12162 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 50 / Friday, March 14, 1997 / Notices

1Avoca Natural Gas Storage’s application was

filed with the Commission under Section 7 of the

Natural Gas Act and Part 157 of the Commission’s

regulations.

blanket authority, issued under Part 284

of the Regulations. It is further stated

that the interruptible volumes to be

delivered to MRO, will be within MRO’s

certificated entitlements. Columbia Gas

does not anticipate that the interruptible

service that it will provide through the

proposed delivery facility, will

detrimentally impact it’s existing

customers.

Columbia Gas estimates the new

delivery facility to cost approximately

$38,398. It is indicated that MRO will

reimburse Columbia Gas’ total facility

cost.

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 Section

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protest is filed and not withdrawn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. 97–6441 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket No. ER94–24–017]

Enron Power Marketing, Inc.; Notice of

Filing

March 10, 1997.

Take notice that on January 21, 1997,

Enron Power Marketing, Inc. tendered

for filing a Notification of Change in

Status.

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest said 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 18

CFR 385.214). All such motions or

protests should be filed on or before

March 20, 1997. 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 this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–6442 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket No. RP97–8–000]

Granite State Gas Transmission, Inc.;

Notice of Informal Settlement

Conference

March 10, 1997.

Take notice that an informal

settlement conference will be convened

in this proceeding on Thursday, March

20, 1997, at 10:00 a.m., at the offices of

the Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First Street, N.E.,

Washington, D.C., for the purpose of

exploring the possible settlement of the

above-referenced docket.

Any party, as defined in 18 CFR

385.102(c), or any participant, as

defined in 18 CFR 385.102(b), is invited

to attend. Persons wishing to become a

party must move to intervene and

receive intervenor status pursuant to the

Commission’s regulations, 18 CFR

385.214.

For additional information, contact

Donald Williams at (202) 208–0743 or

Anja M. Clark at (202) 208–2034.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–6446 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket No. ER97–1566–000]

Southwestern Public Service

Company; Notice of Filing

March 10, 1997.

Take notice that on February 6, 1997,

Southwestern Public Service Company

(Southwestern) submitted an executed

service agreement under its open access

transmission tariff with e prime. The

service agreement is for umbrella nonfirm transmission service.

Any person desiring to be heard or to

protest said 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 18

CFR 385.214). All such motions or

protests should be filed on or before

March 21, 1997. 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 this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–6444 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket No. CP94–161–006]

Avoca Natural Gas Storage; Notice of

Intent To Prepare an Environmental

Assessment for the Proposed Avoca

Gas Storage Project Supplement and

Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

March 10, 1997.

The staff of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC or

Commission) will prepare an

environmental assessment (EA) to

evaluate the environmental impacts of

the construction of about 87.6 miles of

various diameter pipeline and related

facilities proposed in the Avoca Gas

Storage Project Supplement.1 This EQ

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

Avoca Natural Gas Storage (Avoca)

received a certificate authorizing the

development of gas-storage caverns in

an order issued on September 20, 1994.

In conjunction with the construction of

the storage caverns, Avoca wants to

construct facilities to transport brine

from the Avoca Storage Field (under

development) near Avoca, New York, to

two salt recovery facilities, Akzo Nobel

Salt Company (Akzo) and Cargill, Inc.

(Cargill), near and within Watkins Glen,

New York, respectively. The brine

would be created during the solution

mining (or leaching) of the underground

salt caverns that will be used to store

natural gas. In that order, Avoca was

authorized to use brine injection wells

to dispose of the brine created during

the cavern leaching process. However,

the aquifers into which the brine

injection wells were completed do not

have the capability to receive the brine

at the planned design rate of

production. Therefore, Avoca would

transport the brine via the proposed

brine pipeline to the two salt recovery

facilities. Specifically Avoca proposes to

construct:
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 50 / Friday, March 14, 1997 / Notices 12163

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.

• About 36.9 miles of 10-inchdiameter brine pipeline;

• About 5.5 miles of 8-inch-diameter

brine pipeline (from about milepost

[MP] 36.9 to the Akzo facility);

• About 2.83 miles of 6-inch-diameter

brine pipeline (from about MP 36.9 to

the Cargill facility);

• A valve station (at MP 36.9);

• A brine storage tank, pipeline

pigging equipment, residual water

storage tank, associated valves, and

piping at the Avoca facility;

• Electric pumps, associated valves,

pipeline pigging equipment, and

aboveground residual water and brine

storage tanks at the Akzo facility; and

• 42.4 miles of 6-inch-diameter

processed water return pipeline (from

the Akzo facility back to the Avoca

facility for reuse) that would be

installed in the same ditch as the 36.9-

mile-long 10-inch-diameter and the 5.5-

mile-long 8-inch-diameter brine

pipelines.

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,

or procedural information, please write

to the Secretary of the Commission.

Land Requirements for Construction

Construction of the proposed facilities

would require about 474.5 acres of land

including land that would be used for

extra workspaces at stream and road

crossings and warehouse and staging

areas. About 308.1 acres of this land

would be within existing utility, road,

and railroad rights-of-way. About 134.6

acres would be required for the new

permanent right-of-way and about 31.8

acres of land would be restored and

allowed to revert to its former use. The

proposed pipeline would follow

existing rights-of-way for about 90

percent of the route.

Avoca would use a 75- to 100-footwide right-of-way to construct most of

the project in non-agricultural and

agricultural areas, respectively.

However, a narrower right-of-way

would be used in some areas.

