5390 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 24 / Wednesday, February 5, 1997 / Notices

1 Great Lakes Gas Transmission Limited

Partnership’s application 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 from the Commission’s Public Reference

and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 First Street,

N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, or call (202) 208–

1371. Copies of the appendices were sent to all

those receiving this notice in the mail.

deemed to be authorized effective the

day after the time allowed for filing a

protest. If a protest is filed and not

withdrawn within 30 days after the time

allowed for filing a protest, the instant

request shall be treated as an

application for authorization pursuant

to Section 7 of the NGA.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–2776 Filed 2–4–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket No. CP97–198–000]

Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline

Company; Notice of Request Under

Blanket Authorization

January 30, 1997.

Take notice that on January 17, 1997,

as supplemented on January 28, 1997,

Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline

Company (Williston Basin), 200 North

Third Street, Bismarck, North Dakota

58501, filed in Docket No. CP97–198–

000 a request pursuant to Sections

157.205 and 157.211 of the

Commission’s Regulations under the

Natural Gas Act (18 CFR 157.205,

157.211) for authorization to construct

and operate delivery facilities in South

Dakota under Williston Basin’s blanket

certificate issued in Docket No. CP82–

487–000, et al., pursuant to Section 7 of

the Natural Gas Act, all as more fully set

forth in the request that is on file with

the Commission and open to public

inspection.

Williston Basin proposes to construct

an additional one-inch tap at an existing

tap site to effectuate natural gas

transportation deliveries to MontanaDakota Utilities Co. (Montana-Dakota)

for ultimate use by additional

residential customers. Williston Basin

states that the existing tap and the

additional one-inch tap will be

manifolded together and used to serve

Montana-Dakota, for ultimate use by the

residents of the Mountain Shadow

Estates mobile home park. Williston

Basin estimates the current maximum

daily quantity at the existing tap to be

200 Mcf per day. Williston Basin further

estimates that after the additional oneinch tap is installed, the maximum daily

delivery quantity will be 1,100 Mcf per

day. Williston Basin states that the

volumes to be delivered are within the

contractual entitlements of the

customer. In addition, Williston Basin

estimates the cost of construction to be

$1,000, of which will be fully

reimbursed by Montana-Dakota.

Any person or the Commission’s staff

may, within 45 days after issuance of

the instant notice by the Commission,

file pursuant to Rule 214 of the

Commission’s Procedural Rules (18 CFR

385.214) a motion to intervene or notice

of intervention and pursuant to

§ 157.205 of the Regulations under the

Natural Gas Act (18 CFR 157.205) a

protest to the request. If no protest is

filed within the time allowed therefor,

the proposed activity shall be deemed to

be authorized effective the day after the

time allowed for filing a protest. If a

protest is filed and not withdrawn

within 30 days after the time allowed

for filing a protest, the instant request

shall be treated as an application for

authorization pursuant to Section 7 of

the Natural Gas Act.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–2775 Filed 2–4–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket No. CP96–647–000]

Great Lakes Gas Transmission Limited

Partnership; Notice of Intent To

Prepare an Environmental Assessment

for the Proposed 1998 Expansion

Project and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

January 30, 1997.

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 in the 1998

Expansion Project.1 This EA will be

used by the Commission in its decisionmaking process to determine whether an

environmental impact statement is

necessary and whether to approve the

project.

Summary of the Proposed Project

Great Lakes Gas Transmission Limited

Partnership (Great Lakes) requests

authority to construct and operate the

following:

1. Three 36-inch-diameter loops

totalling about 71.5 miles of pipeline:

a. Loop 1—about 22.0 miles long,

extending from St. Vincent Compressor

Station at milepost (MP) 0.7 to MP 22.7

in Kittson County, Minnesota;

b. Loop 2—about 26.7 miles long,

extending from MP 132.5 to MP 159.2

in Clearwater, Beltrami, and Hubbard

Counties, Minnesota; and

c. Loop 3—about 22.8 miles long,

extending from MP 283.5 to MP 306.3

in Carlton County, Minnesota and

Douglas County, Wisconsin;

2. Two 7,400 horsepower compressor

units and appurtenant facilities at the

St. Vincent Compressor Station and

Farwell Compressor Station in Kittson

County, Minnesota and Clare County,

Michigan, respectively;

3. A replacement aerodynamic

assembly at the Thief River Falls

Compressor Station in Marshall County,

Minnesota; and

4. Minor permanent above ground

ancillary facilities;

a. three crossover assemblies at the

new loop ends at MPs 22.7, 159.2, and

306.3 in Kittson and Hubbard Counties,

Minnesota, and Douglas County,

Wisconsin, respectively;

b. the expansion of four existing

mainline valve sites at MPs 16.3, 150.0,

283.5, and 299.3 in Kittson, Beltrami,

and Carlton Counties, Minnesota, and

Douglas County, Wisconsin,

respectively; and

c. removal of the existing end-of-loop

valve and crossover assembly by MP

132.5 in Clearwater County, Minnesota.

