[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 213 (Thursday, November 5, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57297-57298]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-26693]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Kemper County IGCC Project, Kemper County, MS
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearing.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability
of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Kemper County IGCC
Project (DOE/EIS-0409D) for public review and comment, as well as the
date, location, and time for a public hearing. The U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE) is participating as a cooperating agency in the
preparation of this document. The draft environmental impact statement
(EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with the
construction and operation of a project proposed by Southern Company,
through its affiliate Mississippi Power Company (Mississippi Power),
which was selected by DOE to receive financial assistance under the
Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) program. In addition, DOE may issue
a loan guarantee to the project pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of
2005 (EPAct05). The loan guarantee would apply to the planning, design,
permitting, equipment procurement, construction, and startup of the
power plant.
DOE prepared this draft EIS in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the
Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations that implement the
procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the DOE
procedures implementing NEPA (10 CFR part 1021).
DATES: DOE invites the public to comment on the Draft EIS during the
public comment period, which ends December 21, 2009. DOE will consider
all comments postmarked or received during the public comment period in
preparing the Final EIS, and will consider late comments to the extent
practicable.
DOE will hold a public hearing on December 1, 2009, at Kemper
County High School, 429 Philadelphia Road, DeKalb, Mississippi
beginning at 7 p.m. An informational session will be held at the same
location from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., preceding the public hearing on the
same day. Requests to speak at the public hearing can be made by
calling or writing the EIS Document Manager (see ADDRESSES). Requests
to speak not submitted prior to the hearing will be accepted in the
order in which they are received during the hearing. Speakers are
encouraged to provide a written version of their oral comments for the
record. Each speaker will be allowed five minutes to present comments
unless more time is requested and available. Comments will be recorded
by a court reporter and will become part of the public hearing record.
Oral and written comments will be given equal consideration.
The public hearing will be accessible to people with disabilities.
Any individual with a disability requiring special assistance, such as
a sign language interpreter or a translator, should contact Mr. Richard
A. Hargis, Jr., NEPA Document Manager, (see ADDRESSES) at least 48
hours before the meeting so that arrangements can be made.
ADDRESSES: Requests for information about this Draft EIS or to receive
a copy of it should be directed to: Richard A. Hargis, Jr., NEPA
Document Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology
Laboratory, M/S 922-M217, P.O. Box 10940, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.
Additional information about the Draft EIS may also be requested by
electronic mail: [email protected] or by telephone at (412) 386-
6065, or toll free at: (888) 322-7436, x6065.
The Draft EIS will be available at http://www.gc.energy.gov/NEPA/.
Copies of the Draft EIS are also available for review at the locations
listed in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this Notice. Written
comments on the Draft EIS can be mailed to Richard A. Hargis, Jr., NEPA
Document Manager, at the address noted above. Written comments may also
be submitted by fax to: (412) 386-4604, or submitted electronically to:
[email protected]. Oral comments on the Draft EIS will be
accepted only during the public hearing scheduled for the date and
location provided in the DATES section of this Notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information on the proposed
project or the draft EIS, please contact Mr. Richard A. Hargis, Jr.,
(see ADDRESSES). For general information regarding the DOE NEPA
process, please contact: Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of
NEPA Policy and Compliance (GC-54), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0103; telephone: 202-
586-4600; fax: 202-586-7031; or leave a message at: (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed project would demonstrate
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) technology using lignite
coal as a feedstock for a new electricity generating plant at a site in
Kemper County, Mississippi. The facilities would convert lignite coal,
produced at a new mine to be developed near the power plant site by
North American Coal Company, into synthesis gas (syngas) for generating
a nominal 582 megawatts of electricity while reducing sulfur dioxide,
oxides of nitrogen, mercury, and particulate emissions as compared to
conventional lignite-fired power plants. The project would also be
designed to capture up to 67 percent of the carbon dioxide
(CO2) that would otherwise be emitted when firing syngas.
The captured CO2 would be transported by pipeline for
beneficial use and geologic storage in existing enhanced oil recovery
(EOR) operations in Mississippi.
The EIS will inform DOE's decisions on whether to provide a total
of $294 million in cost-shared funding (15 percent or less of the total
project cost, which is currently projected to be greater than $2
billion) for the proposed project under the CCPI program. It will also
inform DOE's decision on whether to issue a loan guarantee to the
project pursuant to EPAct05. The USACE will evaluate the potential
environmental impacts before deciding whether to issue permits under
the Clean Water Act (CWA) for stream and wetland disturbances that
would result from the proposed mine, power plant, electrical
transmission lines, and pipelines.
The EIS evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed project,
connected actions, and reasonable alternatives. Because the proposed
project may affect floodplains and wetlands, the Draft EIS includes an
assessment of impacts to floodplains and wetlands in accordance with
DOE regulations for Compliance with Floodplains and Wetlands
[[Page 57298]]
Environmental Review Requirements (10 CFR part 1022).
