[Federal Register: November 18, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 222)]
[Notices]
[Page 69962-69964]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18no05-44]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[OE Docket No. PP-305]
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment and To
Conduct Public Scoping Meetings and Notice of Floodplain and Wetlands
Involvement; Montana Alberta Tie, Ltd.
AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental assessment and to
conduct public scoping meetings.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intention to
prepare an environmental assessment (EA) and to conduct public scoping
meetings on an application for a Presidential permit to construct a new
international transmission line that crosses the U.S.-Canada
international border in northwest Montana. The EA will be prepared in
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and
applicable regulations, including DOE NEPA implementing regulations at
10 CFR part 1021.
Montana Alberta Tie, Ltd., (MATL) has applied to DOE's Office of
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) for a Presidential
permit to construct a 230,000-volt (230-kV) electric transmission line
across the U.S. border with Canada, and to the State of Montana
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a Linear Facilities
construction permit. The proposed transmission line would originate at
a new substation to be constructed northeast of Lethbridge, Alberta,
Canada, cross the U.S.-Canada international border, and terminate north
of Great Falls, Montana, at an existing 230-kV substation owned by
NorthWestern Energy (NWE). The total length of the proposed
transmission line would be 203 miles, with approximately 126 miles
constructed inside the U.S. DOE and the State of Montana have decided
to cooperate on the preparation of an EA that would be used for their
respective planning and decisionmaking processes.
With this Notice of Intent, DOE and the Montana DEQ invite public
participation in the EA scoping process and solicit pubic comments for
consideration in establishing the scope and content of the EA. Because
the proposed project may involve an action in a floodplain or wetland,
the EA will include a floodplain and wetlands assessment and floodplain
statement of findings in accordance with DOE regulations for compliance
with floodplain and wetlands environmental review requirements (10 CFR
part 1022). The Montana DEQ must issue a certification pursuant to
section 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act that any project-related
activities will comply with water quality standards and issue permits
for any discharges of pollutants to State waters.
DATES: DOE and the Montana DEQ invite interested agencies,
organizations, and members of the public to submit comments or
suggestions to assist in identifying significant environmental issues
and in determining the appropriate scope of the EA. The public scoping
period starts with the publication of this Notice in the Federal
Register and will continue until January 3, 2006. In addition, DEQ will
publish a notice on its Web site, in a press release, and also in
Montana newspapers. Written and oral comments will be given equal
weight, and DOE and DEQ will consider all comments received or
postmarked by January 3, 2006 in defining the scope of this EA.
[[Page 69963]]
Comments received or postmarked after that date will be considered to
the extent practicable.
Dates, times and locations for the public scoping meetings are:
1. December 5, 2005, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.,
Norley Hall, 208 N. Virginia Street, Conrad, Montana.
2. December 6, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Missouri
Room, Great Falls Civic Center, 2 Park Drive South, Great Falls,
Montana.
3. December 7, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., 917 East
Railroad Street, Cut Bank, Montana.
ADDRESSES: Written comments or suggestions on the scope of the EA
should be addressed to: Mrs. Ellen Russell, Office of Electricity
Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE-20), U.S. Department of Energy,
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0350; phone 202-
586-9624, facsimile: 202-586-5860, or by electronic mail at
Ellen.Russell@hq.doe.gov. Comments should also be sent to Mr. Tom Ring,
Facility Siting Program, Montana Department of Environmental Quality,
P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 59620-0901, phone 406-444-6785, facsimile
406-444-1499, or by electronic mail at tring@mt.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the proposed
project or to receive a copy of the Pre-Approval EA when it is issued,
contact Mrs. Russell or Tom Ring at the addresses listed in the
ADDRESSES section of this notice. The MATL Presidential permit
application, including associated maps and drawings, can be downloaded
in its entirety from the DOE program Web site (http://www.FE.DOE.GOV;
choose ``Electricity Regulation,'' then ``Pending Procedures''). The
application before the Montana DEQ is available from DEQ's Web site at
http://www.deq.state.mt.us/MFS/MATL/MFSAintroduction.pdf.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background and Need for Agency Action
DOE Presidential Permit
Executive Order 10485, as amended by Executive Order 12038,
requires that a Presidential permit be issued by DOE before electric
transmission facilities may be constructed, operated, maintained, or
connected at the U.S. international border. The Executive Order
provides that a Presidential permit may be issued after a finding that
the proposed project is consistent with the public interest and after
favorable recommendations from the U.S. Departments of State and
Defense. In determining consistency with the public interest, DOE
considers the environmental impacts of the proposed project under NEPA,
determines the project's impact on electric reliability (including
whether the proposed project would adversely affect the operation of
the U.S. electric power supply system under normal and contingency
conditions), and any other factors that DOE may also consider relevant
to the public interest. The regulations implementing the Executive
Order have been codified at 10 CFR 205.320--205.329. Issuance of a
Presidential permits indicates that there is no Federal objection to
the project, but does not mandate that the project be completed.
