Coordination and Consultation
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CHAPTER 7: COORDINATION AND CONSULTATION 7.1 INTRODUCTION This chapter summarizes public and agency involvement activities undertaken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service (USFS), the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). These activities have been conducted for the Barren Ridge Renewable Transmission Project (BRRTP or Project) in order to satisfy California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements for public scoping and agency consultation and coordination. Federal agencies preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) must “make diligent efforts to involve the public in preparing and implementing their [NEPA] procedures” (40 CFR 1506.6 (a)). Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations provide guidance on the scoping process, including inviting participation of affected federal, state, and local agencies, Native American Tribes, as well as any other interested parties (40 CFR 15017.7 (a)(1)). State CEQA Guidelines Section 15129 states that an “EIR [Environmental Impact Report] shall identify all federal, state, or local agencies, other organizations, and private individuals consulted in preparing the draft EIR.” USFS and BLM are the federal Lead Agencies pursuant to NEPA, and LADWP is the Lead Agency under CEQA. Appendix P of this Draft EIS/EIR presents the distribution list that identifies the entities receiving a copy of this Draft EIS/EIR. Consistent with the NEPA and CEQA procedures, public participation and agency consultation for this Project have been accomplished through issuance of public notices, public scoping meetings, and formal and informal consultation with agencies, stakeholders, landowners, and Native American Tribes. The consultation and coordination process helped determine the scope of this Draft EIS/EIR, identify a range of alternatives and mitigation measures, and define potential environmental impacts and impact significance. The Project team will continue to solicit public and agency input on the Project by encouraging the review of this Draft EIS/EIR. 7.2 PRE-APPLICATION AND PRE-SCOPING ACTIVITIES As a preliminary step in the environmental planning process, LADWP conducted pre-application meetings with the BLM and USFS in September 2006. On February 12, 2007, LADWP officially submitted a Right of Way Application to the BLM and a Special Use Permit Application to the USFS for the Proposed Action, then titled the Barren Ridge-Castaic Transmission Project. Later that same year on October 30, November 6 and November 10, LADWP, acting as the Project proponent, hosted a series of three informational public meetings in the communities of Mojave, Agua Dulce and Lake Elizabeth to share information about the Project and explain the forthcoming environmental review process and opportunities for public input. In March of 2008, prior to the initiation of the formal scoping process, LADWP changed the title of Proposed Action to its current name, the Barren Ridge Renewable Transmission Project. ANA 032-008 (PER-02) LADWP (AUGUST 2011) SB 115245/118927 7-1 BARREN RIDGE RENEWABLE TRANSMISSION PROJECT DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT/ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT CHAPTER 7: COORDINATION AND CONSULTATION 7.3 SCOPING PROCESS Scoping is an early and open process for determining the scope of issues to be addressed, and identifying the range of actions, alternatives, mitigation measures, and significant effects to be analyzed in depth in the EIS/EIR (40 CFR 1501.7). The public, affected agencies, Native American Tribes, and other interested parties are invited to participate in the environmental review process. USFS, BLM and LADWP conducted a 31-day public scoping period from April 7, 2008 through May 7, 2008. Below is a summary of the scoping process. Details regarding the scoping process are documented in the Scoping Report and may be viewed on the Project website at http://www.ladwp.com/barrenridge. 7.3.1 NOTICE OF INTENT To comply with NEPA 40 CFR 1508.22, the USFS and BLM published a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a joint EIS/EIR for the BRRTP in the Federal Register (Volume 73, Number 67) on April 7, 2008. The NOI initiated the public scoping period for this Draft EIS/EIR and requested all comments be received by May 7, 2008. It described the Proposed Action and Alternatives, the agencies’ scoping and environmental review process, and contact information. It served as an invitation for other federal agencies to provide comments on the scope and content of this Draft EIS/EIR. 7.3.2 NOTICE OF PREPARATION A Notice of Preparation (NOP) was issued pursuant to 14 CFR 15082 and is similar to the NOI that initiated the public scoping period and summarized the Proposed Action, location, the significant effects on the environment, and time, date and place of public scoping meetings. The NOP was filed with the California State Clearinghouse on April 7, 2008 (SCH #2008041038) and the review period ended on May 7, 2008. The USFS, BLM and LADWP distributed approximately 500 NOPs to