Aspen Wins AEP Award for Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility EIR/EIS

Aspen Environmental Group, together with the Bureau of Land Management and the County of Imperial, was recently recognized by the California Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP) with the 2013 “Outstanding Environmental Analysis” award for the preparation of the Ocotillo Wind Energy Facility Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR). This facility was proposed by Ocotillo Express LLC on Bureau of Land Management land near the unincorporated community of Ocotillo in Imperial County. The approved project consists of 105 wind turbine generators capable of generating up to 315 Megawatts of electricity located on approximately 12,500 acres. The Final EIS/EIR was published in February 2012 and the project is currently under construction.

The AEP Awards Jury said, “The EIS/EIR is easily readable and accessible to the layperson with explanations of the purpose for each section of the main document and with technical language pushed to the appendices.”

The award was received by the Aspen President and key project staff, BLM, and Imperial County at the NAEP/AEP Joint Conference in Los Angeles, California April 2, 2013. Aspen was also a sponsor for the conference.a