Publisher's Synopsis
The Department of Energy (DOE) prepared this Environmental Assessment (EA) to evaluate the potential environmental consequences of providing an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act; Public Law 111-5, 123 Stat.115) financial assistance grant to Brea Power II, LLC (Brea Power; formerly Ridgewood Renewable Power, LLC). The grant would facilitate expansion of an existing landfill gas collection system, and construction and operation of a combined cycle power generation facility at the Olinda Alpha Landfill in Brea, California. DOE's proposed action is to provide $10 million in financial assistance in a cost-sharing arrangement with the project proponent, Brea Power. The cost of the project is estimated to be about $84 million. The primary objective of Brea Power's proposed project is to maximize the productive use of substantial quantities of waste landfill gas generated and collected at the Olinda Alpha Landfill in Brea, California. The project proponent determined that utilization of the waste gas for power generation in a combustion turbine combined cycle facility was the best use for the gas. The electricity generated from the proposed project, a net output of approximately 280 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, would be distributed to the local power grid via a new electric transmission line to be installed by the local utility company. Brea Power would expand the existing gas collection system at the landfill and build the new gas-to-energy facility across the street from the existing gas-to-energy facility. Once the new facility is operational, the existing facility would be used only as a contingency. This EA evaluates 14 resource areas and, after proposed mitigation measures, identifies no significant adverse environmental impacts for the proposed project. Beneficial impacts to the nation's energy efficiency and local economy could be recognized. The project would generate 280 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, and save an estimated 2,216 trillion British thermal units per year annually from the landfill gas that would otherwise be flared. In addition, by using nearly 50,000 tons per year of methane from the landfill gas, the project would provide carbon dioxide equivalent reductions of greater than 1 million tons annually and enable the avoidance of over 120,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year from not using fossil fuels for generating a similar amount of electricity.