Montana Department of Environmental Quality
The Montana Major Facility Siting Act requires that a Certificate
of Compliance (Certificate) be issued by DEQ prior to construction of a
covered 230-kV transmission line more than 10 miles in length. A
Certificate may be issued after DEQ finds and determines the basis of
the need for the facility, the nature of the potential environmental
impact, that the facility minimizes adverse environmental impact, and
considers the state of available technology and the nature and
economics of the various alternatives. Additional findings, for cases
involving an electric, gas, or liquid transmission line or aqueduct
are: (i) What part, if any, of the line or aqueduct will be located
underground; (ii) is the facility consistent with regional plans for
expansion of the appropriate grid of the utility systems serving the
State and interconnected utility systems; (iii) will the facility serve
the interests of utility system economy and reliability; (iv) does the
location of the facility as proposed conform to applicable State and
local laws and regulations (except that DEQ may refuse to apply any
local law or regulation if it finds that, as applied to the proposed
facility, the law or regulation is unreasonably restrictive in view of
the existing technology, factors of cost or economics, the needs of
consumers, whether located inside or outside the directly affected
government subdivisions); (v) that the facility will serve the public
interest, convenience, and necessity; (vi) that the Department or board
has issued any necessary air or water quality decision, opinion, order,
certificate, or permit; and (vii) that the use of public lands for
location of the facility was evaluated and public lands were selected
whenever their use is as economically practicable as the use of private
lands. If a Certificate is issued, the transmission line would have to
be constructed within 10 years.
Proposed Actions and Alternatives
The proposed DOE action is to issue a Presidential permit to MATL
and the proposed DEQ action is to issue MATL a Certificate of
Compliance and any other required water and air quality permits. The
DOE and MATL actions are for construction of a single 230-transmission
line that would cross the U.S. international border directly north of
Cut Bank, Montana, (west of Sweetgrass) and extend approximately 125
miles into the U.S., terminating north of Great Falls, Montana, at an
existing 230-kV substation owned by NWE. Between the U.S.-Canada border
and Great Falls, the transmission line would also connect to an
existing substation owned by Glacier Electric Cooperative in Cut Bank,
Montana. A phase-shifting transformer would be installed at the
substation in Lethbridge, Alberta, to control power flows between the
two regions.
The MATL transmission line project would connect the Alberta
Interconnected Electrical System and NWE's transmission system. MATL
has indicated that it intends to operate the proposed facilities as a
merchant transmission line and make it available for third-party use.
In addition, MATL asserts that the proposed transmission facilities
would enable the development of new wind electric generation projects
because the proposed line route passes through an area that has the
potential for wind generation development.
Three alternative corridors for constructing the proposed
transmission line inside the U.S. have been identified: Route A, the
MATL preferred corridor; Route B; and Route C. All three corridors
cross the U.S.-Canada border approximately 26 miles north of Cut Bank,
Montana, and extend south over the same route until approximately 2
miles north of Cut Bank where they converge to skirt the community to
the east and south. At the Glacier Electric Cooperative substation
located approximately 1 mile west of Cut Bank, the alternatives diverge
traveling over roughly parallel routes east of the Blackfoot Indian
Reservation in a southeastward direction. Routes A and B roughly
parallel NWE's existing 115-kV line along its entire distance to its
tie-in to NWE's 230-kV substation north of Great Falls. Route C
traverses to the east away from Routes A and B at a location
approximately 9 miles southeast of Brady, Montana, and approximately 5
miles north of the Teton River. Route C jogs directly east and south to
take advantage of existing
[[Page 69964]]
north-south and east-west state highway and county road rights-of-way
enroute to NWE's 230-kV substation. Major river crossings include those
of the Marias approximately 10 miles south of Cut Bank, and the Teton,
approximately 14 miles south of Brady, Montana.
