In Reply Refer to: FWS-ERIV-18B0223-19F0998 August 28, 2019 Sent by Email Memorandum To: Field Manager, Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, Palm Springs, California From: Acting Field Supervisor, Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office Carlsbad, California Subject: Section 7 Biological Opinion on the IP Athos Renewable Energy Project, Riverside County, California This memorandum transmits the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) biological opinion regarding the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of the proposed IP Athos Renewable Energy Project (Project) in Riverside County, California, and its effects on the federally threatened Mojave population segment of desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) and its designated critical habitat in accordance with section 7 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). Your request for formal consultation dated February 21, 2019, was received on February 27, 2019. Additional information and revisions to the biological assessment were received on May 3, 2019. Intersect Power is the non-Federal applicant for a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) right-of-way (ROW) authorization for the Project. Your agency has determined the Project may affect, but is not likely to adversely affect Yuma Ridgeway’s (=clapper) rail [Rallus obsoletus (=longirostris) levipes; Ridgway’s rail], southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus), least Bell’s vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus), and the western distinct population segment (western DPS) of the yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus). We do not anticipate adverse impacts to these avian species’ breeding activities with implementation of the Project since individuals will be migrating through the action area between their wintering and breeding areas. These species do not breed or winter within the Project area because suitable breeding habitat is not present. Therefore, adverse effects would result from collision with Project features such as solar panels, power lines, and fences. Based on the limited number of mortalities found at other utility-scale solar facilities in the Mojave Desert, collision effects at a single project would be sporadic, unlikely to occur or would be considered a 2 discountable effect. The information we have available to date indicates that individuals of listed birds have indeed died as a result of interactions with solar facilities. However, when we attempted to evaluate the risk of collision at specific renewable energy projects, we determined the risk to individual birds was unquantifiably low and therefore discountable when considered at a project level. However, the documented patterns of mortality to Yuma Ridgway’s rail and willow flycatcher (subspecies undetermined) from energy infrastructure in the California desert (Service 2013-2015, unpubl. data), recent data on migration and dispersal patterns of Yuma Ridgway’s rail documenting migratory stopovers in non-marsh arid habitats (Harrity and Conway 2018), and the additive risk of multiple hazards posed by energy-related infrastructure development on a California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan level, are not discountable and should be addressed at a programmatic scale in a way that provides consistency across different projects. As a result, the Service and BLM committed to work together to develop options that provide better project-by-project consistency in monitoring bird mortalities, including incidental take of listed birds, and can be applied under the CDCA Plan and the Act (Service 2017a). Until a programmatic approach is developed, we will continue to evaluate this risk on a case-by- case basis and to provide site-specific recommendations to avoid adverse effects to avian species. Based on the information that is available to us at this time, we concur with your determination that the Project is not likely to adversely affect Yuma Ridgway’s rail, least Bell’s vireo, southwestern willow flycatcher, or the yellow-billed cuckoo. Designated critical habitat for these species does not occur in the Project area; therefore, no effects to designated critical habitat are anticipated. This biological opinion is based on information provided in the following documents and communications: (1) the Final Environmental Impact Report for the IP Athos LLC’s Athos Renewable Energy Project (Riverside County 2019a, hereinafter final EIR); (2) the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the IP Athos LLC’s Athos Renewable Energy Project (Riverside County 2019b, hereinafter draft EIR); (3) the Biological Assessment for the IP Athos Renewable Energy Project (BLM 2019, hereinafter BA); (4) the Biological Resources Technical Report, IP Athos Renewable Energy Project, Riverside County, California (Ironwood 2019, hereinafter BRTR); (5) written, telephone, and electronic mail correspondence received during the consultation time period; and (6) pertinent literature contained in our files. The project file for this consultation is located at the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office. CONSULTATION