SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Agencies Involved and Status

a. The Rural Utilities Service, Lead Agency

b. The United States Army Corps of Engineers, Cooperating Agency

c. The Bureau of Land Management, Cooperating Agency

d. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cooperating Agency

e. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Participating Agency

2. Project Description and Location

The Draft EIS addresses the construction and operation of the Project, which consists of a 250-MW solar array, plus 200-MW/800-MWh storage facility in Garfield County, Oklahoma. The Project consists of four major components: Photovoltaic solar arrays, energy storage facilities, linear facilities, and transmission interconnection facilities. The energy storage facilities consist of batteries, solar trackers, and solar power inverters. Linear facilities include a network of internal access roads, communication cables or lines, and a distribution power network for construction and operations control systems. The transmission interconnection facilities include a substation/switchyard that interconnects to the existing OG&E 345-kV Woodring Substation via an estimated 1-to-2-mile gen-tie. These components are explained in detail in the Draft EIS.

3. Purpose and Need for the Action

Since the Applicant entered into a power purchase agreement with Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC) for the Project, the Project's purpose and need is focused on meeting the energy buyer's (WFEC) needs. WFEC's objective is to provide safe, adequate, and reliable power to its members at the lowest reasonable cost. The Project would allow the Applicant to provide the additional generation capacity needed by WFEC to achieve these goals within the service territories of their member cooperatives. Specifically, the Project would provide a source of non-dispatchable power via solar panels that increase capacity, whereas battery storage would provide a source of dispatchable power that increases the reliability of generated power to the grid. The pairing of battery storage with solar panels would further allow WFEC to meet peak demand needs without adding additional fossil fuel consumption to the system. In addition, the Project would help WFEC and the Southwest Power Pool to continue to comply with Oklahoma legislative declarations to facilitate the delivery of renewable energy.

The following three federal agencies will use this EIS to inform decisions about funding, authorizing, or permitting various components of the Project:

• Rural Utilities Service (RUS), the lead federal agency, will evaluate whether or not to provide Project financial assistance.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will review the Applicant's permit application, as required by Section 404 under the Clean Water Act.
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will determine the likelihood of Project effects on listed species, as required under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act.

4. Issues of Concern

Based on RUS's assessment of potential Project impacts, as well as input provided during the scoping period, RUS identified key issues to be addressed in the EIS. These issues are evaluated in Chapter 3 of the Draft EIS and are as follows:

• Air quality
• Geology and soils
• Water resources
• Vegetation (including invasive species/noxious weeds and special-status species)
• Wetlands
• Wildlife (including special-status species)
• Cultural and historic resources
• Land use
• Noise
• Public health and safety
• Socioeconomics and environmental justice
• Transportation
• Visual quality and aesthetics

5. Alternatives To Be Considered

Alternatives to the Project considered by RUS consist of the No Action alternative, under which the proposed Project would not be undertaken, and a Proposed Action site location. To allow for flexibility in design, the Applicant identified an additional 1,744 acres of buildable land located east of the Proposed Action that could be developed to support the Project. Land acquisition has not yet occurred for this Alternative. The Project would connect to the point of interconnect via a 1-mile transmission line. All construction and operations and maintenance activities, as well as Applicant-committed minimization or avoidance measures, would be the same as described for the Proposed Action.

The Draft EIS describes these alternatives in detail and discusses their anticipated impacts to physical, biological, and social resources.

6. Overview of Scoping Process

The first Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS and hold a public scoping meeting was published in the Federal Register at 86 FR 14302, on March 15, 2021 and initiated a 30-day public scoping period. One public scoping meeting was held on March 30, 2021 using Zoom Webinar. The public scoping period occurred from March 15 through April 19, 2021 and RUS issued a Scoping Report in April 2021. The scoping report is available on RUS's website here: https://www.rd.usda.gov/​environmentalstudy/​skeleton-creek-solar-and-battery-storage-project-garfield-county-oklahoma.

RUS also sent letters to federal and state agencies inviting them to participate in the public scoping meeting and provide input on Project-related concerns. Thirty-nine tribes ( printed page 54676) were invited to participate in the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 review process, attend the public scoping meeting, and provide relevant information for inclusion in the EIS.

7. Decision Process

The Draft EIS will be available for review and comment for 45 days. Following the 45-day review period, Rural Utilities Service will prepare a Final EIS. All comments received on the DEIS will be duly considered in preparing the Final EIS, which is expected to be available in the spring of 2022. The availability of the Final EIS will be announced for public review and comment in the Federal Register and the local newspapers used in previous public notices. After a 30-day public comment period, Rural Utilities Service will consider all public comments and prepare responses and a Record of Decision (ROD) documenting the Agency's decision under NEPA regarding NEER's request for financial assistance. Notices announcing the availability of the ROD will be published in the Federal Register and in local newspapers.

Any final action by RUS related to the proposal will be subject to, and contingent upon, compliance with all relevant executive orders and federal, state, and local environmental laws and regulations in addition to the completion of the environmental review requirements as prescribed in Rural Utilities Service Environmental Policies and Procedures, 7 CFR part 1970.

86 FR 54674