2942 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 19, 2000 / Notices

1 DOMAC’s application in Docket No. CP00–55–

000 was filed with the Commission under Section

7 of the Natural Gas Act and Part 157 of the

Commission’s regulations.

2The appendices referenced in this notice are not

being printed in the Federal Register. Copies are

available on the Commission’s website at the

‘‘RIMS’’ link or from the Commission’s Public

Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 First

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, or call (202)

208–1371. For instructions on connecting to RIMS

refer to the last page of this notice. Copies of the

appendices were sent to all those receiving this

notice in the mail.

Dispatch and Trading under the

Companies Open Access Transmission

Tariff.

Comment date: February 1, 2000, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

Standard Paragraphs

E. Any person desiring to be heard or

to protest such filing should file a

motion to intervene or protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC

20426, in accordance with Rules 211

and 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211

and 385.214). All such motions or

protests should be filed on or before the

comment date. Protests will be

considered by the Commission in

determining the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceeding.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of these filings are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection. This filing may also be

viewed on the Internet at http://

www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm (call

202–208–2222 for assistance).

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–1155 Filed 1–18–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Project No. 2474–004 New York]

Erie Boulevard Hydropower L.P.;

Notice Extending Time To Comment on

Draft Environmental Assessment

January 12, 2000.

The Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission issued a Draft

Environmental Assessment (DEA) on

November 24, 1999, considering

issuance of a new license for the

Oswego River Hydroelectric Project,

located on the Oswego River in Oswego

County, New York, in accordance with

the National Environmental Policy Act

of 1969 and the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission’s

(Commission’s) regulations, 18 CFR Part

380 (Order No. 486, 52 FR 47897). In the

DEA, the Commission’s staff has

analyzed the potential environmental

impacts of the existing project and has

concluded that approval of the project,

with appropriate environmental

protection measures, would not

constitute a major federal actions

significantly affecting the quality of the

human environment.

The Commission requested comments

on the DEA within 45 days, or by

January 8, 2000. Erie Boulevard

Hydropower L.P., in its December 27,

1999 letter, requested an extension of

time to complete its review of the DEA.

In consideration of the holidays which

fell during the review period, I am

extending the DEA comment period

until January 31, 2000.

Copies of the DEA will remain

available for review in the Public

Reference Branch, Room 2–A, of the

Commission’s offices at 888 First Street,

NE, Washington, DC 20426.

Anyone wishing to comment in

writing on the DEA must do so no later

than January 31, 2000. Comments

should be addressed to: David P.

Boergers, Secretary, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 888 First

Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.

Please affix on the first page the caption

‘‘Oswego River Project No. 2474–004’’ to

all comments and letters.

For further information, please

contact Charles T. Raabe at (202) 219–

2811.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–1180 Files 1–18–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP00–55–000]

Distrigas of Massachusetts

Corporation; Notice of Intent To

Prepare an Environmental Assessment

for the Proposed Distrigas LNG Plant

Modifications Project and Request for

Comments on Environmental Issues

January 12, 2000.

The staff of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC or

Commission) will prepare an

environmental assessment (EA) that will

discuss the environmental impacts of

the construction and operation of the

facilities proposed at Distrigas of

Massachusetts Corporation’s (DOMAC)

liquefied natural gas terminal (LNG

Plant) in Everett, Massachusetts.1 This

EA will be used by the Commission in

its decision-making process to

determine whether the project is in the

public convenience and necessity.

Summary of the Proposed Project

The proposed project would allow

DOMAC to establish a mutually

beneficial thermal energy exchange

arrangement between its LNG Plant and

the Island End Cogeneration Project

(Power Project), a nonjurisdictional

electric generating Facilities Siting

Board (Siting Board) on October 8, 1998.

DOMAC proposes to supply 66,000

MMBtu per day of regasified liquefied

natural gas (LNG) to the Power Plant

Project and to modify its existing

vaporization facilities to use low-grade

waste heat from the Power Project.

Specifically, DOMAC requests

Commission authorization to:

• Install a closed-loop hot and cold

water thermal energy transfer system

consisting of piping, a warm water

storage tank, water-to-water heat

exchangers, and five water pumps;

• Replace existing low, medium, and

high pressure vaporizers with

equivalent capacity shell-and-tube hot

water heat exchangers compatible with

the thermal energy transfer system;

• Perform minor LNG Plant

modifications necessary to meter and

connect the Power Project’s fuel supply

line to the LNG Plant; and

• Install a new utility water supply

system to serve both the LNG Plant and

the Power Project.

The general location of DOMAC’s

proposed project facilities is shown on

the map attached as appendix 1.2

Construction of the proposed facilities

would occur completely on land owned

by DOMAC or on the adjacent Power

Project site.

The EA Process

The National Environmental Policy

Act (NEPA) requires the Commission to

take into account the environmental

impacts that could result from an action

whenever it considers the issuance of a

Certificate of Public Convenience and

Necessity. NEPA also requires us to

discover and address concerns the

public may have about proposals. We

call this ‘‘scoping’’. The main goal of the

scoping process is to focus the analysis

in the EA on the important

environmental issues. By this Notice of

Intent, the Commission requests public

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 12 / Wednesday, January 19, 2000 / Notices 2943

comments on the scope of the issues it

will address in the EA. All comments

received are considered during the

preparation of the EA. State and local

governments representatives are

encouraged to notify their constituents

of this proposed action and encourage

them to comment on their areas of

concern.

