RECON worked with the California Energy Commission, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as lead agencies, to prepare the Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement and Final BLM Land Use Plan Amendment for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP). The DRECP focused on a specific range of covered activities related to renewable energy projects and environmental compliance. These covered activities included the construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of renewable energy projects and new transmission lines within the plan area, and specifically addressed solar wind and geothermal to meet the California Governor’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. Covering approximately 22 million acres in seven counties within the BLM California Desert District, the Draft DRECP was developed to conserve habitat for threatened and endangered species in the Mojave and Colorado deserts while facilitating the timely permitting of renewable energy projects to help meet the state’s goal of providing electricity generation through renewable energy.
Working with the California Energy Commission, RECON prepared Draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement sections addressing the affected environment and the anticipated effects on the full range of natural, cultural, visual, recreational, and geological resources; land use; noise; public health and safety; and socioeconomics. The DRECP now serves as a proposed multi-species Habitat Conservation Plan/Natural Community Conservation Plan and Final BLM Land Use Plan Amendment for the BLM’s California Desert Conservation Area Plan.