Pinyon was contracted to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) in accordance with Department of Energy National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements. The purpose of the EA was to assess the environmental impacts of a proposed interconnection request from Deriva Energy (Deriva) for the Hoyt Solar Project (Project). The Project, located in southwestern Morgan County, Colorado, is a proposed 80-megawatt (MW) utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) generation solar facility to be built by, owned, and operated by Deriva. The Project would connect to WAPA’s Hoyt Substation via a new generation-tie (gen-tie) transmission line.

Under the direction of WAPA, Pinyon led the EA process from start to finish. To collect baseline data, Pinyon completed multiple desktop- and field-based assessments of the Project study area, including a biological resources study, cultural resources study, visual resources assessment (with photosimulations), air emissions inventory, and hydrological study. Pinyon delineated waters and wetlands and submitted an Approved Jurisdictional Determination request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to confirm that no Section 404 permitting would be needed. Pinyon participated in a public scoping meeting to gather and address public comments and concerns about the project, and corresponded with various agencies, including tribes, to obtain their input. Pinyon worked collaboratively with Deriva’s engineering team to write the proposed action description and develop a defensible EA document disclosing the direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of the Project on the natural and human environment.

With the involvement of multiple stakeholders and reviewers, it can be challenging to keep the NEPA process on track. Pinyon kept the process moving forward by establishing and committing to a reasonable schedule that accounted for multiple agency reviews early in the Project. In addition, as the scope and focus of the analysis evolved, Pinyon’s full service environmental team had the in-house resources needed to quickly mobilize and adapt to WAPA’s requests. For example, Pinyon’s landscape architecture team is also adept at conducting visual resources analyses, so when WAPA determined that photo simulations should be added to the EA, Pinyon was able to draw upon this in-house expertise to quickly complete before-and-after images to better inform the public about the Project.