STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING!

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Needs Your Help NOW See Below for What YOU Can DoAct by 10-6-11

View Toward Ocotillo from Red Hill in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

View from Access Road to Mortero Palms in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

From the Anza-Borrego FoundationChuck Bennett, President, 9-27-11

ITS MORE THAN THE PARK VIEWSHED THAT IS THREATENED By the Ocotillo Express Wind Turbine Project Impacts to Natural Resources of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP):
1. Disruption of wildlife corridors for desert bighorn sheep. 2. Adverse effects to golden eagles due to the birds striking the turbines. 3. Adverse impacts to burrowing owls, long-eared owls, Vauxs swift, peregrine falcons, flat-tailed horned lizards, barefoot geckos, Red diamond rattlesnakes, American badgers, and several listed plant species. 4. Could cause significant deaths of bats due to the drop in air pressure causing internal hemorrhaging in the lungs as well as deaths from direct strikes. 5. Unavoidable impact to plants during construction and the introduction of invasive plant species. 6. Permanent scarring to the landscape leaving an industrial look to the area.

Impacts to Cultural Resources of ABDSP:

1. Visual impacts to the newly designated Cultural Preserve at Piedras Grandes, just west of Ocotillo and its sacred site. 2. No adequate accounting for impacts to the multiple cultural resources of the area when viewed as a cultural landscape. 3. Cultural Studies not completed prior to assessing impacts.

Other Potential Impacts

1. Substantial increase in noise levels from the operation of the turbines, especially at night in surrounding areas. 2. Impacts to air quality from truck traffic and from concrete batch plants. 3. Increased risk of wildfire hazards. 4. Loss of soils ability to absorb carbon from scraping. 5. Degradation to the recreational and natural experience of ABDSP by the sight of the turbines and associated facilities. 6. Loss of dark night skies. 7. Degradation of wilderness character of the several BLM wildernesses surrounding the proposed project. The NEPA Document does not include an alternative for production of renewable energy at point of use in cities and thus the Draft EIR/EIS is incomplete. Please adopt the no project alternative and protect this important desert habitat from devastation by private industry for private profit! HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW: Please send your comments to the following by the OCTOBER 6, 2011, DEADLINE. Tell them why you are opposed to this project. Send comments to: Mr. Cedric Perry California Desert District Office Bureau of Land Management

22835 Calle San Juan De Los Lagos Moreno Valley, CA 92553 cperry@blm.gov FAX a copy to the State Clearinghouse: 916-323-3018