Transcript Title here Title here Title here

NEPA, CEQA and the Renewable Energy Boom
Implications for Joint Compliance
Defenders of Wildlife
Overview
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• Comparison of relevant NEPA and CEQA
requirements.
• Discussion of issuestext
withhere
joint compliance
• Two case studies: Ivanpah Solar Thermal
Generating System and Calico Energy Solar Farm.
Defenders of Wildlife
Differences Between NEPA and CEQA
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Environmental Impacts
NEPA
Agency decisions must be founded
on a reasoned evaluation of the
relevant factors.
*Procedural requirement only.
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CEQA
Direct and indirect significant effects
of the project on the environment
must be clearly identified and
described, giving consideration to
both the short-term and long-term
effects. *Agency must respond
pursuant to CEQA Guidelines,
section 15002(h).
Mitigation
Agencies must include a discussion
of the means to mitigate adverse
environmental impacts of projects.
40 C.F.R. § 1502.16(h).
Agencies must adopt feasible
mitigation measures (or feasible
alternatives) in order to substantially
lessen or avoid significant impacts.
Alternatives
EIS must devote substantial
treatment to each alternative and
rigorously evaluate all reasonable
alternatives, including the proposed
action, in a comparative form.
Alternatives must be discussed in
“meaningful detail”.
Defenders of Wildlife
Differences Between
NEPA
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hereand CEQA (Cont’d)
Procedural Requirements

Generally no public review needed
for FONSI.

Public review requirement for
Negative Declaration.
Public Comment
45 days is required for a draft EIS. BLM
has allowed 90 days for renewable
projects on public land.
45 days is required for a draft EIR
published by a state agency.
Interagency Consultation
The EIS should be drafted in
conjunction with other agency permitting
procedures.
The EIR should be drafted in
conjunction with other agency permitting
procedures.
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Defenders of Wildlife
NEPA and CEQA
Joint Compliance
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• The environmental document will satisfy the
requirements of both NEPA and CEQA.
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• State and federal agencies jointly draft and release
a DEIR/DEIS, follow the requisite procedural
requirements, and ultimately release an FEIR/FEIS.
Defenders of Wildlife
Problems with
titleJoint
hereCompliance
• NEPA and CEQA have differing procedural
timelines – public comment, interagency
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consultation, etc…
• NEPA and CEQA have differing substantive
requirements – alternatives, mitigation, etc…
• NEPA and CEQA differ in definition of scope of
environmental impacts.
• Removal, translocation or relocation of listed
species requires approval of wildlife agency (usually
only USFWS).
Defenders of Wildlife
Renewable Energy
in California
title Projects
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• Executive Order S-14-08 - Retail sellers of electricity shall
serve 33 percent of their load with renewable energy by
2020.
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• Over 50 ARRA-eligible “fast-track” projects are proposed in
California, ranging from a few hundred acres to 10,000
acres.
• Around 200 total renewable projects are proposed in
California.
Defenders of Wildlife
Statetitle
Jurisdiction
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• California Energy Commission (“CEC”) has siting
authority for solar thermal and geothermal power
plants over 50 MW.
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• CEC site certification process is a certified regulatory
program. The Staff Assessment is a functional
equivalent of an Environmental Impact Report.
Defenders of Wildlife
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Federal Jurisdiction
• BLM must issue a righttext here
of-way and a site
specific amendment to
the California Desert
Conservation Plan.
• These actions trigger
NEPA and ESA
requirements.
Defenders of Wildlife
NEPA, CEQA
and Wildlife
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• Projects on BLM land trigger section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act.
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• BLM as lead agency under NEPA must analyze significant
impacts to wildlife.
• CEC has interpreted its organic law, the Warren-Alquist
Act, as allowing the agency to supercede the California
Department of Fish and Game’s incidental take authority.
Therefore, the CEC issues its site certification “in lieu” of a
state incidental take permit. CEC as lead agency under
CEQA must also mitigate impacts to non-listed, special
status species.
Defenders of Wildlife
Examples of
Affected
Species
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• Migratory birds – Golden eagle, burrowing owl.
• Reptiles – desert tortoise, flat-tailed horned lizard.
text here beard tongue,
• Rare plants – White-margined
Mojave milkweed, Rusby’s desert mallow.
• Mammals – American badger, Nelson’s bighorn
sheep, desert kit fox, giant kangaroo rat.
Defenders of Wildlife
Desert
Tortoise
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• State and Federally listed
threatened.
• Declining throughout its range
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due to the cumulative load of
human caused and diseaserelated mortality accompanied
by habitat destruction,
degradation, and fragmentation.
• Predation also a major issue.
• Many CA population are
genetically distinct.
• Ivanpah population found at
high altitude.
Defenders of Wildlife
Ivanpah and Calico
titlesolar
here thermal projects
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Defenders of Wildlife
title hereSolar Thermal
First in Line: Ivanpah
Proposal Demonstrates New Challenges
• 800 MW gas-fired power plant can be sited on
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50-100 acres.
• 400 MW Ivanpah plant is proposed to be sited
on approximately 4,000 acres.
• Alternatives analysis limited to “project” and
“no-project”. BLM later issued a supplemental
EIS to fully analyze two separate site
reconfiguration alternatives.
• Nested, in-lieu fee mitigation program is
untested.
Defenders of Wildlife
title here Proposal: an
Calico Solar Thermal
“Amicable Divorce”
• CEC and BLM staff hadtext here
begun drafting a SA/DEIS.
After time constraints
made the joint document
impossible, they
separated.
• Possible issues: scope of
alternatives, public
comment period,
mitigation, interagency
consultation.
Defenders of Wildlife
When do we get our new habitat?
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(or, the problem with in-lieu mitigation)
• In-lieu mitigation – applicant pays into a fund, which
is later used for habitat acquisition, habitat
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enhancement or management actions.
• When are the lands acquired? Where are they
located? What are the habitat enhancement actions?
• Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan and
interim measures.
– Identify geographic areas designated for renewable energy
project development.
– Identify areas for conservation and declining species
management.
• Interim “interim” measures?
Defenders of Wildlife
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Desert Tortoise Translocation
• All desert tortoises must
text herebe translocated from the
site in Spring or Fall.
• Desert tortoise
translocations are risky:
disease, predation, and
lack of forage.
• Ft. Irwin translocation –
252 of 600 tortoises
translocated in 2008 died.
Additional translocation of
1,000 tortoises on hold.
Defenders of Wildlife
What about Programmatic
Review?
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• BLM and DOE are developing a Solar Energy
Development PEIS.
• Assess environmental text
impacts
hereassociated with the
development and implementation of agency-specific
programs that would facilitate environmentally
responsible utility-scale solar energy development in
AZ, CA, CO, NM, NV and UT.
• PEIS will identify impacts, mitigation and two
alternatives. Agency-specific actions can tier from it.
• Also see the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation
Plan.
Defenders of Wildlife