{"id":286005,"date":"2023-11-01T14:47:56","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T13:47:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=286005"},"modified":"2023-11-01T14:48:00","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T13:48:00","slug":"rock-creek-i-and-ii-gen-tie-remand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=286005","title":{"rendered":"Rock Creek I and II Gen Tie Remand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rock Creek I and II is a proposed 590MW (nameplate) wind plant spread across 43,000 acres of private land.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Kilty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A large wind energy plant being built for PacifiCorp unit Rocky Mountain Power in Carbon and Albany Counties, Wyoming has encountered a small hiccup in its efforts to tie the energy plant to Aeolus substation near Medicine Bow, Wyoming. A Laramie resident, who is also a wildlife researcher, and a local advocacy group for wildlife and historical preservation filed suit against The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for their decision to allow the Gen Tie line for the project to cross BLM ground without either proper environmental review or adequate public input. BLM has remanded their decision without vacatur for further review. The press release can be found here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rock Creek I and II is a proposed 590MW (nameplate) wind plant spread across 43,000 acres of private land. Permission to build the project had been granted by County Commissioners in June 2022, but the project has suffered significant delays in terms of delivery dates of components. While the project itself is on private land, the Gen Tie line crossed BLM ground in at least one place (see Figure 1 drawn from the only map known from permit applications).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 1. Map showing a portion of Rock Creek I and II projects with arrows to Gen Tie and collector lines. Above ground collection lines and Gen Tie lines are as great a hazard to eagles as wind turbines themselves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) seems pretty clear about such a situation. From the Citizen\u2019s Guide to the NEPA:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c\u2026NEPA\u2019s procedural requirements apply to a federal agency\u2019s decisions for actions, including financing, assisting, conducting, or approving projects or programs; agency rules, regulations, plans, policies, or procedures; and legislative proposals. NEPA applies when a federal agency has discretion to choose among one or more alternative means of accomplishing a particular goal\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c\u2026When a company applies for a permit (for example, for crossing federal lands or impacting waters of the United States) the agency that is being asked to issue the permit must evaluate the environmental effects of the permit decision under NEPA\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Certainly the Gen Tie line crossing BLM ground is \u201cassisting\u201d a project because the wind plant would be inoperable without it. Thus it would seem that BLM would have had adequate justification for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since no EIA or EIS was performed for the Rock Creek I and II, the importance of missing analyses and public input can only be explained by reference to the EIA done by BLM for a neighboring project \u2013 the Two Rivers Wind Plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Figure 2, from the BLM EIA, shows the Two Rivers and Rock Creek wind plants in context. The two circles in the figure show what constitutes the local area for Bald and Golden Eagle populations \u2013 the Local Area Populations (LAP). Just for the readers\u2019 information, the two circles encompass areas that are between one-fourth and one-third of the State of Wyoming in size and enclose more than 1,000 square miles of active, permitted and contemplated wind energy plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Figure 2. From the EIA for Two Rivers project. Note the proximity of Two Rivers and Rock Creek to one another. The local areas are for populations of Bald Eagles (Blue) and Golden Eagles (Brown). Numerous other wind energy projects are displayed, but this map is not up to date.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The BLM generated EIA from the Two Rivers project stated the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c\u2026The LAP of Bald Eagles for the Project is approximately 52 Bald Eagles, and the annual 1% and 5% benchmarks for this LAP are about one and three Bald Eagles. Currently, there are six operational projects within this LAP for which take of Bald Eagles is authorized (Seven Mile, Dunlap, Chokecherry and Sierra Madre Phase 1, Pioneer, Glenrock\/Rolling Hills, and Top of the World wind projects). Taken together, this Project\u2019s take and the overlapping take of the other projects could result in a total annual take of 14.8 Bald Eagles (or 28.2% of the LAP). This is above the 5% benchmark; however, the North American Breeding Bird Survey population trend (1966-2019) estimate for Bald Eagles in Wyoming and Project LAP is 9.9% and 18.4%, respectively (Sauer et al. 2017; USGS-PWRC 2020). Analyses conducted by the USFWS showed that over most of the U.S., Bald Eagle populations are growing at a rate of approximately 5% per year (USFWS 2016b)\u2026It is reasonable to assume that the Bald Eagle population in the Project vicinity is increasing and the conservative take estimate at the Project would not contribute to declines in the overall Bald Eagle population in the EMU\u2026.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Similar peril is indicated for Golden Eagle populations. Notice that the estimate of Bald Eagle take for this project and six others presently holding take permits is already a staggering 28% of the LAP per year. It stands to reason that another eleven operating projects within the local areas would add to this already unsustainable burden. In fact, one project in the soutzheastern quadrant of the local area, NextEra\u2019s RoundHouse I and II, paid a substantial fine for taking eagles without a permit. The contemplated Rock Creek I and II projects are in addition to these seventeen projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things to Watch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is presently updating its Bald and Golden Eagle Take Permit regulations which should be available in draft form for public comment by spring of 2024. We will report back to WUWT on any significant developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rock Creek I and II is a proposed 590MW (nameplate) wind plant spread across 43,000 acres of private land.\u00a0 From Watts Up With That? Kevin Kilty A large wind energy plant being built for PacifiCorp unit Rocky Mountain Power in Carbon and Albany Counties, Wyoming has encountered a small hiccup in its efforts to tie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":286011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Rock Creek I and II is a proposed 590MW (nameplate) wind plant spread across 43,000 acres of private land.\u00a0","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691824156,691824157,691824159,691824160,691819862],"class_list":{"0":"post-286005","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-bald-eagles","9":"tag-golden-eagle","10":"tag-rock-creek-i-and-ii","11":"tag-wind-energy-plants","12":"tag-wyoming","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/0eagle-wind-turbine-featured.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1coZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":243573,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=243573","url_meta":{"origin":286005,"position":0},"title":"Wind Turbines out Northwest","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"07\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Wind turbines seem to me the worst possible way to deliver electrical energy.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-260.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-260.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-260.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-260.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/image-260.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":347701,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=347701","url_meta":{"origin":286005,"position":1},"title":"Wind vs. Ecology in Australia (Nick Cater reports)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/10\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cThere are signs that we may be reaching peak madness as opposition to cowboy renewable-energy development grows in regional and rural Australia\u2026. 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