Breaking Trail:

Eagle Mountain Pumped

Storage ProjectEagle Mountain, CA

Eagle Crest Energy Company

Presented By:

Ginger Gillin,

Project Manager, FERC Licensing

• Project History

• Project Description

• Licensing Process

• Next Steps

“In 20 years, we will be

an overnight success.”

– Eddie Cantor

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

Upper Reservoir

Lower Reservoir

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.)

Transmission

Interconnection

Alternatives

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

Questions?