Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Hounsfield Wind Farm
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United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission Official Hearing Exhibit Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. In the Matter of: (Indian Point Nuclear Generating Units 2 and 3) ENT000513 ASLBP #: 07-858-03-LR-BD01 Docket #: 05000247 | 05000286 Submitted: March 30, 2012 Exhibit #: ENT000513-00-BD01 Identified: 10/15/2012 Admitted: 10/15/2012 Withdrawn: Rejected: Stricken: Other: Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Hounsfield Wind Farm Town of Hounsfield Jefferson County, New York Lead Agency: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Environmental Permits 625 Broadway, 4th Floor Albany, New York 12233 Steven Tomasik 518-486-9955 Project Sponsor: Upstate NY Power Corp 950-A Union Road, Suite 20 West Seneca, NY 14224 Prepared by: American Consulting Professionals of New York, PLLC 70 Niagara Street, Suite 410 Buffalo, NY 14202 Date of Acceptance by Lead Agency: February 27, 2009 Date by which Comments must be Received: May 29, 2009 Hounsfield Wind Farm Draft Environmental Impact Statement CONSULTANTS CONTRIBUTING TO THE PREPARATION OF DEIS American Consulting Professionals of ESS Group NY 401 Wampanoag Trail, Suite 400 70 Niagara Street, Suite 410 East Providence, Rhode Island 02915 Buffalo, New York 14202 (401) 434-5560 (716) 362-1116 Steve Wood Mark Colmerauer http://www.essgroup.com www.acp-ny.com URS Corporation C&S Companies 77 Goodell Street 499 Col. Eileen Collins Boulevard Buffalo, New York 14203 Syracuse, NY 13212 (716) 856-5636 (315) 455-2000 Kevin Shanahan Bryan Bayer www.urscorp.com www.cscos.com Old Bird, Inc. Stantec 605 W. State St. 30 Park Drive Ithaca, New York 14850 Topsham, ME 04086 (607) 272-1786 (207) 729-1199 William R. Evans George Kendrick www.oldbird.org www.stantec.com Terrestrial Environmental Specialists, North East Ecological Services Inc. 52 Grandview Road 23 County Route 6, Suite A Bow, NH 03304 Phoenix, NY 13135 (603) 228-9308 (315) 695-7228 D. Scott Reynolds, PH.D. Don Coogan http://home.alltel.net/tesinc/ Nixon Peabody LLP Young Summer Ward 1100 Clinton Square Five Palisades Drive Rochester, NY 14604 Albany NY 12205 (585)263-1000 (518) 438-9907 Robert Burgdorf, Partner Doug Ward, Partner http://www.nixonpeabody.com Panamerican Consultants, Inc. Saratoga Associates 2390 Clinton Street 109 South Warren Street, Suite 400 Buffalo, NY 14227 Syracuse, NY 13201 (716) 821-1650 315 288 4286 Frank J. Schieppati John Guariglia, RLA www.panamconsultants.com www.saratogaassociates.com/ - ii- Hounsfield Wind Farm Draft Environmental Impact Statement Commonwealth Associates, Inc. Comsearch 2700 Argyle St. 19700 Janelia Farm Boulevard Jackson, MI 49202 Ashburn, Virginia 20147 (517) 796-6187 (703) 726-5500 J. Fernando Arze-Peredo, P.E. Denise Finney, Manager www.cai-engr.com www.comsearch.com - iii - Hounsfield Wind Farm Draft Environmental Impact Statement Table of Contents Executive Summary...................................................................................................... ES-1 1.0 Project Description...............................................................................................1-1 1.1 Project Purpose, Needs and Benefits ...............................................................1-2 1.2 Description.....................................................................................................1-16 1.3 Project Design Rationale................................................................................1-34 1.4 Construction................................................................................................... 1-39 1.5 Operations and Maintenance..........................................................................1-51 1.6 Required Permits and Approvals ...................................................................1-55 1.7 Project Sponsor..............................................................................................1-61 2.0 Resource Characterization, Impact Assessment and Mitigation..........................2-1 2.1 Topography, Geology and Soils ......................................................................2-1 2.2 Land and Land Use ..........................................................................................2-7 2.3 Agricultural Resources...................................................................................2-15 2.4 Water Resources............................................................................................2-20 2.4.1 Surface Waters.......................................................................................2-20 2.4.2 Sediment ................................................................................................2-33 2.4.3 Wetlands ................................................................................................2-43 2.4.4 Groundwater ..........................................................................................2-55 2.5 Wildlife and Habitat.......................................................................................2-60 2.5.1 Flora and Fauna......................................................................................2-63 2.5.2 Rare, Threatened and Endangered Species............................................2-73 2.5.3 Avian Species.........................................................................................2-80 2.5.4 Bats ........................................................................................................2-99 2.5.5 Post-Construction Monitoring Plan .....................................................2-110 2.5.6 Fish and Aquatic Species.....................................................................2-111 2.6 Visual Resources..........................................................................................2-125 2.7 Archaeological and Historic Resources.......................................................2-139 2.8 Socioeconomics ...........................................................................................2-143 2.9 Public Safety................................................................................................2-153 2.10 Microwave Beam Interference.....................................................................2-159 2.11 Blasting Issues.............................................................................................2-161 2.12 Decommissioning ........................................................................................2-163 2.13 Mandated FAA Lighting..............................................................................2-166 2.14 Air Resources...............................................................................................2-169 3.0 Alternatives..........................................................................................................3-1 3.1 Preferred Alternative........................................................................................3-3 3.2 No Action Alternative (Alternative 1) .............................................................3-8 3.3 Maximum Turbine Build-out (Alternative 2) ..................................................3-9 3.4 Fewer Turbines (Alternative 3) – Minimize Impacts to Forest Land ............3-13 3.5 No Impact from the Project (Alternative 4)...................................................3-17 3.6 Lower Turbine Height....................................................................................3-21 4.0 Coastal Zone Consistency....................................................................................4-1 5.0 Growth Inducing Aspects ....................................................................................5-1 6.0 Cumulative Impacts .............................................................................................6-1 - iv - Hounsfield Wind Farm Draft Environmental Impact Statement 6.1 Other Developments ........................................................................................6-1 6.1.1 Cumulative Impacts to Avian and Bat Populations .................................6-1 6.1.2 Cumulative Impacts – Visual.................................................................6-29 6.2 Transmission Line..........................................................................................6-30 6.2.1 Components of the Proposed Route.......................................................6-32 6.2.2 Summary of Impacts from the Proposed Route.....................................6-35 6.2.3 Topography, Geology and Soils ............................................................6-35 6.2.4 Land and Land Use ................................................................................6-40 6.2.5 Agricultural Resources...........................................................................6-41 6.2.6 Water Resources....................................................................................6-42 6.2.7 Wildlife and Habitat...............................................................................6-46 6.2.8 Visual Resources....................................................................................6-51 6.2.9 Archeological and Historical Resources................................................6-52 6.2.10 Socioeconomics .....................................................................................6-53 6.2.11 Public Safety..........................................................................................6-55 6.2.12 Microwave Beam Interference...............................................................6-57 6.2.13 Blasting Issues.......................................................................................6-58