The EA will discuss impacts that

could occur as a result of the

construction and operation of the

proposed project under these general

headings:

• Geology and soils

• Vegetation and wildlife

• Water resources, fisheries, and

wetlands

• Endangered and threatened species

• Public safety

• Cultural resources

• Land use

• Air quality and noise

We will also evaluate possible

alternatives to the proposed project and

make recommendations on how to

lessen or avoid impacts on the various

resource areas.

Our independent analysis of the

issues will be in the EA. Depending on

the comments received during the

scoping process, the EA may be

published and mailed to Federal, state,

and local agencies, public interest

groups, interested individuals, affected

landowners, newspapers, libraries, and

the Commission’s official service list for

this proceeding. A comment period will

be allotted for review if the EA is

published. We will consider all

comments on the EA before we make

our recommendations to the

Commission.

To ensure your comments are

considered, please carefully follow the

instructions in the public participation

section beginning on page 4.

Currently Identified Environmental

Issues

We have already identified several

issues that we think deserve attention

based on a preliminary review of the

proposed facilities and the

environmental information provided by

DOMAC. This preliminary list of issues

may be changed based on your

comments and our analysis.

• Noise quality may be affected by the

addition of the new warm water

circulating pumps.

• Soils (possibly contaminated) may

be affected by minor ground disturbance

from foundation construction. The

proposed project area is part of a site

that has been identified as a ‘‘noticed

site’’ pursuant to the Massachusetts

Contingency Plan. The former site

owner, Boston Gas Company, is

currently conducting environmental

investigations to determine the need for

soil remediation.

The Siting Board has reviewed

environmental impacts associated with

the Power Project and has approved

construction of this facility. Therefore,

the EA will not address impacts from

this nonjurisdictional facility. We will

briefly describe their location and status

in the EA.

Public Participation

You can make a difference by

providing us with your specific

comments or concerns about the project.

By becoming a commentor, your

concerns will be addressed in the EA

and considered by the Commission. You

should focus on the potential

environmental effects of the proposal,

alternatives to the proposal, and

measures to avoid or lessen

environmental impact. The more

specific your comments, the more useful

they will be. Please carefully follow

these instructions to ensure that your

comments are received in time and

properly recorded:

• Send two copies of your letter to:

David P. Boergers, Secretary, Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888

First St., NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC

20426.

• Label one copy of the comments for

the attention of the Environmental

Review and Compliance Branch, PR–

11.1.

• Reference Docket No. CP00–55–

000.

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before February 11, 2000.

Becoming an Intervenor

In addition to involvement in the EA

scoping process, you may want to

become an official party to the

proceeding known as an ‘‘intervenor’’.

Intervenors play a more formal role in

the process. Among other things,

intervenors have the right to receive

copies of case-related Commission

documents and filings by other

intervenors. Likewise, each intervenor

must provide 14 copies of its filings to

the Secretary of the Commission and

must send a copy of its filings to all

other parties on the Commission’s

service list for this proceeding. If you

want to become an intervenor you must

file a motion to intervene according to

Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR

385.214) (see appendix 2). Only

intervenors have the right to seek

rehearing of the Commission’s decision.

The date for filing timely motions to

intervene in this proceeding has passed.

Therefore, parties now seeking to file

late interventions must show good

cause, as required by section

385.214(b)(3), why this time limitation

should be waived. Environmental issues

have been viewed as good cause for late

intervention.

You do not need intervenor status to

have your environmental comments

considered. Additional information

about the proposed project is available

from Mr. Paul McKee of the

Commission’s Office of External Affairs

at (202) 208–1088 or on the FERC

website (www.ferc.fed.us) using the

‘‘RIMS’’ link to information in this

docket number. Click on the ‘‘RIMS’’

link, select ‘‘Docket #’’ from the RIMS

Menu, and follow the instructions. For

assistance with access to RIMS, the

RIMS helpline can be reached at (202)

208–2222.

Similarly, the ‘‘CIPS’’ link on the

FERC Internet website provides access

to the texts of formal documents issued

by the Commission, such as orders,

notices, and rulemakings. From the

FERC Internet website, click on the

‘‘CIPS’’ link, select ‘‘Docket #’’ from the

CIPS menu, and follow the instructions.

For assistance with access to CIPS, the

CIPS helpline can be reached at (202)

208–2474.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–1178 Filed 1–18–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice Granting Limited Extension for

Filing Comments, Final Terms and

Conditions, Recommendations and

Prescriptions

January 12, 2000.

Type of Application: New Major

License.

Project Name & No.: Fifteen Mile

Falls Project No. 2077–016.

Dated Filed: July 29, 1999.

Applicant: USGen New England, Inc.

Location: The project is located on the

Connecticut River, in Grafton and Coos

Counties, New Hampshire, and

Caledonia and Essex Counties, Vermont.

Applicant Contact: Mr. Cleve Kapala,

USGen New England, Inc., 46 Centerra

Parkway, Lebanon, NH 03766.

FERC Contact: Any questions on this

notice should be addressed to William

Guey-Lee, E-mail address

william.gueylee@ferc.fed.us, or

telephone (202) 219–2808.