Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 233 / Thursday, December 4, 1997 / Notices 64223

should be waived. Environmental issues

have been viewed as good cause for late

intervention. You do not need

intervenor status to have your

comments considered.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–31758 Filed 12–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP97–331–000]

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line

Corporation; Notice of Availability of

the Environmental Assessment for the

Proposed Cherokee Expansion Project

November 28, 1997.

The staff of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC or

Commission) has prepared an

environmental assessment (EA) on the

natural gas pipeline facilities proposed

by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line

Corporation (Transco) in the abovereferenced docket.

The EA was prepared to satisfy the

requirements of the National

Environmental Policy Act. The staff

concludes that approval of the proposed

project, with appropriate mitigating

measures, would not constitute a major

Federal action significantly affecting the

quality of the human environment.

The EA addresses the potential

environmental effects of the

construction and operation of the

following facilities:

• construction of about 11.2 miles of

48-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline

loop (Alabama Mainline Loop) in

Marengo County, Alabama;

• uprating of the 16-inch-diameter

Georgia Extension (Georgia Extension

Uprating) in Walton and Gwinnett

Counties, Georgia from a maximum

allowable operating pressure (MAOP) of

780 pounds per square inch (psi) to a

MAOP of 960 psi. The uprating would

include:

a. replacement of about 3.7 miles of

16-inch-diameter pipeline;

b. expansion and/or uprating of four

metering and regulating (M&R) stations;

c. hydrostatic testing of about 26.9

miles of 16-inch-diameter pipeline; and

d. abandonment in place of about 0.1

mile of 16-inch-diameter pipeline.

• construction of a new 15,000

horsepower (HP) compressor station in

Coweta County, Georgia (Compressor

Station 115);

• installation of two 4,000-HP

compressor units at an existing

compressor station in Walton County,

Georgia (Compressor Station 125);

• rewheeling compressor units at

existing compressor stations in Chilton

County, Alabama (Compressor Station

100) and in Henry County, Ceorgia

(Compressor Station 120); and

• installation of additional gas

cooling capacity at an existing

compressor station in Randolph County,

Alabama (Compressor Station 110).

The purpose of the proposed facilities

is to provide additional firm

transportation capacity of up to 87,070

dekatherms per day of natural gas to two

existing customers.

The EA has been placed in the public

files of the FERC and is available for

public inspection at: Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, Public

Reference and Files Maintenance

Branch, 888 First Street, N.E., Room 2A,

Washington, D.C. 20426, (202) 208–

1371.

Copies of the EA have been mailed to

Federal, state, and local agencies, public

interest groups, interested individuals,

newspapers, and parties to this

proceeding.

Any person wishing to comment on

the EA may do so. To ensure

consideration prior to a Commission

decision on the proposal, it is important

that we receive your comments before

the date specified below. Please

carefully follow these instructions to

ensure that your comments are received

in time and properly recorded:

• Send two copies of your comments

to: Lois Cashell, Secretary, Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888

First St., N.E., Room 1A, Washington,

DC 20426;

• Label one copy of the comments for

the attention of the Environmental

Review and Compliance Branch II, PR–

11.2;

• Reference Docket No. CP97–331–

000; and

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before December 29, 1997.

Comments will be considered by the

Commission but will not serve to make

the commentor a party to the

proceeding. Any person seeking to

become a party to the proceeding must

file a motion to intervene pursuant to

Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedures (18 CFR

385.214).

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

comments considered.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–31767 Filed 12–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

[FRL–5931–9]

Models-2000 Workshop; Meeting

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

The Ecosystems Research Division of

the National Exposure Research

Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency is hosting a

workshop on the development and use

of computer models in risk assessment,

including both dose-response and

exposure modeling. The workshop will

be held at the EPA Ecosystems Research

Division, 960 College Station Rd. in

Athens, GA from December 15–17,

1997, convening no earlier than 8:30

a.m. and adjourning no later than 6:00

p.m. For further information, contact Dr.

Rosemarie Russo, Director of EPA’s

Ecosystems Research Division at (706)

355–8001

(russo.rosemarie@epamail.epa.gov).

Background

In March 1994, the Deputy

Administrator endorsed the

recommendations of the ad hoc Agency

Task Force on Environmental

Regulatory Modeling (ATFERM) that

were designed to improve the

procedures by which the Agency adopts

and utilizes computer models in

generating risk assessments. Following

subsequent discussion in the Science

Policy Council Steering Committee, the

senior science policy body in the

Agency, and in correspondence between

the Agency’s Science Advisory Board

(SAB) Chair and the Administrator, a

further effort is being undertaken to (a)

facilitate Agency adherence to existing

guidance on modeling and (b) define

and implement improvements to the

way in which the Agency develops and

uses modeling. A key aspect of this new

effort is the convening of a workshop,

aimed primarily at Agency modelers

and risk assessors.

The intended goal of the workshop is

to recommend to the Science Policy

Council (SPC) and the Administrator/

Deputy Administrator of EPA a Models

Implementation and Improvement Plan