Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 208 / Thursday, October 26, 2000 / Notices 64217

1CIG’s application was filed with the

Commission under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act

and Part 157 of the Commission’s regulations.

2 ‘‘We’’, ‘‘us’’, and ‘‘our’’ refer to the

environmental staff of the Office of Energy Projects

(OEP).

the internet in lieu of paper. See, 18

CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the

instructions on the Commission’s web

site at http://www.ferc.fed.us/efi/

doorbell.htm.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–27550 Filed 10–25–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. RT01–77–000]

Southern Company Services, Inc.;

Notice of Filing

October 20, 2000.

Take notice that on October 16, 2000,

Southern Company Services, Inc., acting

on behalf of Alabama Power Company,

Georgia Power Company, Gulf Power

Company, Mississippi Power Company,

and Savannah Electric and Power

Company (collectively referred to as

Southern Companies), filed a Petition

for Declaratory Order in compliance

with the Commission’s Order No. 2000.

In their Petition, Southern Companies

proposed the formation of a Gridco that

would be a Regional Transmission

Organization. Southern Companies also

proposed a ratemaking approach for the

Gridco.

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest such filing should file a motion

to intervene, comments, 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, comments

and protests should be filed on or before

November 20, 2000. Protests will be

considered by the Commission to

determine the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceedings.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of this filing 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). Beginning

November 1, 2000, comments and

protests may be filed electronically via

the internet in lieu of paper. See 18 CFR

385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions

on the Commission’s web site at http:/

/www.ferc.fed.us/efi/doorbell.htm.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–27551 Filed 10–25–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP00–452–000]

Colorado Interstate Gas Company;

Notice of Intent to Prepare an

Environmental Assessment for the

Proposed Raton Basin Expansion

Project and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

October 20, 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 Raton Basin Expansion Project

involving construction and operation of

facilities by Colorado Interstate Gas

Company (CIG) in Baca and Las Animas

Counties, Colorado; Cimarron, Texas,

and Beaver Counties, Oklahoma; and

Morton County, Kansas.1 These

facilities would consist of about 70

miles of various diameter pipeline and

18,050 horsepower (hp) of compression.

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.

If you are a landowner receiving this

notice, you may be contacted by a

pipeline company representative about

the acquisition of an easement to

construct, operate, and maintain the

proposed facilities. The pipeline

company would seek to negotiate a

mutually acceptable agreement.

However, if the project is approved by

the Commission, that approval conveys

with it the right of eminent domain.

Therefore, if easement negotiations fail

to produce an agreement, the pipeline

company could initiate condemnation

proceedings in accordance with state

law.

A fact sheet prepared by the FERC

entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas

Facility On My Land? What Do I Need

To Know?’’ was attached to the project

notice CIG provided to landowners.

This fact sheet addresses a number of

typically asked questions, including the

use of eminent domain and how to

participate in the Commission’s

proceedings. It is available for viewing

on the FERC Internet website

(www.ferc.fed.us).

Summary of the Proposed Project

CIG wants to expand the capacity of

its facilities in Colorado, Oklahoma, and

Kansas to transport an additional 85,000

Decatherms per day of natural gas in

order to increase capacity to points east

and south of CIG’s Campo Regulator

Station. CIG seeks authority to construct

and operate the following:

• 21.4 miles of 8-inch-diameter

pipeline loop of 3C Keyes to Campo

Loop in Cimarron County, Oklahoma

and Baca County, Colorado;

• 48.1 miles of 20-inch-diameter loop

of 11B Morton to Hooker Loop in

Morton County, Kansas and Texas

County, Oklahoma;

• New 4,700 hp Trinidad Compressor

Station in Las Animas County,

Colorado;

• New 8,900 hp Kim Compressor

Station in Las Animas County,

Colorado;

• Additional 4,450 hp compressor

unit at the existing Keyes Compressor

Station in Cimarron County, Oklahoma;

• Recylindering of the compressors at

the Beaver County Compressor Station

in Beaver County, Oklahoma; and

• Facilities for blending of low and

high BTU gas within the existing Campo

Regulator Station yard in Baca County,

Colorado.

The location of the project facilities is

show in appendix 1.

Land Requirements for Construction

Construction of the proposed facilities

would require about 802 acres of land.

About 95 percent of the project would

be within 50 feet of existing pipelines.

Following construction, about 429.0

acres would be maintained as

permanent pipeline right-of-way and

about 21.5 acres would be maintained as

new aboveground facility sites. The

remaining 351.5 acres of land would be

restored and allowed to revert to its

former use.

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 2 to

discover and address concerns the

64218 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 208 / Thursday, October 26, 2000 / Notices

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 these 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 make

our recommendations to the

Commission.

To ensure your comments are

considered, please carefully follow the

instructions in the public participation

section below.

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

CIG. This preliminary list of issues may

be changed based on your comments

and our analysis.

• Eight federally listed endangered or

threatened species may occur in the

proposed project area.

• The project would cross 14

waterbodies and 8 wetlands.

• The project would cross about 32.7

acres of Comanche National Grasslands,

and about 73.2 acres of Cimarron

National Grasslands.

• The project would cross the Santa

Fe National Historic Trail.

• The pipeline facilities would

disturb about 322.2 acres of agricultural

land.

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 (including

alternative locations/routes), 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 original and 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 Gas 2.

• Reference Docket No. CP00–452–

000.

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before November 20, 2000.

If you do not want to send comments

at this time but still want to remain on

our mailing list, please return the

Information Request (appendix 3). If you

do not return the Information Request,

you will be taken off the mailing list.

Beginning November 1, 2000, comments

and protests may be filed electronically

via the internet in lieu of paper. See, 18

CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the

instructions on the Commission’s web

site at http;//www.ferc.fed.us/efi/

doorbell.htm.

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.

Affected landowners and parties with

environmental concerns may be granted

intervenor status upon showing good

cause by stating that they have a clear

and direct interest in this proceeding

which would not be adequately

represented by any other parties. You do

not need intervenor status to have your

environmental comments considered.

Additional information about the

proposed project is available from the

Commission’s Office of External Affairs

at (202) 208–0004 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.

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 00–27489 Filed 10–25–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice of Intent To File Application for

a New License

October 20, 2000.

Take notice that the following notice

of intent has been filed with the

Commission and is available for public

inspection:

a. Type of filing: Notice of Intent to

File an Application for New License.

b. Project No: 2114–000.

c. Date filed: September 28, 2000.

d. Submitted By: Public Utility

District No. 2 of Grant County,

Washington.