Desert Sunlight Holdings, LLC (Sunlight or Applicant), a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar Development, Inc. (First Solar), proposes to construct and operate a 550-megawatt (MW), nominal capacity, alternating current (AC), solar photovoltaic (PV), energy-generating project known as the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm (DSSF). The Project consists of the PV generating facility (Solar Farm), most of the corridor for the associated 220-kilovolt (kV) generation interconnection transmission line (Gen-Tie Line), and one of two potential sites being considered for a new substation. The Project would be located on lands administered by the US Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The Project would develop a new 500- to 220- (500/220-) kV substation (referred to herein as the Red Bluff Substation), where the PV generating facility would interconnect with the Southern California Edison (SCE) regional transmission system.

This Draft Plan Amendment/Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (PA/EIS/EIR) addresses a possible United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan of 1980, as amended (CDCA Plan); a possible decision to issue a right-of-way (ROW) grant for construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of a solar electricity generation facility on BLM-administered public land; and a possible County [San Bernardino County] approval of a groundwater well permit.

Desert Sunlight Holdings, LLC (Sunlight or Applicant), a wholly owned subsidiary of First Solar Development, Inc. (First Solar), proposes to construct and operate a 550-megawatt (MW), nominal capacity, alternating current (AC), solar photovoltaic (PV), energy-generating project known as the Desert Sunlight Solar Farm (DSSF). The Project consists of the PV generating facility (Solar Farm), most of the corridor for the associated 220-kilovolt (kV) generation interconnection transmission line (Gen-Tie Line), and one of two potential sites being considered for a new substation. The Project would be located on lands administered by the US Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The Project would develop a new 500- to 220- (500/220- ) kV substation (referred to herein as the Red Bluff Substation), where the PV generating facility would interconnect with the Southern California Edison (SCE) regional transmission system.

Chevron Energy Solutions (CES) is proposing to develop a 45-megawatt (MW) solar photovoltaic (PV) plant and associated facilities on 516 acres of federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The site of CES's proposed action is located on unincorporated land in the Mojave Desert, approximately eight miles east of Lucerne Valley.

This Environmental Impact Statement addresses the U.S. Bureau of Land Managements (BLM) consideration of issuance of a right-of-way grant to EDF Renewable Energy for the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of a 150- megawatt photovoltaic solar energy facility and generation-intertie transmission line (gen-tie line). The project would be located in Riverside County, California, near the unincorporated community of Desert Center on land administered by the BLM. The Environmental Impact Statement analyzes seven solar facility alternatives and five gen-tie line alternatives. The solar facility alternatives are designated as follows: (1) No Action (No Plan Amend-ment), in which the application would be denied and current management of the site would be maintained; (2) the application would be denied and the CDCA Plan would be amended to declare the site suitable for solar energy development; (3) the application would be denied and the CDCA Plan would be amended to declare the site unsuitable for solar energy development; (4) BLM would grant the Applicant a right-of-way (ROW) for the project as proposed; (5) BLM would grant the Applicant a ROW for the project excluding the 47-acre portion of the site that is within the Palen-Ford Wildlife Habitat Management Area; (6) BLM would grant the Applicant a ROW for the project excluding the 155-acre southern parcel of the project and a 9-acre portion of the northern parcel that contains a sensitive plant species; (7) BLM would grant the Applicant a ROW as described under Alternative 6, but with taller solar panels. Gen-tie alternatives are designated as follows: (A) No Gen-Tie, in which the gen-tie line would not be constructed and current management of the site would be maintained; (B) The gen-tie line would be approved and would share transmission towers with the approved Desert Sunlight Solar Farm (DSSF); (C) The gen-tie line would be constructed on separate towers parallel to DSSF towers; (D) The gen-tie line would be constructed in a different, slightly shorter alignment; (E) The gen-tie line would be constructed in a different, slightly shorter alignment on a larger proportion of BLM land than Alternative D. Alternatives 4 through 7 and B through E would require an amendment to the CDCA Plan to find the project area suitable for solar development and allow a high-voltage transmission line outside of a federally designated utility corridor. The proposed project or any of the action alternatives is anticipated to result in substantial adverse effects to air resources from emissions of particulate matter (PM10), volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), and oxides of nitrogen (NOx); substantial adverse effects to biological resources, including vegetation habitat, special-status plants, habitat fragmentation, and displacement of wildlife; adverse effects to historic properties; substantial adverse cumulative effects to lands and realty from large-scale land conversion; substantial adverse noise effects from an increase in traffic-related noise levels along Kaiser Road; and substantial adverse effects to visual resources and recreation, due to degradation of the visual character of the landscape.