In addition to transmission line routes within the above proposed
corridors, the EA will consider the environmental impacts of the ``No
Action'' alternative. Under the No Action alternative DOE would not
issue a Presidential permit and DEQ would not issue a Certificate of
Compliance. DOE and DEQ will also consider any additional reasonable
alternatives that result from comments received during the scoping
period.
However, not issuing the Presidential permit or Certificate would
not necessarily imply maintenance of the status quo. MATL indicated its
proposed action is to construct a merchant transmission line to improve
the reliability of both the Alberta and Montana power transmission
grids and to enable the development of new power generation projects in
Alberta and Montana. MATL asserts that the proposed transmission
facilities would enable the development of new wind electric generation
projects because the proposed line route passes through an area that
has tremendous wind generation potential. If the Presidential permit
and Certificate are not issued and this proposed project is not built,
other transmission facilities may be constructed in support of future
wind development. The No Action Alternative will address the
environmental impacts that are reasonably foreseeable to occur if the
Presidential permit and Certificate are not issued.
Identification of Environmental Issues
In the EA, DOE and DEQ will examine public health and safety
effects and environmental impacts in the U.S. from the proposed
transmission facilities. The EA will be prepared in accordance with the
requirements of the Council on Environmental Quality NEPA Implementing
Regulation (40 CFR parts 1500-1508) and DOE's NEPA Implementing
Procedures (10 CFR part 1021). Because the project involves action in a
floodplain, the EA will include a floodplain assessment and floodplain
statement of findings in accordance with DOE regulations for compliance
with floodplain and wetlands environmental review (10 CFR part 1022).
Tribal governments and Federal, State and local agencies with special
expertise or jurisdiction over the proposed project are being invited
to become cooperating agencies on the EA.
This notice is to inform agencies and the public of the proposed
project and to solicit comments and suggestions for consideration in
the preparation of the EA. To help the public frame its comments, this
notice contains a preliminary list of potential environmental issues in
the U.S. that DOE and MATL have tentatively identified for analysis.
These issues include:
1. Impact from development of wind generation resources;
2. Impacts on farming;
3. Impacts on protected, threatened, endangered, or sensitive
species of animals or plants, or their critical habitats;
4. Impacts on floodplains and wetlands;
5. Impacts on cultural or historic resources;
6. Impacts on human health and safety;
7. Impacts on air, soil, and water;
8. Visual impacts; and
9. Socioeconomic impacts, and disproportionately high and adverse
impacts on minority and low-income populations.
Scoping Process
Interested parties are invited to participate in the scoping
process both to refine the environmental issues to be analyzed and to
identify the reasonable range of alternatives. Both oral and written
comments will be considered and given equal weight by DOE and DEQ.
Public scoping meetings will be held at the locations, dates, and
times indicated above under the DATES and ADDRESSES sections. The
scoping meetings will be structured as informal open houses. They will
provide interested parties the opportunity to view proposed project
exhibits, ask questions, and make comments. DOE, DEQ, and any
cooperating agency representatives will be available to answer
questions and provide additional information to attendees.
DOE and DEQ invite those entities with jurisdiction by law or
special expertise with respect to environmental issues to be
cooperating agencies on the EA, as defined at 40 CFR 1501.6.
Cooperating agencies have certain responsibilities to support the NEPA
process, as specified at 40 CFR 1501.6(b).
Persons submitting comments during the scoping process will receive
copies of the Pre-Approval EA. Persons who do not wish to submit
comments or suggestions at this time but who would like to receive a
copy of the document for review and comment when it is issued should
notify Mrs. Ellen Russell and also Tom Ring at the addresses provided
above.
Pre-Approval EA Schedule and Availability
The Pre-Approval EA is scheduled to be issued in the spring, 2006,
at which time its availability will be announced in the Federal
Register and public comments again will be solicited.
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 16, 2005.
Anthony J. Como,
Director, Permitting and Siting, Office of Electricity Delivery and
Energy Reliability.
[FR Doc. 05-23002 Filed 11-17-05; 8:45 am]
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