later. 

Additional opportunities for public 

participation and formal comment will 

occur when the Draft EIS/Draft EIR is 

issued. 

ADDRESSES: Comments and other 

correspondence should be sent to the 

BLM Needles Office, attention George R. 

Meckfessel, Planning and 

Environmental Coordinator, Needles 

Field Office, 1303 South U.S. Highway 

95, Needles, California, 92363–4228, or 

by fax at (760) 326–7099 or by e-mail at 

mailto:ca690@ca.blm.gov attention 

EITP. Documents pertinent to this 

proposal, including comments of 

respondents, will be available for public 

review at the BLM Needles Field Office 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES