WESTLANDS WATER DISTRICT - NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan (VCIP) Draft Program Environmental Impact Report State Clearinghouse #2024020124 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Westlands Water District (District), as Lead Agency, has completed a Draft Program Environmental Impact Report (Draft PEIR) for the proposed Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan (VCIP) in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). PROJECT LOCATION and OVERVIEW: The VCIP would be located in the Fresno County portion of the District on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. The proposed VCIP provides a blueprint for the development of clean energy facilities and supporting infrastructure with an overall generating and delivery capacity of up to 21,000 MW on approximately 136,000 acres of repurposed farmland. The District's main project objectives are to: 1) utilize the District's location, topography, and excellent insolation (solar radiation energy) attributes to promote the siting of solar generation, storage, and transmission of renewable energy, in furtherance of the state's renewable energy and carbon neutrality goals over approximately 35 years; 2) contribute to the solution of reduced water supply reliability by providing productive long-term but temporary repurposing of those lands from irrigated agriculture for renewable energy production to facilitate redirection of scarce water supplies while ensuring irrigated agriculture can be restored on the repurposed lands following the decommissioning of the renewable energy projects; 3) facilitate implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) pursuant to the Westside Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP); 4) provide for orderly development, operation and decommissioning of clean energy facilities and balance the promotion of long-term but temporary development of solar energy projects and associated storage and transmission facilities with the protection of environmental resources; 5) provide utility-scale power generation on highly disturbed lands that provide minimal habitat value for wildlife and, to the extent feasible, have been fallowed or removed from irrigated agriculture. PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The VCIP consists of the following two main Plan elements: "Energy Resource Plan" and an "Infrastructure Plan," as briefly described below. Energy Resource Plan. The VCIP Energy Resource Plan is a master plan for clean energy development in the form of: 1) solar photovoltaic (PV) generating facilities, and 2) battery energy storage systems (BESS), both of which would be developed within defined "Development Focus Areas" (DFAs) consisting of District-owned land and private lands of participating landowners located within the Fresno County portion of the Westlands Water District service area. It is anticipated that the DFAs would be built out over a 10-year period. Infrastructure Plan. The VCIP Infrastructure Plan includes the following supporting elements for conveyance of solar generation to the state's electricity load centers: 1) gen-tie lines, 2) collection substations, and 3) connector transmission lines. In addition, transmission lines outside the VCIP Plan Area would deliver the VCIP renewable generation to metropolitan load centers. These outside transmission lines are described in the PEIR at a conceptual level with potential impacts discussed in the PEIR for informational purposes only. HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES: The VCIP Plan Area includes four hazardous waste sites enumerated under Section 65962.5 of the Government Code. These include: 1) Bullard Avenue Airstrip; 2) Airway Farms – Five Points Ranch Shop; 3) TMT Chemical Company on Oakland Avenue; and 4) Airway Farms Duster Ranch near Huron. SIGNIFICANT ANTICIPATED ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS: The Draft PEIR identifies significant impacts under the following environmental issue areas: aesthetics, agricultural resources; air quality; biological resources; cultural and tribal cultural resources; paleontological resources; hazards and hazardous materials; hydrology and water quality; noise; public services; and transportation. Implementation of the VCIP would result in significant and unavoidable impacts related to aesthetics and agricultural resources. The remaining aforementioned impacts would be mitigated to less-than-significant levels through implementation of mitigation measures identified in the Draft PEIR. DOCUMENT AVAILABILITY: The Draft PEIR is available for review at the following locations: Westlands Water District Main Office, 286 W. Cromwell Avenue, Fresno, CA 93711.Westlands Water District Field Office, 23050 W. Mt. Whitney Avenue, Five Points, CA 93624.Fresno County Main Library, 2420 Mariposa Street, Fresno, CA 93721.Mendota Branch of the Fresno County Library, 1246 Belmont Avenue, Mendota, CA 93640.Firebaugh Branch of the Fresno County Library, 900 "O" Street, Firebaugh, CA 93622.Kerman Branch of Fresno County Library, 15081 W. Kearney Plaza, Kerman, CA 93630.San Joaquin Branch of the Fresno County Library, 8781 Main Street, San Joaquin, CA 93660.Tranquillity Branch of Fresno County Library, 25561 Williams Street, Tranquillity, CA 93668.Huron Library, 36050 "O" Street, Huron, CA 93234.Coalinga Library, 305 N. 4th Street, Coalinga, CA 93210. An electronic version can be downloaded from the WWD website: http://wwd.ca.gov/news-and-reports/environmental-docs/ PUBLIC REVIEW TIMELINE: The 45-day public review period for the Draft PEIR begins July 31, 2025 and ends September 15, 2025. Comments on the Draft PEIR must be received by the District no later than 5:00 PM on September 15, 2025, to be addressed in the Final PEIR. Written comments may be submitted by mail or email to the attention of Russ Freeman, Deputy General Counsel, at the following: Westlands Water District Email: rfreeman@wwd.ca.gov 286 W. Cromwell Avenue Fresno, CA 93711 P.O. Box 5199 Fresno, CA 93755 IPL0258693 Jul 30 2025