1. Renewable Energy and the BLM May 4, 2009 Ashley Conrad-Saydah BLM Renewable Energy Project Manager

2. Objectives  Process and history  Status of renewable energy applications  Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement  Coordination and collaboration  Timing Solucar Tower, Seville, Spain; Wikipedia Commons

3. Right-of-Way Grants  Right-of-way (ROW): an authorization to use a specific piece of land for a particular project, i.e. roads, pipelines, energy facilities  Process:  Pre-application meeting  SF 299  Cost-recovery  Review (environmental, cultural, etc.)  Decision  Challenges with Renewable Energy ROW Applications  Size, location, resources, multiple use

4. California Renewable Energy Summary Statistics as of May 2009 WindSolar Total applications9266 Total acres999,966574,915 Approximate MWN/A47,380 CDD applications6364 CDD acres462,462572,275 Central CA apps51 Central CA acres31,9581,920 Northern CA apps241 Northern CA acres505,546720 BLM Renewable Energy Applications in California

5. http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/energy.html

6. Current Development  Solar  Needles – Ivanpah  El Centro, Barstow – Stirling  Wind  Eagle Lake – SMUD  Transmission  Sunrise, Vulcan, TANC etc.  Geothermal and biomass NREL

7. BLM Guidance  Cultural Instructional Bulletin (IB) - 2008  Botany  IB forthcoming  Survey guidelines  Wildlife  Threatened and endangered species lists  Survey guidelines  Collaboration with USFWS, CDFG  Water and engineering  Partnerships

8. Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) Purpose: to facilitate utility-scale solar energy development on public lands Goals: to identify reasonable forseeable regional and national development scenarios for solar energy; to amend up to 58 BLM land use plans in 6 states; to identify best management practices; and to adopt mitigation measures

9. Solar PEIS: Partners  Joint project: Department of Energy and Bureau of Land Management (BLM)  Contractor: Argonne National Laboratory  Multiple cooperating agencies  California state agencies (CEC, CPUC, CDF&G et al)  Department of Defense  US Fish and Wildlife Service  Arizona Department of Game and Fish  Nevada Division of Wildlife  Utah Public Lands Policy Coordination Office

10. Recently Completed PEISs  Wind Energy (2005)  amended 52 BLM land use plans  Geothermal Leasing (2008)  amended 114 BLM land use plans  West-Wide Energy Corridors (2009)  amended 92 BLM land use plans

11. Solar PEIS: Zones  Move from Western States- wide plan to solar “zones”  Establishing zones  Data from Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative, federal and non-profit partners  Zone EIS  Site specific EAs  Draft plan late summer 2009

12. More Information:  Solar PEIS: http://solareis.anl.gov/http://solareis.anl.gov/  Sign up for email notifications  BLM Solar Energy information: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/solar _energy.html http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/solar _energy.html  California Solar Energy information: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/energy/solar. html http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/energy/solar. html

13.  Collaborations  Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative  Department of Defense  Desert Managers’ Group  Master agreements  Other local and tribal collaborations  Renewable Energy Action Team (REAT) Response to Executive Order Regional Coordination

14. Recent and Anticipated Changes  Renewable Energy Coordination Offices (RECO)  Increasing capacity to coordinate processing with applicants and state agencies  Increasing capacity to plan strategically and expedite permitting  Staff Renewable Energy Project Managers in California Desert District (CDD) and State Office

15. Timing  How we can work together to expedite processing:  Pre-application meeting with BLM  Post-application, pre-plan of development meeting with BLM, CEC, CDFG, USFWS  Engineering and technical reports  Cultural and biological surveys following established protocol  Excellent communication  Other ideas?

16. Contacts  Ashley Conrad-Saydah, State Office Renewable Energy Project Manager; aconrad@blm.govaconrad@blm.gov  Greg Miller, CDD Renewable Energy Program Manager; gmiller@blm.gov gmiller@blm.gov  Jim Abbott, Associate State Director, Acting State Director  Tom Pogacnik, Deputy State Director, Natural Resources  Steve Borchard, California Desert District Manager  Bob Doyel, Lands Chief  Your local field office staff

17. Thank you! Questions? Wikipedia CommonsSEGS plant; Wikipedia Commons