Avoca would install only the brine

pipeline (i.e., no water return pipeline)

to the Cargill facility, so the right-of-way

would be 40 feet wide or less in nonagricultural areas and 55 feet wide in

agricultural areas. Also, the portion of

the pipeline right-of-way along the

Conrail railroad right-of-way leading to

the Akzo facility would be about 30-

feet-wide.

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 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 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

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

Avoca. This preliminary list of issues

may be changed based on your

comments and our analysis.

• 42 private wells, 1 privately-owned

community well, and 1 state-regulated

non-municipal well would be within

150 feet of construction work areas;

• 46 perennial streams and 42

intermittent streams would be crossed;

• 3 of the perennial streams contain

protected fisheries;

• Goff Creek and the Cohocton River

would be crossed by directional drilling;

• 54 wetlands would be crossed;

• About 3.92 miles of State

Reforestation Lands would be crossed;

• About 9.79 miles of agricultural

land would be crossed;

• Proposed construction right-of-way

would be wide for this size pipeline;

• The area into which an existing

gravel mining operation plans to expand

would be crossed;

• Finger Lakes Trail would be crossed

at MPs 7.47, 22.39, 26.62, and 39.60

(Queen Catherine Marsh Trail);

• About 2.93 miles of New York State

Forest land would be crossed including

land within Moss Hill, Birds Eye

Hollow, Groundry Hill, Sugar Hill, and

Coon Hollow State Forests;

• The access road for the Sanford

Lake Day Use Area, a public recreation

area, would be crossed near MP 19.97;

• Watkins Glen State Park would be

crossed by using the existing Conrail

railroad trestle across Glen Creek Gorge

for about 450 feet or, alternatively,

Watkins Glen State Park may be crossed

at another location entirely by

directional drill; and

• 6 residences are located within 50

feet of construction work areas.

Public Participation

You can make a difference 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 locations/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. CP94–161–

006; and

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before April 9, 1997.
12164 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 50 / Friday, March 14, 1997 / Notices

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.

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).

You do not need intervenor status to

have your scoping comments

considered.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–6440 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Project No. 11547–000 Connecticut]

Summit Hydropower; Notice of

Availability of Draft Environmental

Assessment

March 10, 1997.

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 F.R. 47897), the Office of

Hydropower Licensing has reviewed the

application for minor license for the

proposed Hale Project located on the

Quinebaug River in the Town of

Putnam, Windham County, Connecticut,

and has prepared a Draft Environmental

Assessment (DEA) for the proposed

project. In the DEA, the Commission’s

staff has analyzed the potential

environmental impacts of the proposed

project and has concluded that approval

of the proposed project, with

appropriate mitigative measures, would

not constitute a major federal action

significantly affecting the quality of the

human environment.

Copies of the DEA are available for

review in the Public Reference Branch

of the Commission’s offices at 888 First

Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20426.

Comments should be filed within 30

days from the date of this notice and

should be addressed to Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First Street, N.E.,

Washington, D.C. 20426. Please affix

Project No. 11547–000 to all comments.

For further information, please contact

Rainer Feller, Environmental

Assessment Coordinator, at (202) 219–

2796.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–6445 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Project No. 11511–001 Kentucky and

Illinois]

Hydro Matrix Partnership, Ltd.; Notice

of Surrender of Preliminary Permit

March 10, 1997.

Take notice that Hydro Matrix

Partnership, Ltd., permittee, for the

Uniontown Lock and Dam Project

located on the Ohio River in Gallatin

County, Illinois and Union County,

Kentucky, requested that its preliminary

permit be terminated. The preliminary

permit was issued on June 5, 1995, and

would have expired on May 31, 1998.

The permittee states that the project

would be economically infeasible.

The permittee filed the request on

December 30, 1996, and the preliminary

permit for Project No. 11511 shall

remain in effect through the thirtieth

day after issuance of this notice unless

that day is a Saturday, Sunday or

holiday as described in 18 CFR

385.2007, in which case the permit shall

remain in effect through the first

business day following that day. New

applications involving this project site,

to the extent provided for under 18 CFR

Part 4, may be filed on the next business

day.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–6444 Filed 3–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Notice of Cases Filed During the Week

of February 17 Through February 21,

1997

During the Week of February 17

through February 21, 1997, the appeals,

applications, petitions or other requests

listed in this Notice were filed with the

Office of Hearings and Appeals of the

Department of Energy.

Any person who will be aggrieved by

the DOE action sought in any of these

cases may file written comments on the

application within ten days of

publication of this Notice or the date of

receipt of actual notice, whichever

occurs first. All such comments shall be

filed with the Office of Hearings and

Appeals, Department of Energy,

Washington, DC 20585–0107.

Dated: March 5, 1997.

George B. Breznay,

Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

SUBMISSION OF CASES RECEIVED BY THE OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[Week of Feb. 17 through Feb. 21, 1997]

Date Name and location of applicant Case No. Type of submission

2/18/97 .......... Nancy L. Donaldson, Salem, Oregon .......... VFA–0271 Appeal of an Information Request Denial. If granted: The

Freedom of Information Request Denial issued by Bonneville Power Administration would be rescinded, and

Nancy L. Donaldson would receive access to certain

DOE information.

2/18/97 .......... Western Star Propane, Inc., Littlerock, California.VEE–0040 Exception to the Reporting Requirements. If granted:

Western Star Propane, Inc. would not be required to file

Form EIA–782B, Reseller’s/Retailer’s Monthly Petroleum

Product Sales Report.

2/19/97 .......... Personnel Security Hearing .......................... VSO–0136 Request for Hearing under 10 C.F.R. Part 710. If granted:

An individual employed by the Department of Energy

would receive a hearing under 10 C.F.R. Part 710.