[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 22, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15968-15970]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-6694]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement and Public Hearing Notice for the Texas Clean Energy Project,
near Odessa, Ector County, TX
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 Texas Clean Energy Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement
(DOE/EIS-0444D) for public review and comment, as well as the date,
location, and time for a public hearing. The draft environmental impact
statement (EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated
with the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP), which would be constructed
and operated by Summit Texas Clean Energy, LLC, an affiliate of Summit
Power Group, Inc. (Summit). Summit's proposal was selected by DOE to
receive financial assistance under the Clean Coal Power Initiative
(CCPI) program.
DOE prepared this draft EIS in accordance with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the
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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 May 2, 2011. 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 April 5, 2011, in Odessa, Texas.
An informational session will be held from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., preceding
the formal presentations and formal comment period from 7 p.m. to
approximately 9 p.m. See the Public Hearing section for details on the
hearing process and locations.
ADDRESSES: Requests for information about this draft EIS and requests
to receive a copy of it should be directed to: Mr. Mark L. McKoy,
Environmental Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy
Technology Laboratory, M/S B07, P.O. Box 880, Morgantown, WV 26507-
0880. Additional information about the draft EIS may also be requested
by electronic mail at: [email protected] or by telephone: (304) 285-
4426, or toll-free at: (800) 432-8330, extension 4426. The draft EIS
will be available at: http://nepa.energy.gov/. 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 Mr. Mark L.
McKoy, Environmental Manager, at the address noted above. Written
comments may also be submitted by fax to: (304) 285-4403, or submitted
electronically to: [email protected]. Oral comments on the draft EIS
will be accepted verbatim only during the public hearing scheduled for
the date and location provided in the DATES section of this Notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the
proposed project or the draft EIS, please contact Mr. Mark L. McKoy
(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: DOE proposes to provide limited financial
assistance (approximately $450 million), through a cooperative
agreement, to Summit for the proposed TCEP. The project proponent team
includes: Summit; Blue Source, LLC; Siemens, AG; Linde AG (operating
through Selas Fluid Processing, Corp.); Fluor Corporation; and CW
NextGen, Inc.
The TCEP would use coal-fueled integrated gasification combined-
cycle technology to generate electric power and would capture carbon
dioxide (CO2) for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and
eventual sequestration. The plant would generate 400 megawatts (gross)
of electricity, of which approximately 213 megawatts would be provided
to the power grid. It would also produce urea, argon, and sulfuric acid
for sale in commercial markets. Because of its multiple production
capabilities, the plant is referred to as a poly-generation (or
polygen) plant. DOE would provide approximately 26 percent of the $1.73
billion (rounded-2009 dollars) in development and capital costs
recognized under the DOE cooperative agreement.
The polygen plant would be built on a 600 acre oil field site in
Ector County, Texas, north of the abandoned oil town of Penwell. Summit
would design and construct the plant to capture approximately 90
percent of its CO2. During the demonstration phase of the
plant's operations, the project would sequester about 3 million tons of
CO2 per year by transporting it in pipelines to existing oil
fields in the Permian Basin of West Texas for use in EOR operations by
third-party buyers of the CO2. Following the demonstration
phase, the polygen plant would continue in commercial operation for 30
to 50 years and would continue to capture its CO2.
The draft EIS evaluates the potential impacts of the proposed
project, connected actions, and reasonable alternatives. Because the
proposed project may affect wetlands, the draft EIS includes an
assessment of impacts to wetlands in accordance with DOE regulations
for Compliance with Floodplains and Wetlands Environmental Review
Requirements (10 CFR part 1022).
DOE analyzed two alternatives in the draft EIS, the Proposed Action
and the No Action Alternative. Under the Proposed Action, DOE would
provide approximately $450 million in cost-shared funding under the
CCPI program to the proposed project. DOE has already provided a
portion of the total funding ($23.2 million) to Summit for DOE's share
of the preliminary design and project definition.
Under the No Action Alternative, DOE would not provide continued
funding under the CCPI Program. In the absence of DOE funding, Summit
could pursue two options. First, the facility and supporting
infrastructure could be built as proposed without DOE funding. The
potential environmental impacts of this option would be essentially the
same as the Proposed Action. Second, Summit could choose to cancel the
project, and none of the proposed facilities would be built. This
option would not contribute to the goal of the CCPI program, which is
to accelerate commercial deployment of advanced coal technologies with
carbon capture and sequestration that provide the United States with
clean, reliable, and affordable energy. 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-
1508) and DOE regulations (10 CFR part 1021). This strategy has two
phases. The first phase involves 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 select those projects
that they conclude best meets 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 phase, DOE considers a reasonable range
of alternatives for implementing CCPI. The second phase consists of
preparing detailed NEPA analyses for each selected project. For the
TCEP, DOE determined that providing financial assistance 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 draft EIS to assess the potential environmental
impacts of Summit's proposed project and the options that are still
under consideration by Summit.
Alternative sites considered by Summit in developing the proposed
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project are presented in the EIS. Alternative sources of water supply
and reasonable alternative routes for linear facilities are addressed
as options in the draft EIS.
The draft EIS considers the environmental consequences that may
result from the proposed project and describes additional mitigation
that might be used to reduce various impacts. Potential impacts
identified during the scoping process and analyzed in the draft EIS
relate to the following:
Air quality; soils, geology, and mineral resources; ground water;
surface water; biological resources; aesthetics; cultural resources;
land use; socioeconomics; environmental justice; community services;
utility systems; transportation; materials and waste management; human
health, safety, and accidents; and noise and vibration.
Availability of the Draft EIS
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://nepa.energy.gov/. Copies of the draft EIS are available for
public review at the following location: University of Texas of the
Permian Basin, J. Conrad Dunagan Library, Main Floor, 4901 E.
University Avenue, Odessa, TX 79762-0001. Additional copies also can be
requested (see ADDRESSES).
Public Hearing
DOE will conduct a public hearing on April 5, 2011 at the MCM
Elegante Hotel, 5200 E. University Boulevard, Odessa, TX 79762 to
obtain comments on the draft EIS. Requests to speak at the public
hearing can be made by calling or writing to Mr. Mark L. McKoy (see
ADDRESSES). Requests to speak that have not been 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 or supplementary materials for the record. Each
speaker will be allowed approximately five minutes to present comments.
Those speakers who want more than five minutes should indicate the
length of time desired in their request. Depending on the number of
speakers, DOE may need to limit all speakers to five minutes initially
and provide additional opportunities as time permits. Comments will be
recorded by a court reporter and will become part of the public record.
Oral and written comments will be given equal consideration.
The hearing will begin at 4 p.m. with an informational session.
Formal presentations and a formal comment session will begin at
approximately 7 p.m. DOE will begin the hearing's formal session with
overviews of the DOE program, proposed project, and NEPA process,
followed by oral statements by the pre-registered speakers. Speakers
may be asked questions to help ensure that DOE fully understands the
comments. A presiding officer will establish the order of speakers and
provide any additional procedures necessary to conduct the meetings.
All meetings will be accessible to people with disabilities. In
addition, any individual needing specific assistance, such as a sign
language interpreter or a translator, should contact Mr. Mark L. McKoy
(See ADDRESSES) at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing so that
arrangements can be made.
Issued in Washington, DC, on March 17, 2011.
Mark J. Matarrese,
Director, Office of Environment, Security, Safety & Health, Office of
Fossil Energy.
[FR Doc. 2011-6694 Filed 3-21-11; 8:45 am]
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