The general location of the project

facilities is shown in appendix 1.2 If you

are interested in obtaining detailed

maps of a specific portion of the project,

please write to the Secretary of the

Commission at the address on page 4 of

this notice.

Land Requirements for Construction

Construction of the proposed facilities

would require about 867 acres of land.

Following construction, about 222 acres

would be maintained as new permanent

right-of-way. The remaining 645 acres of

land would be restored and allowed to

revert to their former use.

Construction Timing

Great Lakes proposes to construct

loopline facilities in two phases: a 1997/

1998 winter phase and a 1998 summer

phase. Loop 2 would be constructed

during the 1997/1998 winter phase

beginning November 15, 1997, and

would be completed by March 1, 1998.

Therefore, wetlands would be frozen

during the crossings.

Loops 1 and 3 would be constructed

during the 1998 summer phase

beginning July 1, 1998, with an inservice date November 1, 1998.

The compressor station additions and

modifications would be installed during

the period of March 1, 1998, and

November 1, 1998.
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 24 / Wednesday, February 5, 1997 / Notices 5391

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

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

government 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 the general

headings:

• Geology and soils

• Water resources, fisheries, and

wetlands

• Vegetation and wildlife

• Endangered and threatened species

• Public safety

• Land use

• Cultural resources

• Air quality and noise

• Hazardous waste

We will also evaluate possible

alternatives to the proposed project or

portions of the 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

recommend that the Commission

approve or not approve the project.

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

Great Lakes. This preliminary list of

issues may be changed based on your

comments and our analysis.

• Effect on three federally listed

endangered or threatened species, Bald

eagle, Piping plower, and Timber wolf,

and state special concern species.

• Eleven perennial waterbodies

would be crossed and three of them are

coldwater fisheries (two are trout

stocking fisheries).

• Four waterbodies would be crossed

that are over 100 feet wide (South

Branch Two Rivers, Mississippi River,

Schoolcraft River, and Nemadji River).

• Effect on Mississippi Headwaters

State Forest land.

• Effect on residences that are

potentially within 50 feet of the

proposed construction work area.

• Several prehistoric and historic

archaeological sites may be affected by

the project (only 30 percent of the

cultural resources surveys have been

completed to date).

Public Participation

• You can make a different by

sending a letter addressing your specific

comments or concerns about the project.

You should focus on the potential

environmental effects of the proposal,

alternatives to the proposal (including

alternative routes), and measures to

avoid or lessen environmental impact.

The more specific your comments, the

more useful they will be. Please follow

the instructions below to ensure that

your comments are received and

properly recorded:

• Address your letter to: Lois Cashell,

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First St., N.E.,

Washington, DC 20426.

• Reference Docket No. CP96–647–

000.

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before March 3, 1997.

If you wish to receive a copy of the

EA, please write to the Secretary of the

Commission at the address on page 4 of

this notice.

Becoming an Intervenor

In addition to involvement in the EA

scoping process, you may want to

become an official party to the

proceeding or become an ‘‘intervenor’’.

Among other things, intervenors have

the right to receive copies of caserelated Commission documents and

filings by other intervenors. Likewise,

each intervenor must provide copies of

its filings to all other parties. 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).

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 § 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 scoping comments

considered.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–2773 Filed 2–4–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket Nos. CP96–16–000 and CP96–16–

001]

Transcontinental Gas Pipeline

Corporation; Notice of Meeting

January 30, 1997.

On February 6, 1997, Office of

Pipeline Regulation Staff will meet with

representatives of Transcontinental Gas

Pipe Line Corporation (Transco) to

discuss pre-filing matters for a

compliance filing on compressor station

architectural design required by

Commission Order issued December 2,

1996 in Docket No. CP96–16–000 and

001. Transco requested this pre-filing

meeting by letter filed January 29, 1997

in the subject docket.

The meeting will be at 10:00 AM at

the Commission’s headquarters, 888

First Street NE, Washington, DC.

Kevin P. Madden,

Director, Office of Pipeline Regulation.

[FR Doc. 97–2772 Filed 2–4–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

Southwestern Power Administration

Transmission Rate Design

Development

AGENCY: Southwestern Power

Administration, DOE.

ACTION: Notice canceling a planned

technical conference.

SUMMARY: The Administrator,

Southwestern Power Administration

(Southwestern) will not conduct the

Technical Conference that was

anticipated to be convened as noted in

the Federal Register (61 FR 53732) on

October 15, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Forrest E. Reeves, Assistant

Administrator, Office of Corporate

Operations, Southwestern Power

Administration, U.S. Department of