California Energy Commission DOCKETED 09-RENEW EO-1 TN 75176 FEB 23 2015 February 23, 2015 [email protected] Karen Douglas Charlton H. Bonham Commissioner Director California Energy Commission California Department of Fish and Game 1516 Ninth Street 1416 Ninth Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Sacramento, CA 95814 James G. Kenna Ren Lohoefener State Director, California State Office Regional Director, Region 8 Bureau of Land Management U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2800 Cottage Way 2800 Cottage Way Sacramento, CA 95825 Sacramento, CA 95825 Re: Comments on the Draft Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) and Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS) -- DRECP NEPA/CEQA Dear Commissioner Douglas, Director Bonham, Director Kenna and Director Lohoefener: On behalf of Defenders of Wildlife (“Defenders”), National Parks and Conservation Association (“NPCA”), and The Wildlands Conservancy (“TWC”), please accept and fully consider these comments regarding the Draft Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP” or the “Plan”) and Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement (“EIR/EIS”) (herein referred to as “Draft DRECP”). The recommendations provided in our comments below will help ensure that the DRECP results in “an efficient and effective biological mitigation and conservation program providing renewable project developers with permit timing and cost certainty under the federal and California Endangered Species Acts while at the same time preserving, restoring and enhancing natural communities and related ecosystems.” DRECP website (www.drecp.org). Defenders is dedicated to protecting all wild animals and plants in their natural communities. To this end, we employ science, public education and participation, media, legislative advocacy, litigation, Defenders of Wildlife et al. – Comments on the Draft DRECP and EIR/EIS February 23, 2015 and proactive on-the-ground solutions in order to impede the accelerating rate of extinction of species, associated loss of biological diversity, and habitat alteration and destruction. We have a long history of working to protect the California Desert and the wildlife that it supports. NPCA is dedicated to the protection and enhancement of National Parks for current and future generations. NPCA advocates on behalf of more than one million members and activists, including 116,000 in California. NPCA has a significant and established on-the-ground presence in the region and manages three field offices in the Mojave Desert, including the Mojave Field Office in Barstow, CA and the Joshua Tree Field Office in Joshua Tree, CA. TWC is a California non-profit public benefit corporation with the dual mission to preserve the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to fund outdoor education programs for youth. TWC has preserved more land in California with private funds than any other conservation organization and owns the largest nonprofit preserve system in California. TWC strongly supports renewable energy production and utilization in California as long as it protects its unique and sensitive resources, in particular, the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA). Our organization has a vested interest in renewable energy development proposed on federal lands within the California desert region, as TWC raised $45 million in private funds to put towards conservation of approximately 630,000 acres of checker-boarded land with the intent of preserving their cultural and natural resource values. Successful conservation of the California Desert cannot be achieved with piecemeal decision‐making and the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) should use this opportunity to implement the landscape scale approach to development outlined in Sec. Order No. 3330, Improving Mitigation Policies and Practices of the Department of the Interior. A landscape approach is critically important given the development pressures facing the landscape, including from renewable energy and associated infrastructure and expected impacts from climate change. A successful landscape approach can “promote environmentally responsible renewable energy development…and “ensure[] the long term survival of native plants and animal species and ecosystems.”1 We appreciate the time and commitment by the California Energy Commission (“CEC”), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (“CDFW”), BLM, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) (hereinafter “DRECP Agencies”) to complete this draft of the DRECP. We also appreciate the DRECP Agencies’ efforts to solicit the input of stakeholders through public meetings, website materials, the DRECP Gateway, and webinars. The Draft DRECP is a good first step in the effort to craft a final plan that will balance the need to protect our desert lands and wildlife and the need to contribute to a clean energy future, but the plan does however need significant improvements, and our comments are guided by the hope that we can contribute to a successful final plan. While we offer a number of recommendations to improve this plan, we are mindful of the fact that time is of the essence and that this plan should be completed as quickly as possible. Therefore, we urge the 1 Sec. Order No. 3330 2 Defenders of Wildlife et al. – Comments on the Draft DRECP and EIR/EIS February 23, 2015 state and federal agencies to work collaboratively with Defenders and other stakeholders in making the necessary revisions to this plan in order to deliver a final DRECP that meets our clean energy and wildlife and natural resources goals with maximum national, state and local support. I. THE DRECP MUST BE DEVELOPED CONSISTENT WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORS’ RENEWABLE ENERGY, LANDSCAPE PLANNING, AND MITIATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS. Meeting California’s and the nation’s renewable energy goals quickly and efficiently is important to putting the U.S. on the path toward reining in our carbon pollution and reducing the risks of climate change. The DRECP holds out the possibility of providing effective protection and conservation of desert ecosystems while allowing for the appropriate development of renewable energy projects by identifying appropriate areas for renewable energy development in the desert while conserving areas important for wildlife, wilderness, recreation, and other values across the California desert. The DRECP is a critical piece of fulfilling the Interior Department’s commitments facilitate renewable energy development on lands of lower resource conflict and must be developed consistent with the following policies: Sec. Order No. 3330: This Secretarial Order directed the Interior Department to establish a department-wide, science-based strategy to strengthen mitigation practices so as to effectively offset impacts of large development projects of all types. The Secretarial Order addressed several of the key issues that need to be integrated into the DRECP: (1) the use of a landscape-scale approach, (2) early integration of the full mitigation hierarchy in project planning and design, (3) ensuring the durability of mitigation measures, (4) ensuring transparency and consistency in mitigation decisions, and (5) a focus on mitigation efforts that improve the resilience of our nation’s resources in the face of climate change. BLM Western Solar Energy Program: Finalized in October 2012, the Program, established through the Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (“Solar PEIS”), amended 89 resource management plans to do the following: 1. Identify exclusion areas for utility scale solar energy development in the six state study area; 2. Identify priority areas for solar energy development that are well suited for utility-scale production of solar energy (i.e., Solar Energy Zones (“SEZs”)); 3. Identify areas potentially available for utility-scale solar energy development outside of SEZs in the six-state study area (i.e., variance areas); and 4. Establish required programmatic and SEZ-specific design features for solar energy development on public lands to ensure the most environmentally responsible development and delivery of solar energy. Through the Solar PEIS Record of Decision (“ROD”), approximately 78.6 million acres of exclusion areas, 285,000 acres of Solar Energy Zones, and 19.3 million acres of variance areas were designated on lands managed by the BLM. (See Solar PEIS ROD at 27). The final DRECP must further refine lands identified in the solar energy program to direct development to lands of lower resource conflicts. 3 Defenders of Wildlife et al. – Comments on the Draft DRECP and EIR/EIS February 23, 2015 Interim Policy, Draft-Regional Mitigation Manual Section-1794: BLM adopted a defined “durable” to be “effective for as long as the land-use authorization affects the resources and values” and not simply the duration of the permit. Competitive Processes, Terms, and Conditions for Leasing Public Lands for Solar and Wind Energy Development and Technical Changes and Corrections: In late 2014 BLM released its proposed rule for wind and solar leasing on the public lands. Competitive Processes, Terms, and Conditions for Leasing Public Lands for Solar and Wind Energy Development and Technical Changes and Corrections (79 Fed. Reg. 59022). The proposed regulatory amendments provide a foundation for implementing a landscape-scale approach to affirmatively direct development to lands most suitable for wind and solar development “based on a high potential for energy development and lesser resource impacts.” 59034. This approach is consistent with direction