Ocotillo Wind Project Eagle Permit NEPA Documents

In March 2019, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service issued a 5-year incidental eagle take permit, pursuant to the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, to Ocotillo Express LLC for take of golden eagles associated with the operation of the Ocotillo Express Wind Project. The Ocotillo Express Wind Project is a 315-megawatt, currently operational wind facility consisting of 112 wind turbines located on approximately 12,500 acres of land in Imperial County, California that are almost entirely managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

Prior to our issuance of the permit, an Environmental Assessment (EA) was prepared jointly by the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act.  The EA assessed impacts of the proposed action of issuance of an eagle take permit by the Fish and Wildlife Service and amendments to the Bureau of Land Management’s right-of-way grant, as well as alternatives to the proposed action. The proposed action of Fish and Wildlife Service issuing an eagle take permit required implementation of measures to avoid and minimize adverse effects to eagles to the maximum extent practicable and compensatory mitigation to fully offset eagle take. Details of the minimizations measures and compensatory mitigation can be found in the EA document. The analyses detailed in the EA resulted in selection of the proposed action and a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) signed by both the Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service.  The FONSI and EA documents are provided here.