Renewable Energy and the BLM

May 4, 2009

Ashley Conrad-Saydah

BLM Renewable Energy Project Manager

Objectives

Process and history Status of renewable energy applications Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement Coordination and collaboration Timing

Solucar Tower, Seville, Spain; Wikipedia Commons

Right-of-Way Grants

Right-of-way (ROW): an authorization to use a specific piece of land for a particular project, i.e. roads, pipelines, energy facilities

Process: Pre-application meeting SF 299 Cost-recovery Review (environmental, cultural, etc.) Decision

Challenges with Renewable Energy ROW Applications Size, location, resources, multiple use

California Renewable Energy Summary Statistics

as of May 2009

  Wind Solar

Total applications 92 66

Total acres 999,966 574,915

Approximate MW N/A 47,380

CDD applications 63 64

CDD acres 462,462 572,275

Central CA apps 5 1

Central CA acres 31,958 1,920

Northern CA apps 24 1

Northern CA acres 505,546 720

BLM Renewable Energy Applications in California

http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/energy.html

Current Development

Solar Needles – Ivanpah El Centro, Barstow – Stirling

Wind Eagle Lake – SMUD

Transmission Sunrise, Vulcan, TANC etc.

Geothermal and biomass

NREL

BLM Guidance

Cultural Instructional Bulletin (IB) - 2008 Botany

IB forthcoming Survey guidelines

Wildlife Threatened and endangered species lists Survey guidelines Collaboration with USFWS, CDFG

Water and engineering Partnerships

Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)

Purpose: to facilitate utility-scale solar energy development on public lands

Goals: to identify reasonable forseeable regional and national development scenarios for solar energy; to amend up to 58 BLM land use plans in 6 states; to identify best management practices; and to adopt mitigation measures

Solar PEIS: Partners

Joint project: Department of Energy and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Contractor: Argonne National Laboratory

Multiple cooperating agencies California state agencies (CEC, CPUC, CDF&G et al) Department of Defense US Fish and Wildlife Service Arizona Department of Game and Fish Nevada Division of Wildlife Utah Public Lands Policy Coordination Office

Recently Completed PEISs

Wind Energy (2005) amended 52 BLM land use plans

Geothermal Leasing (2008) amended 114 BLM land use plans

West-Wide Energy Corridors (2009) amended 92 BLM land use plans

Solar PEIS: Zones

Move from Western States-wide plan to solar “zones”

Establishing zones Data from Renewable Energy

Transmission Initiative, federal and non-profit partners

Zone EIS Site specific EAs

Draft plan late summer 2009

More Information:

Solar PEIS: http://solareis.anl.gov/ Sign up for email notifications

BLM Solar Energy information: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/solar_energy.html

California Solar Energy information: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/energy/solar.html

Collaborations Renewable Energy

Transmission Initiative Department of Defense Desert Managers’ Group Master agreements Other local and tribal

collaborations Renewable Energy Action

Team (REAT) Response to Executive Order

Regional Coordination

Recent and Anticipated Changes

Renewable Energy Coordination Offices (RECO) Increasing capacity to coordinate processing with

applicants and state agencies Increasing capacity to plan strategically and

expedite permitting Staff

Renewable Energy Project Managers in California Desert District (CDD) and State Office

Timing

How we can work together to expedite processing: Pre-application meeting with BLM Post-application, pre-plan of development meeting

with BLM, CEC, CDFG, USFWS Engineering and technical reports Cultural and biological surveys following established

protocol Excellent communication Other ideas?

Contacts

Ashley Conrad-Saydah, State Office Renewable Energy Project

Manager; aconrad@blm.gov

Greg Miller, CDD Renewable Energy Program Manager;

gmiller@blm.gov

Jim Abbott, Associate State Director, Acting State Director

Tom Pogacnik, Deputy State Director, Natural Resources

Steve Borchard, California Desert District Manager

Bob Doyel, Lands Chief

Your local field office staff

Thank you!Questions?

Wikipedia Commons SEGS plant; Wikipedia Commons