federal, State, regional, and local agencies, elected officials, organizations and Native American groups. The mailing list included the following approximate distribution: 383 Agencies (65 city, 105 county, 106 State, 107 federal) 12 Native American Tribes 99 elected officials 4 organizations 7.3.3 SCOPING MEETINGS USFS, BLM and LADWP conducted seven public scoping meetings from April 22 to May 1, 2008 within the Project area in the locations listed below in Table 7-1. The scoping meetings provided an opportunity to share information regarding the Proposed Action and the decision- making processes, and listen to public and agency views on the range of issues and alternatives to be considered during the preparation of this Draft EIS/EIR. All meetings were conducted in an “open house” format to allow participants to attend any time between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. ANA 032-008 (PER-02) LADWP (AUGUST 2011) SB 115245/118927 7-2 BARREN RIDGE RENEWABLE TRANSMISSION PROJECT DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT/ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT CHAPTER 7: COORDINATION AND CONSULTATION A brief presentation video was shown by the Project team at 7 p.m. followed by a general Q&A session. TABLE 7-1. PUBLIC SCOPING MEETING LOCATIONS Number of # comments Date Location people signed in Oral Written Tuesday, Santa Clarita Activity Center 14 20 9 April 22, 2008 20880 Centre Point Parkway, Santa Clarita Wednesday, Agua Dulce Women’s Club 32 12 8 April 23, 2008 33201 Agua Dulce Canyon, Agua Dulce Thursday, Castaic Middle School 3 0 0 April 24, 2008 28900 Hillcrest Parkway, Castaic Monday, Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Union School 52 36 30 April 28, 2008 16633 Elizabeth Lake Road, Lake Hughes Tuesday, Frazier Mountain High School 2 0 1 April 29, 2008 700 Falcon Way, Lebec Wednesday. Hillview School 14 4 11 April 30, 2008 40525 Peonza Lane, Palmdale Thursday, California City Middle School 5 0 1 May 1, 2008 9736 Redwood Blvd, California City Totals 122 72 60 Notification Newsletters In addition to the distribution of the NOP and publication of the NOI, approximately 7,200 newsletters were sent to agency representatives, elected officials, Native American Tribes, interested parties and organizations, and property owners within 500 feet of both sides of the Proposed Action and preliminary Alternatives in Los Angeles and Kern Counties. The newsletters contained the Project description, purpose and need for the Project, a map, description of the environmental review process, an announcement of public scoping meetings, and contact information, along with a Spanish translation of the information. Newspaper Advertisements The scoping meetings were also advertised in the eight local newspapers listed below in Table 7- 2. The advertisements provided a brief Project description and meeting locations, times, and dates, and encouraged the public to attend the meetings. TABLE 7-2. NEWSPAPERS UTILIZED FOR ADVERTISEMENT OF THE 2008 SCOPING MEETINGS. Publication Advertisement Dates Los Angeles Times April 7 and 14 La Opinion (Spanish) April 8 and 14 The Signal April 7 and 14 Antelope Valley Press April 8 and 14 The Daily Independent April 8 and 14 The News Review April 9 and 16 Mojave Desert News April 10 and 17 Agua Dulce/Acton County Journal April 12 and 19 ANA 032-008 (PER-02) LADWP (AUGUST 2011) SB 115245/118927 7-3 BARREN RIDGE RENEWABLE TRANSMISSION PROJECT DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT/ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT CHAPTER 7: COORDINATION AND CONSULTATION Agency and Elected Official Contacts As indicated above, agencies and elected officials were distributed an NOP for review and comment on the Project. Following the mailing of the NOP, all agencies—federal, State and local—were contacted via phone to provide information on the Project as well as to determine interest to meet and discuss the Project. LADWP’s Legislative Affairs group also sent out letters to elected officials within the Project area, prior to the mailings of the NOP and Newsletters, to serve as an additional advance notification for the forthcoming NOP, Newsletters and Scoping Meetings. The letters also offered personal meetings with each representative, if they desired. During the scoping period, LADWP’s Legislative Affairs group also sent letters to Town Councils within the Project area offering personal meetings with each group or representative. Four Town Councils requested briefings and members of LADWP attended the meetings (see Table 7-3). TABLE 7-3. 2008 TOWN COUNCIL MEETINGS. Town Council Date and Time Location 47701 90th St Antelope Acres Town Council June 18, 6 p.m. Antelope Acres Association of Rural Town Councils June 26, 7 p.m. L.A. County Fire Station 129, Lancaster Lake Hughes Community Center Lakes Town Council July 12, 8:30 a.m. 17520 Elizabeth Lakes Road Lake Hughes Leona Valley Community Center Leona Valley Town Council July 14, 7:30 p.m. 8367 Elizabeth Lakes Road Leona Valley 7.3.4 OUTREACH USFS, BLM and LADWP provided different modes for the public and agencies to ask questions or leave comments regarding the BRRTP.