Timeline
Short-term effects span over 16 months, including eight months for power plant construction, six months for well development construction and six months for pipeline construction.
Long-term effects will last for 30 years, the useful lifetime of the project.
Unaffected components
Scenic and protected natural areas
Recreational areas
Wild horses and burros
Boundaries considered
The spatial limits are resource-dependent and based on topography and natural boundaries. The only exception is climate change, which is considered to have a global impact.
Cumulative effects
The EIA only lists a description of nearby in-progress or predictable projects. All projects are predicted to have no cumulative effect with CD-IV.
Unavoidable adverse effects
Impacts on air quality resulting from construction and power plant operations
Impacts on nearby residents from noise coming from the power plant
Impacts on the visual character and quality of the Project Area
Significant irreversible environmental changes
Some of the natural resources used would not be recyclable at the end of the project’s lifetime
New access roads constructed for the project would be reclaimed during project decommissioning
Significant irreversible change from accidents are not anticipated due to the implementation of emergency contingency plan measures and fire prevention plans
Growth-inducing impacts
Notable impacts would not occur to existing population levels or employment distribution within the study area. The employment of construction personnel would be beneficial to local economy through increased expenditure for goods and services.
The project is not intended to supply power related growth and would not result in direct growth-inducing impacts.
Irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources
The construction of the project would irretrievably commit non-renewable resources over the lifetime of the power plant. However, after decommissioning of the project, it is anticipated that surface resources would be fully recovered via revegetation.
The project is forecast to somewhat reduce the pressure and temperatures of the wells in the geothermal reservoir. However, the alternatives also provide a long-term benefit by generating electric power with minimal increase in the use of non-renewable resources, which will benefit air quality and reduce carbon-based emissions.
Critique
No distance threshold is specified as a criteria to determine whether a nearby project is contributing to cumulative effects or not, nor the distance of an included project from CD-IV. Only air emissions are specified.