Other Agencies with Actions or Authorizations:

Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service

Description:

On October 21, 2011, Boulevard Associates, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NextEra), filed an application for a right-of-way (ROW) grant (N-90788) with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Southern Nevada District Office for the Sandy Valley Solar Project on 3,272 acres of land . The Sandy Valley Solar Project has not been built to date; however, the application was filed prior to the BLM’s Final Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Final Solar PEIS) (BLM and U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] 2012), and as a pending solar application at the time of this publication, the project is not subject to the decisions adopted by the Record of Decision (ROD) for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States (BLM 2012). On June 24, 2016, Yellow Pine Solar, LLC (herein called the Applicant), a subsidiary of NextEra, submitted an amended application with a new project name, the Yellow Pine Solar Project (YPSP, or project). The Applicant is proposing to develop the YPSP in order to construct, operate, and maintain an
efficient, economic, reliable, safe, and environmentally sound solar-powered generating facility. The YPSP would be in Clark County, Nevada, completely on land managed by the BLM. Based on preliminary discussions with the BLM and initial evaluation of resource concerns, areas to the northwest of the original application area are being included to provide more flexibility for conflict avoidance. The Applicant has amended its original ROW application to include a larger, amended application area (herein called the Application Area) of 9,290 acres. Within the Application Area, construction would occur on a project area comprising approximately 3,000 acres. The Application Area encompasses the original application area, as well as lands proposed as variance areas, as described in the Final Solar PEIS (BLM and DOE 2012). Appendix B, Section B1.2, of the Final Solar PEIS Record of Decision (ROD) states that amendments to pending applications are not subject to the decisions of the ROD if they “are related to avoiding resource or land use conflicts, adapting the project to third-party-owned infrastructure constraints, or using or designating translocation or mitigation lands” (BLM 2012).