DOCKET 07-AFC-5 DATE MAR 15 2010 STATE OF CALIFORNIA RECD. MAR 16 2010 Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission In the Matter of: APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION DOCKET NO. 07-AFC-5 FOR THE IVANPAH SOLAR ELECTRIC GENERATING SYSTEM INTERVENOR CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY ADDITIONAL TESTIMONY FOR TOPICS TO BE HEARD IN MARCH 22, 2010, UPDATED EXHIBIT LIST, ADDITIONAL EXHIBITS, AND PROOF OF SERVICE March 15, 2010 Lisa T. Belenky, Senior Attorney Center for Biological Diversity 351 California St., Suite 600 San Francisco, CA 94104 Phone: 415-436-9682 x 307 Direct: 415-632-5307 Cell: 415-385-5694 Fax: 415-436-9683 [email protected] Ileene Anderson Public Lands Desert Director Center for Biological Diversity PMB 447 8033 Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90046 (323) 654-5943 [email protected] Additional Testimony, Exhibits etc. for additional March 22, 2010 hearing date 1 INTERVENOR CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Pursuant to the Notice of Additional Evidentiary Hearing issued March 11, 2010, Intervenor Center for Biological Diversity (the “Center”) provides this Additional Testimony for Topics to be Heard on March 22, 2010. All of the testimony submitted concurrently was prepared by the testifying expert. All experts sponsored by the Center, Mark C. Jorgensen, Ileene Anderson, and Bill Powers, will be available to testify telephonically on March 22, 2010. A List of the Additional Exhibits and copies of the additional exhibits are also being submitted with this testimony. ADDITIONAL EXHIBIT LIST (Exhibits Numbers 900-940 were provided along with CBD’s Opening and Rebuttal Testimony and were entered into the record during the earlier hearings in this matter; below is a list of the Additional Exhibits submitted with Additional Testimony for the March 22, 2010 hearing) Doc. No. Author and title 941 Additional Testimony of Mark C. Jorgensen 942 Additional Testimony of Ileene Anderson 943 Kochert, M. N., K. Steenhof, C. L. Mcintyre and E. H. Craig. 2002. Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu.oca.ucsc.edu/bna/species/684(this document was referenced by Energy Commission staff in rebuttal testimony ISEGS (07-AFC-5), Exhibit 305 at pg. 20, but not submitted to the record) 944 Marzluff et al. 1997 (this document is referenced in Kochert) 945 Gowan and Berry 2010. In DTC Symposium 2010 Abstracts at pg. 14-15. 946 Wessells, S.M., and Schwarzbach, S.E., 2010, The Heat Is On: Desert Tortoises and Survival: U.S. Geological Survey General Information Product 98, DVD movie, 30 minutes. Available at http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/98/ and submitted as a transcript (USGS 2010). 947 SupplementalTestimony of Bill Powers Dated: March 15, 2010 Respectfully submitted, Lisa T. Belenky, Senior Attorney Center for Biological Diversity 351 California St., Suite 600 San Francisco, CA 94104 Direct: 415-632-5307 Fax: 415-436-9683 [email protected] Additional Testimony, Exhibits etc. for additional March 22, 2010 hearing date 2 INTERVENOR CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY STATE OF CALIFORNIA Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission In the Matter of: APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION DOCKET NO. 07-AFC-5 FOR THE IVANPAH SOLAR ELECTRIC GENERATING SYSTEM INTERVENOR CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Additional Testimony of Mark C. Jorgensen for Additional Evidentiary Hearing Scheduled for March 22, 2010 Re: Impacts to Bighorn Sheep from the Proposed Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System from Docket 07-AFC-5 Statement I have reviewed the Applicant’s Exhibit 88 which discusses a reduced project alternative proposal called the “Mitigated Ivanpah 3” project proposal. This new proposal fails to address any issues regarding the lack of identification and analysis of potential impacts to bighorn sheep which I discussed in my early testimony regarding the FSA. Without that information it is impossible to assess the extent of the impacts to the bighorn population in this area from the proposed Project or this new proposal including the potential loss of foraging habitat on the alluvial fan and the loss of connectivity between the ranges. The changes to the proposed project in this somewhat smaller project design do not make up for the failure to obtain and consider basic information about the use of the area by bighorn and the likely impacts to bighorn from the project. Through this additional testimony, I also re-adopt my previous testimony. 1 03/14/2010 SUN 8:16 FAX 7607677492 Anza-Borrego Sector ~002/002 Declaration ofMark C. J'orgenscn Re: Jmpaets to Bighorn Sheep from the Proposed Ivanpah Solar Eiectric Generating System Docket 07-AFC-S L Mark C. Jorgensen., declare as follows: 1) J am currently retired. Trecently retired from my position as State Park Superintendent at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, a position Theld for' 8 years. 2) My relevant professjonal qualifications and experience arc set forth in the resume provided to the Commission with my opening testimony. The attached additional testimony and my resume and earlier testimony are incorporated herein by reference. 