RECORD OF DECISION Gemini Solar Project Case File Number: N-84631 DOI-BLM-NV-S010-2018-0051-EIS May 2020 Prepared by United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Las Vegas Field Office 4701 N. Torrey Pines Drive Las Vegas, NV 89130 GEMIN1 SOLAR PROJECT RECORD OF DECISION Executive Summary This document constitutes the Record of Decision (ROD) of the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), regarding the Solar Partners XI, LLC's (Applicant) application fora right-of-way (ROW) grant for the Gemini Solar Project (Project) and the associated amendment to the Las Vegas Resource Management Plan of 1998, as amended (1998 Las Vegas RMP). This decision is supportedby the analysis included in the Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendment (RM.PA) andFinal Environmental lmpact Statement (FBlS) for Ulis project that was published on December 27, 2019. This ROD makes two decisions: • First, it approves the issuance of a Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) Title V ROW grant to the Applicant to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission a solar facility analyzed in the Proposed RMPA/Final EIS as the Hybrid Alternative. • Second, it amends the Visual Resource Management (VRM) Class 111 objective in the 1998 Las Vegas RMP to a VRM Class TV objective, to allow for management activities that require major modifications of existing landscape character. This decision reflects careful consideration of the Proposed Action, the various alternatives, and the issues identified in the Propo$ed RMPA/Final EIS. This decision best fulfillsthe BLM' s and DOJ's stallllory mission and responsibilities. Introduction The Applicant amended an existing ROW grant application with the BLM to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission the Project on July 21, 2017. As part of the ROW grant application process, the Appli,cant submitted a Plan of Development (POD) forthe Project to the BLM with the application followed by revised versions of the POD released in March 2019 and December 2019, to supplement informa6on provided in the original submittal. The Project would include a solar generation power plant and aucillary facilities on approximately 7,L00 acres (2,873 hectares) ofBLM land in Clark County, Nevada, that would produce approximately 690�megawatts alternating current, as described in the POD (Solar Partners, Xl, LLC 2019). Because the proposed Project would not be in conformancewith the 1998 Las Vegas RMP, the BLM aJso considered amending the 1998 Las Vegas RMP. In accordance with FLPMA, public lands are to be managed formultiple uses in a manner that accounts fora combination of balanced and diverse resource uses that consider the long-term needs of future generations for renewable and non-renewable resources. The BLM is authorized to grant ROWs on public lands forsystems of generation, transmission, and distribution of electrical energy (§ 501 [a][ 4)). Taking into account the BLM's multiple-use and sustained yield mandates, the BLM's purpose and need for this action was to respond to the ROW application submitted by the Applicant under Title V of FLPMA (43 United States Code [USC] § 1761) (serial number N-84631) to consh'uct, operate, maintain, and decommission the Project in compliance with FLPMA, BLM ROW regulations, the BLM NEPA Hai1dbook, DOT NEPA regulations, and other applicable federal and state laws and policies. Under FLPMA, the Department was required to decide whether to deny the proposed ROW, grant the ROW, or grant the ROW with modifications and apptove the RMPA. The Department would decide whether to include terms, conditions, and stipulations it determined to be in the public interest and may include modifying the proposed use or changing the location of the proposed facilities (43 CFR 2805.1 0(a)(l)). Because the proposed Prqject site overlaps with a segment of the Old Spanish National Historic Trail (OSNHT), the BLM evaluated the effects oftbe Project on that portion of the OSNHT corridor, as is required undet' the National Trail Systems Act of 1968 (NTSA). Section l 0 of the NTSA authorizes the Secretary to grant ROWs .. upon, over, under, across, or along any component of the national trails GEMJNI SOLAR PROJECT RECORD OF DECISION system," 16 USC§ 1248(a), and to incorporate appropriate terms and conditions to mitigate impacts to those components. The BLM evaluated impacts to the OSNHT and, with the Applicant, developed mitigation measures that appropriately address those irnpacts. The Proposed RMPA/Final EIS for this project was published on December 27, 2019. Overview of Alternatives The P'roposed RMPA/Final EIS evaluated four alternativesrelating to the proposed Project. They are summarized below, and a complete description of the Proposed Action and all the altematives analyzed can be found in Chapter 2 of the Proposed RMPA/Final BIS, including maps and the aJternatlves considered but eliminated fromdetailed analysis. I. Proposed Project - The Proposed Action includes authorization to construct, operate, maintain, and decommission a 690-MW photovoltaic solar electric