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Breaking Trail:
Eagle Mountain Pumped
Storage ProjectEagle Mountain, CA
Eagle Crest Energy Company
Presented By:
Ginger Gillin,
Project Manager, FERC Licensing
History• First license application filed April 1994
• FERC dismissed application for lack of water
quality certification July 1999
• 2001 - 2008
• A solution in search of a problem?
• Pre-application document filed January 2008
• License application filed in 2009
• License issued June 19, 2014
Project Site• California policies
– Renewable energy portfolio standards – 33% by 2020;
50% by 2030
– Reduce GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020
• Closed loop system
– “…not continuously connected to a naturally flowing
water feature”
• Water supply is groundwater
– No streams, no fish
• Highly disturbed site
• No recreational amenities
• Adjacent to main transmission grid to southern CA
Eagle Mountain Iron MineSince 1983, site used for small scale mining,
military training, prison, and movie shoots
Major Project Features
• 191 acre upper reservoir and 163 acre lower
reservoir
• Underground powerhouse 4 - 325 MW
reversible pump turbine units
Chuckwalla Valley east of Desert Center, former
County Airport in area of proposed well field. (Note
former and active farm lands.)
Licensing Process
• Federal Power Act - FERC
– Traditional Licensing Process
• Endangered Species Act
• National Historic Preservation Act
• Clean Water Act
• Federal Lands Management and Policy Act
• California Environmental Quality Act
• 11 Public Comment Periods 2007 – 2015
Endangered Species Act
Compliance
• Desert tortoise – federally-listed species
• Biological Opinion
– Fencing requirement
– Relocation of tortoises
– Compensation acres
Clean Water Act• Requires water quality certification for any
discharge into a “Water of the U.S.”
• State Water Board issues
– California Environmental Quality Act
• Application for water quality certification – 2008
• Final Environmental Impact Report 2013
• Water Quality Certification June 2013
– Last requirement for FERC licensing decision
• And then…
FERC License Requirements• Not on a “Water of the U.S.”
• Does not require Water Quality Certification
• Certification considered by FERC as recommendations
– Groundwater level and quality monitoring
– Avian protection plan
– Predator control plan
– Aquifer testing and seepage management
– Lighting design and night sky monitoring
Observations
• Closed loop vs Waters of the US
• Definition of Waters of the US in flux
– New rule has been stayed
What’s next?
• Complete Right-of-Way process with BLM
• Engineering Design
• Geotechnical investigations
• Comply with Environmental Management Plans
• Start construction 2018