Abstract
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Searchlight Wind Energy Project is summarized in the following sections. This summary provides a general overview of the project and its purpose and need; briefly describes the Proposed Action and other alternatives; and summarizes major impacts for key resources.
Searchlight Wind Energy, LLC, (the Applicant) a wholly-owned subsidiary of Duke Energy has applied to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for a right-of-way (ROW) grant on public land to develop a wind energy generation project (ROW application NVN-084626). The Proposed Project consists of construction, operation and maintenance (O&M), and decommissioning of an approximately 200- megawatt (MW) wind energy facility and associated infrastructure. The Western Area Power Administration (Western) proposes to construct, operate, and maintain a new switching station to interconnect the Searchlight Wind Energy Project and has submitted a ROW application (NVN-086777) to the BLM for construction and operation of the switching station. Western’s proposed interconnection switching station also is analyzed as part of this EIS.