DOE analyzed two main alternatives in the Draft EIS--the Proposed
Action (with or without additional mitigation) and the No Action
Alternative. Under the Proposed Action, DOE would provide a total of
$294 million in cost-shared funding under the CCPI program to the
proposed project. DOE has already provided a portion of the total
funding ($24.4 million) to Southern Company for DOE's share of the
preliminary design and project definition. In addition, DOE may issue a
loan guarantee pursuant to section 1703 of the Energy Policy Act of
2005 to the project.
Under the No Action Alternative, DOE would not provide continued
funding under the CCPI Program or issue a loan guarantee to the
project. In the absence of DOE funding, Mississippi Power could pursue
two options. First, the facility and supporting infrastructure could be
built as proposed without DOE funding or a loan guarantee. The
connected actions would remain unchanged. The potential environmental
impacts of this option would be essentially the same as the proposed
action. Second, Mississippi Power could choose to cancel the IGCC
project, and none of the connected actions would likely be built. This
option would not contribute to the goal of the CCPI program, which is
to accelerate commercial deployment of advanced coal technologies that
provide the United States with clean, reliable, and affordable energy.
Similarly, the No Action Alternative would not contribute to the loan
guarantee program's goal of supporting energy projects that ``avoid,
reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of
greenhouse gases; and employ new or significantly improved
technologies.'' For purposes of this Draft EIS, DOE assumes that the
project would not be built under the No Action Alternative.
DOE has developed an overall strategy for compliance with NEPA for
the CCPI program consistent with CEQ regulations (40 CFR parts 1500
through 1508) and DOE regulations (10 CFR part 1021). This strategy has
two principal elements. The first element involved an open solicitation
and competitive selection process to obtain a set of projects that best
meets program needs. The applications that meet the mandatory
eligibility requirements constitute the range of reasonable
alternatives available to DOE to meet the program's purpose and needs.
Following reviews by technical, environmental, and financial panels and
a comprehensive assessment by a merit review board, DOE officials
selected those projects that they concluded best met the program's
purposes and needs. By broadly soliciting proposals to meet the
programmatic purposes and needs for DOE action and by evaluating the
potential environmental impacts associated with each proposal before
selecting projects that would go forward to the second step in the NEPA
process, DOE considered a reasonable range of alternatives for
implementing CCPI. The second step in the NEPA process consists of
preparing more detailed NEPA analyses for each selected project. For
this project, DOE determined that providing financial assistance or a
loan guarantee (or both) to the proposed project would constitute a
major federal action that may significantly affect the quality of the
human environment. Therefore, DOE has prepared this EIS to assess the
potential impacts on the human environment of the proposed action and
reasonable alternatives.
Alternatives considered by Mississippi Power in developing the
proposed project are presented in the EIS, including alternative
sources of water supply, alternative routes for linear facilities (a
natural gas pipeline, a reclaimed water supply pipeline, a
CO2 pipeline, and new and upgraded transmission lines), and
alternative levels of CO2 capture.
The draft EIS analyzes the environmental consequences that may
result from the proposed action, with or without additional mitigation,
and the no action alternative. The environmental consequences of
connected actions are also analyzed, including: Development and
operation of the adjacent lignite mine and construction and operation
of linear facilities. Potential impacts identified during the scoping
process and analyzed in the draft EIS relate to the following:
Atmospheric resources, including climate change and options for
CO2 capture, transport, and beneficial use and geologic
storage; groundwater and surface water resources, including impacts on
Lake Okatibbee operations; infrastructure and land use; solid wastes;
visual impacts; floodplains; wetlands and streams; ecological
resources; safety and health; construction-related impacts; community
impacts; cultural and archaeological resources; and cumulative impacts.
Copies of the draft EIS have been distributed to Members of
Congress; Native American tribal governments; Federal, state, and local
officials; and agencies, organizations, and individuals who may be
interested or affected. The draft EIS will be available on the Internet
at http://www.gc.doe.gov/nepa/ nepa/. Copies of the draft EIS are available
for public review at the following locations: DeKalb Public Library,
Bell St. and Main St., DeKalb, Mississippi; Meridian-Lauderdale County
Public Library, 2517 Seventh St., Meridian, Mississippi; Quitman Public
Library, 116 Water St., Quitman, Mississippi; Bay Springs Municipal
Library, 815 S. Court St., Bay Springs, Mississippi. Additional copies
also can be requested (see ADDRESSES).
Dated: October 30, 2009.
Carl O. Bauer,
Director, National Energy Technology Laboratory, Office of Fossil
Energy.
[FR Doc. E9-26693 Filed 11-4-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P