3) I prep3l,'ed the additional te~1.imony attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference, relating to the impacts ofthe Project on bighorn sheep. 4) rprepared the additional testimony attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference relating to the proposed Project in the Ivanpah Valley in San Bernardino County. , . " '.' ~ 5) It is my professional opinion that the attached testimony are true and accurate with respect to the issues that they address. 6) I am personally [ami liar with the facts and conclusions described within the attachedtestimonY1Uld ifcalled as a witness, 1 could teslli"Y competently thereto. I declare under penalty ofpetjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best ofmy knowledge and belief. 2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission In the Matter of: APPLICATION FOR CERTIFICATION DOCKET NO. 07-AFC-5 FOR THE IVANPAH SOLAR ELECTRIC GENERATING SYSTEM INTERVENOR CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY Additional Testimony of Ileene Anderson for Additional Evidentiary Hearing Scheduled for March 22, 2010 Re: Impacts to Sensitive Wildlife from the Proposed Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System Docket 07-AFC-5 Additional Testimony I have reviewed the Applicant’s Exhibit 88 which discusses a new “reduced project” alternative proposal—the so-called “Mitigated Ivanpah 3” project proposal. This proposal fails to address many of the issues regarding biological impacts raised in my earlier testimony. It is my professional opinion that the newly proposed project design would still have major impacts to the biological resources of the Ivanpah Valley, affecting many sensitive plant and wildlife species by eliminating a broad expanse of relatively undisturbed Mojave Desert habitat (FSA at 6.2-95) and significantly fragmenting the remaining habitat. Through this additional testimony, I re-adopt my previous testimony on the biological impacts of the project and the inadequacy of the analysis provided in the FSA and other documents and I provide additional recent data that regarding the impacts of the proposed project was not available at the time of my previous testimony or rebuttal. Wildlife Golden Eagle In my opinion there is still insufficient evidence before the Commission regarding the number of golden eagles that could be impacted by the proposed project. The impact to 1 the foraging area for the golden eagle still remains problematic, because the golden eagle is a fully-protected species under state law. Even for the two known pairs of nesting golden eagles in the Clark Mountains, there is insufficient evidence to show that the proposed project will not “take” golden eagles by destroying and disturbing foraging areas and other important eagle-use areas.1 For example, the project as proposed will impact foraging areas. Despite staff’s assertion that golden eagle’s “breeding season home range of 20-33 km2 (Kochert et al. 2002)”2 that citation relies on an earlier study, Marzluff et al. (1997)3 which identifies the breeding season home range between 190 to 8,330 ha (0.7 to 32.2 square miles) with core usage during the breeding season of 30 to 1,535 ha (0.12 to 6 square miles) in Idaho which, seasonally, is a more productive habitat than the Mojave desert. Staff’s analysis identifies two pairs of golden eagles nesting within 8 miles of the proposed project site. Therefore, the proposed project area, for both the initial proposal and the new so-called “mitigated” proposal, currently likely includes breeding season home ranges for both golden eagle pairs, and likely breeding season core area for at least one pair of golden eagles. Absent necessary surveys on the breeding season home range and core usage habitat for golden eagles on the site, I believe there will likely be an impact on the foraging of the adjacent golden eagles and therefore an impact on breeding success. Moreover, the literature shows that golden eagles generally avoid “disturbed areas”4. Because the proposed project site is likely within breeding season core areas and/or home ranges of the two eagle pairs, at minimum the proposed project will likely cause a reduction in use of important forage areas and other important eagle-use areas and may cause “take” of the golden eagle pairs already documented in the area. None of the impacts to the know golden eagle pairs have been adequately identified or analyzed in the FSA or other documents in this proceeding. Additionally, shrubland fragmentation of eagle foraging habitat is a documented impact5 because it affects their prey base. The cumulative impacts section fails to include an analysis of the cumulative fragmentation of the golden eagles’ breeding season home ranges and core areas. Migratory Birds and other Birds I re-adopt my earlier testimony and remain concerned that no studies of the use of this area by migratory birds were undertaken and the record is inadequate to identify and analyze the potential impacts to migratory bird species and other species.