In a history-making ceremony Oct. 24, Bureau of Land Management Safford Field Manager Scott Cooke signed a right-of-way grant and environmental documents approving Arizona’s first wind energy development on public lands.

Cooke signed a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) and Decision Record for the Dry Lake Wind Project, culminating a year of agency review and public input on the proposal.

“The approval of the Dry Lake Wind Project is a historic step for BLM Arizona and the state of Arizona,” Cooke said while signing the authorization. “Energy from the project will be fed into the Salt River Project’s electricity grid to start powering Arizona with clean, renewable wind energy.”

Arizona State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman, left, and BLM Safford Field Manager Scott Cooke signed respective state and federal authorizations for the Dry Lake Wind Project to be constructed by Iberdrola Renewables in Navajo County north-northwest of Snowflake. Contributed photo

The Dry Lake Wind Project will be constructed in Navajo County north-northwest of the town of Snowflake and southwest of the Interstate 40 corridor. The first phase will include about 30 wind turbines, access roads, an interconnection substation, an operations and maintenance facility and collector lines to transmit the generated energy to the substation.

The project area includes federal, state and private lands. The BLM analyzed the potential impacts to the entire project area and coordinated with numerous federal, state, tribal and local agencies prior to approving the right of way. As Cooke signed the BLM’s grant, Arizona State Land Commissioner Mark Winkleman signed the Arizona State Land Department’s permit for part of the project located on State Trust lands.

A special guest at the ceremony was C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Manage-ment in the Depart-ment of the Interior. He thanked the Safford Field Office and Gila District, which participated in the review and approval process.

“Wind energy is already the fastest-growing energy sector in the United States,” Allred said.

He stressed the importance of developing all facets of energy on public lands.

BLM Arizona State Director Elaine Zielinski added, “As manager of more public land than any other federal agency, the Bureau of Land Management has a key role in implementing the Energy Policy Act of 2005.”

Construction of Phase 1 will likely begin in 2009, with a nine- to 12-month construction period. Subsequent phases would include comparable facilities able to provide a total of up to 314 MW of additional wind energy. The total number of turbines would be 239 if fully developed.

The FONSI and Decision Record, along with the Environmental Assessment, are posted on the BLM Arizona Wind Energy Web site at www.blm.gov/ az/st/en/prog/energy/wind.html.