HISTORY Between June 2018 and August 2019, staff from the Palm Springs Fish and Wildlife Office (PSFWO) worked with the BLM, Intersect Power (IP), and staff from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) to clarify the Project Description, Project build-out scenarios, effects to desert tortoise, effects to listed birds, and avoidance and minimization measures. Efforts to clarify these issues included conducting site visits and meetings, assessing baseline conditions, and providing comments on the draft BA. 3 BIOLOGICAL OPINION DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ACTION The information below provides a summary of the proposed action. Refer to the BA and final EIR for a more detailed description of Project activities. The proposed action is the BLM’s issuance of a ROW grant that will authorize Intercept Power (Applicant) to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission a 500 megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) facility and construct 11 miles of a 220-kilovolt (kV) electrical transmission line (generation interconnection or gen-tie) that would occupy a land area of approximately 3,440 acres, including 194.8 acres on BLM land and 3,265 acres (minus 23-acre avoidance area) on private land across seven groups of non-contiguous parcels in the Desert Center area of Riverside County (Figure 1; BLM 2019, Riverside County 2019a). According to the BA and final EIR, the Project includes a 23-acre avoidance area to minimize impacts to desert dry wash woodland habitat on private land (eastern portion of parcel group F on Figure 1). The Project would include up to 500 MW of integrated energy storage capacity. The overhead and potential underground portions of the 220 kV gen-tie transmission line would convey power by interconnecting to the Southern California Edison (SCE) Red Bluff Substation, an existing substation located south of Interstate 10 (I-10) and approximately 1.1 miles south of the Project area on land administered by the BLM. The portion of the 220 kV gen-tie transmission line outside of the solar facility would be located on 7 miles of Federal lands managed by the BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The remainder of the gen-tie lines would traverse approximately 4 miles of privately owned land, primarily on the solar facility sites. Designated critical habitat occurs in the southern extent of the Project adjacent to the gen-tie transmission line on BLM land within the Chuckwalla Critical Habitat Unit (CHU) in the Colorado Desert Recovery Unit for desert tortoise. The entire Project is located on both private lands and BLM-administered public lands. The portions of the Project proposed for PV and storage components consist of seven non-contiguous groups of privately-owned parcels identified as parcel groups A-G. The gen-tie routes are identified as four segments (gen-tie segments 1, 2, 3, and 4) with one alternative (gen-tie segment 1A) and are located on a combination of privately owned and BLM managed lands (Figure 1). Additional access areas are also on a combination of private and public lands. The following Project terminology is used to differentiate between these components: ● Athos Project: The whole of the Project, including public and private land components, identified as the Athos Renewable Energy Project in the final EIR and BA; and ● BLM component: The portions of the proposed gen-tie routes that would be located on BLM lands, identified as the BLM Proposed Action in the final EIR and BA. The Project is located on lands managed by BLM pursuant to the California Desert Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan (BLM 1980, as amended; BLM 1999) and the Northern and Eastern Colorado Desert Coordinated Management Plan (NECO), an amendment to the CDCA Plan. The Western Solar Plan (BLM 2012) and the; 4 Figure 1. Athos Solar Project (from draft EIR [Riverside County 2019b]). 5 Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan [DRECP] (BLM 2016) amended the CDCA Plan to allow for development of solar energy generation on public lands in specific areas which include the Project area. The Project is located within a Development Focus Area (DFA) identified in the DRECP. As part of a DFA, the site of the Project is designated as suitable for energy accessory uses and the proposed use would be compatible with the CDCA Plan. The BLM component of the Project is subject to management direction and Conservation Management Actions (CMAs) specified in the DRECP Land Use Plan Amendment (LUPA) as applicable within DFAs. The private land components of the Project are not administered by BLM and thus not subject to the DRECP. The biological opinion for the DRECP states that BLM’s role for a covered project in a DFA is to request Service concurrence that the project is consistent with the DRECP. The BLM component of the Project (i.e., the public lands segments of the gen-tie ROW) could be authorized through written concurrence alone, without additional section 7 consultation. However, the private land component of the Project are not subject to the DRECP and therefore the DRECP biological opinion is not applicable.