generating facility and ancillary facilities.The proposed on-site solar facjjjties include 34.5 kilovolt overhead and underground collector lines, a 2-acre (0.8-hectare) operation and maintenance (O&M) facility, three substations, internal access roads, access roads along generation tie-lines (gen-tie), a perimeter road, perimeter fencing, water storage tanks for fire protection, drainage control features, a potential on-site water well or a new water pipeline, and improvements to the existing NV Energy facilities to support interconnection. The Project would result in the permanent disturbance of approximately 7,097 acres (2,873 hectares) within tl1e 44,000-acre ROW application area. Development areas were established during Project planning. The Proposed Action includes development areas A, B, C, D, and E. Areas that remain undisturbed and not within the fenced facilitywould be relinquished by the Applicant back to BLM. The facility would be constructed using what is referred to as "traditional development methods" where all vegetation is cleared from the solar facility, disked and rolled into the subsm-face soil, and the soils compacted. 2. All Mowing Alternative- The All Mowing Alternativeis similar to the Proposed Action but would involve mowing of all development areas of the solar facilityand maintaining vegetation on site forthe life of the Projecl The All Mowing Alternative includes development of areas A (with a portion removed to avoid a sensitive cultural resource), B, Bl, B2, C (with a small portion of area C removed for avoidance ofthreecorner milkvetch), a portion of area D, area E, and area G (wi.th the southern portion removed), fora total solar field area of?, I J 5 acres (2,879 hectares). Vegetation would be mowed in the solar development areas instead of completely removed through disking and compacting the soils on the site. When constructionis complete. the security fencing around the mowed areas would be modifiedallowing approximately 8 inches (20 centimeters) of space at the bottom of the fence to allow desert tortoise the opporh1nity to reoccupy the solar development areas. Solar development areas constructed using mowing would also experience reduced erosion and runoff and reduced spread of invasive or noxious weed species, as compared to areas where vegetation is completely removed through disk and roll. The entire site would be mowed under the All Mowing Alternative. 3. Hybrid Altemative -The Hybrid Alternativewould involve mowing of roughly 65 percent of the development area, and traditional development methods would be used for the remaining 35 percent. The Hybrid Alternativeincludes development of areas A (with a portion removed to avoid a sensitive cultural resource), B, B 1, C ( with a small portion of area C removed for avoidance of threecomer milkvetch), D, and E, fora total solar field ru·ea of 7,038 acres (2,848 hectares). Development areas B2, F, and G would not be developed. Approximately 4,489 acres (1,817 hectares) would be developed by mowing, and approximately 2,549acrcs (1,032 hectares) would be developed by traditional methods. 2 GEMINl SOLAR PROJECT RECORD OF DECISION 4. No Action Alternative - Under the No Action Alternative, the Oepa1tment would not authorize a ROW grant forthe Project nor amend the 1998 Las Vegas RMP. No solar field, substation(s), collector routes, gen-tie lines, O&M facilities, or other Project components would be constructed. The BLM would continue to manage the land consistent with the 1998 Las Vegas RMP. Any future solar applications fordevelopment of the site would be subject to the site-specific conditions identified in BLM's Solar PEIS and the applicable laws and land use plans in place at the time of application. The Proposed RMPA/Final EIS also described how approval of the Proposed Project or a modified Project alternativewould require an amendment to the 1998 Las Vegas RMP. A description of the Proposed Action and all the alternatives analyzed can be found in Chapter 2 of the Proposed RMPA/Final EJS, including maps aod the alternatives considered but eliminated from detailed analysis. Alternatives Considered but Eliminated from Detailed Analysis: According to the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) NEPA Regulations (40 CFR 1502.14), the alternativessection in an EIS shall rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives; however, foralternat ives which were eliminated from detailed study, tl1e EIS shall brieflydiscuss the reasons for their having been eliminated. Several alternativesites, technologies, and methods were considered but eliminated, as described in Table l. Additional informationon the alternatives consideredbut eliminated are provided in the Alternatives Report (Panorama Environmental, lnc. 2019b ). Table 1 Summary of Alternatives Considered but Elimina1ed from Detailed Analysis I Alternative I Description I Site Alternatives Much of the available private land in the region is parceled and served by nearby utility systems to accommodate bjghcr-intensity industrial uses, which renders the land too Private Land expensive for solar PV development.