6598 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 28 / Thursday, February 10, 2000 / Notices

1Trans-Union’s application was filed with the

Commission on December 10, 1999, 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, Room 2A, 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.

14. Wolverine Power Supply

Cooperative, Inc., Deseret Generation &

Transmission Co-operative, GS Electric

Generating Cooperative, Inc., Tucson

Electric Power Company, Tucson

Electric Power Company, ArcherDaniels-Midland Company, El Paso

Electric Company, Indeck-Olean

Limited Partnership, Golden Spread

Electric Cooperative, Inc., Virginia

Electric and Power Company, Delmarva

Power & Light Company, Mobile Energy

Services Company, L.L.C.

[Docket Nos. ER00–1282–000, ER00–1283–

000, ER00–1284–000, ER00–1285–000,

ER00–1286–000, ER00–1287–000, ER00–

1288–000, ER00–1289–000, ER00–1290–000,

ER00–1291–000, ER00–1292–000, ER00–

1293–000]

Take notice that on January 27, 2000.

the above-mentioned affiliated power

producers and/or public utilities filed

their quarterly reports for the quarter

ending December 31, 1999.

Comment date: February 23, 2000, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

15. Bridgeport Energy, L.L.C., Casco

Bay Energy Company, L.L.C., Central

Illinois Light Company, Allegheny

Power

[Docket Nos. ER00–1294–000, ER00–1295–

000, ER00–1296–000, ER00–1302–000]

Take notice that on January 27, 2000,

the above-mentioned affiliated power

producers and/or public utilities filed

their quarterly reports for the quarter

ending December 31, 1999.

Comment date: February 23, 2000, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph F

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, N.E., Washington, D.C.

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. 00–3074 Filed 2–9–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP00–47–000]

Trans-Union Interstate Pipeline, L.P.;

Notice of Intent To Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement for

the Proposed Trans-Union Interstate

Pipeline Project, Request for

Comments on Environmental Issues,

and Notice of Site Visit

February 4, 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 Trans-Union Interstate Pipeline

Project involving construction and

operation of facilities by Trans-Union

Interstate Pipeline, L.P. (Trans-Union)

in Claiborne and Union Parishes,

Louisiana and Union County,

Arkansas.1 These facilities would

consist of about 41.7 miles of 30-inchdiameter pipeline, two mainline values,

and launcher/receiver facilities at the

beginning and end of the pipeline.

If you are a landowner on TransUnion’s proposed route and receive 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 FERC

entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas

Facility on My Land? What Do I Need

To Know?’’ was attached to the project

notice Trans-Union provided to

landowners. This fact sheet addresses a

number of typically asked questions,

including the use of eminent domain. It

is available for viewing on the FERC

Internet website (www.ferc.fed.us).

This Notice of Intent (NOI) is being

sent to landowners along Trans-Union’s

proposed route; Federal, state, and local

government agencies; elected officials;

regional environmental, and public

interest groups; Indian tribes that might

attach religious and cultural

significance to historic properties in the

area of potential effects; local libraries

and newspapers; and Commission’s

service list and parties to the

proceeding. Government representatives

are encouraged to notify their

constituents of this proposed action and

encourage them to comment on their

areas of concern. Additionally, with this

NOI we are asking Federal, state, local,

and tribal agencies with jurisdiction

and/or special expertise with respect to

environmental issues to cooperate with

us in the preparation of the EA. These

agencies may choose to participate once

they have evaluated Trans-Union’s

proposal relative to their agencies’

responsibilities. Agencies who would

like to request cooperating status should

follow the instructions for filing

comments described below.

Summary of the Proposed Project

Trans-Union proposes to construct

41.7 miles of 30-inch-diameter pipeline

to transport natural gas from the Sharon

Hub in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana to

the proposed nonjurisdictional electric

power generation facility being

developed by Union Power Partners

(UPP) in Union County Arkansas. The

pipeline would supply 430,000

decatherms per day of natural gas to

UPP.

The general location of Trans-Union’s

proposed facilities is shown on the map

attached as appendix 1.2

Land Requirements for Construction

Construction Of the Trans-Union’s

proposed facilities would affect about

538 acres of land. Following

construction, about 186 acres would be

retained as permanent right-of-way. The

remaining 352 acres of temporary work

space would be restored and allowed to

revert to its former use.

Trans-Union proposes to use a

pipeline construction right-of-way of 95

feet, including 50 feet which would

become permanent right-or-way and 45

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 28 / Thursday, February 10, 2000 / Notices 6599

3 ‘‘Us,’’ ‘‘we,’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to the environment

staff of the FERC’s Office of Pipeline Regulation.

feet of temporary extra work space.

There also would be about 22.4 acres

used as additional temporary extra work

spaces at stream, utility, and road

crossings.

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 3 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 NOI, 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.

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, elected officials,

affected landowners, regional public

interest groups, Indian tribes, local

newspapers and 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.

Currently Identified Environmental

Issues.

The EA will discuss impacts that

could occur as a result of construction

and operation of the proposed project.

We have already indentified a number

of issues that we think deserve attention

based on a preliminary review of the

proposed facilities and the

environmental information provided by

Trans-Union. This preliminary list of

issues may be changed based on your

comments and our analysis.

• Nonjurisdictional Facilities

—Gulf States Pipeline Company’s

proposal to construct 31.5 miles of

20-inch diameter pipeline in

Claiborne County, Louisiana under

Section 311(a)(2) of the Natural Gas

Policy Act.

• Soils

—Crossing about 15.2 miles of soils

having a poor revegetation

potential.

—Crossing about 12.3 miles of erosion

prone soils.

• Water Resources and Wetlands

—Crossing 32 perennial streams.

—Crossing 52 areas classified as

wetlands.

• Biological Resources

—Impacts on about 360 acres of forest

or woodlands.

—Impacts on the red-cockaded

woodpecker, a Federally listed

endangered species.

• Land Use

—Permanent loss of timber land as

permanent maintained right-of-way.

• Alternatives

—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.

Public Participation and Site Visit

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 or 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 two copies of your letter to:

David P. Boergers, 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, PR–

11.1;

• Reference Docket No. CP00–47–

000; and

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before March 6, 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 may be removed from the

environmental mailing list.]

On March 9, 2000, the Office of

Energy Projects staff will conduct a

precertification site visit of the project

route and possible reroutes. All parties

may attend. Those planning to attend

must provide their own transportation.

For further information on attending

the site visit, please contact Paul McKee

at (202) 208–1088.

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 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. 00–3045 Filed 2–9–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M