Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 90 / Monday, May 11, 1998 / Notices 25851

them to comment on their areas of

concern.

To ensure your comments are

considered, please carefully follow the

instructions in the public participation

section on pages 3 and 4 of this Notice.

The EA will discuss impacts that

could occur as a result of the

construction and operation of the

proposed project under these general

headings:

• Endangered and threatened species.

• Water resources and wetlands.

• Vegetation and wildlife.

• Land use.

• Cultural resources.

• Geology and soils.

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.

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

Columbia. These issues may be changed

based on your comments and our

analysis.

• Eight residences are located within

50 feet of the construction right-of-way.

• One prehistoric site that is

potentially eligible for the National

Register of Historic Places lies within

the project’s area of potential effect.

• Most of the project area is underlain

by deep coal mines.

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, 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, Acting Secretary,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First St., NE., 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. CP98–315–

000; and

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before June 5, 1998.

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 filing 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 Procedures (18 CFR

385.214) (see appendix 3). Only

intervenors have the right to seek

rehearing of the Commission’s decision.

The date for filing timely motions to

intervene in this proceeding has passed

having ended on April 29, 1998.

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 environmental comments

considered.

Additional information about the

proposed project is available from Mr.

Paul McKee in the Commission’s Office

of External Affairs at (202) 208–1088.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–12359 Filed 5–8–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Project No. 77–110]

Pacific Gas and Electric Company;

Notice of Site Visit and Scoping

Meetings Pursuant to the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969

May 5, 1998.

On April 17, 1998, the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (Commission)

issued notice of an application for

amendment of the license for the Potter

Valley Project (FERC No. 77–110) and of

our intent to prepare an Environmental

Impact Statement (EIS) in support of the

Commission’s decision in this matter.

The proposed amendment involves

changes in the minimum flow

requirements at the project, located on

the Eel and East Fork Russian River, in

Lake and Mendocino Counties,

California.

The purpose of this notice is to: (1)

Advise all parties of upcoming site

visits to the project area; (2) announce

the dates, times, and locations of public

and agency meetings to be held to assist

staff in determining the appropriate

scope of staff’s environmental analysis;

(3) seek additional information

pertinent to this analysis; and (4) advise

all parties of their opportunity for

comment.

Project Site Visits

The licensee and the Commission

staff will conduct site visits of the Potter

Valley Project and other relevant areas

on June 1–2, 1998. On June 1,

downstream areas of the East Fork

Russian River will be visited. On June

2, the Potter Valley Project and

downstream areas of the Eel River will

be visited. Times and meeting places are

as follows.

Date: June 1, 1998.

Time: 1:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.

Place: Sonoma County Water Agency,

2150 West College Avenue, Santa

Rosa, CA 95401.

Date: June 2, 1998.

Time: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Place: Hoppers Corner, Main Street and

Eel River Road, Potter Valley, CA

95469.

All interested individuals,

nongovernmental organizations

(NGO’s), and agencies are invited to

attend. All participants are responsible

for their own transportation. For more

details, interested parties should contact

the Project Manager identified at the

end of this notice prior to May 28, 1998.
25852 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 90 / Monday, May 11, 1998 / Notices

Scoping Process

The purpose of the scoping process is

to identify significant issues related to

the proposed action and to determine

what issues should be addressed in the

environmental document to be prepared

pursuant to the National Environmental

Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). A document

entitled ‘‘Scoping Document’’ (SD) will

be circulated shortly to enable

appropriate federal, state, and local

resource agencies, developers, Indian

tribes, NGO’s and other interested

parties to effectively participate in and

contribute to the scoping process. The

SD provides a brief description of the

proposed action, project alternatives,

the geographic and temporal scope of

the analysis, and a list of preliminary

issues identified by staff.

Scoping Meetings

The Commission staff will hold

scoping meetings on June 3 and June 4,

1998, to facilitate its preparation of an

EIS for the proposed amendment. The

scoping meetings will be held in two

locations in the general vicinity of the

Potter Valley Project. On each date there

will be two scoping meetings: One

afternoon meeting and one evening

meeting. The afternoon meetings will

focus on resource agency concerns,

whereas the evening meeting will focus

on receiving input from the public.

However, we invite all interested

agencies, NGOs, and individuals to

attend one or both of the meetings, and

to assist staff in identifying the scope of

environmental issues that should be

analyzed in the EIS. The times and

locations of these meetings are shown

below.

Ukiah Scoping Meetings:

Date: June 3, 1998.

Time: 1:00–3:00 p.m.; 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Place: Ukiah Valley Conference Center,

200 S. School Street, Ukiah, CA

95482, (707) 686–4571.

Eureka Scoping Meetings:

Date: June 4, 1998.

Time: 1:00–3:00 p.m.; 7:00–9:00 p.m.

Place: Doubletree Inn Eureka, 1929

Fourth Street, Eureka, CA 95501,

(707) 445–0844.

As mentioned previously a scoping

document will be distributed to the

parties on the Commission’s mailing

list. The SD should help focus

discussions, by outlining the issues to

be addressed at the meetings. Copies of

the SD can also be obtained by

contacting the Project Manager

identified at the end of this notice.

Meeting Objectives

At the scoping meetings, the staff will:

(1) Summarize the environmental issues

tentatively identified for analysis in the

EIS; (2) solicit from the meeting

participants all available information,

especially quantifiable data, on the

resources at issue; (3) encourage

statements on environmental issues that

should be analyzed in the EIS, including

opinions in favor of, or in opposition to,

the staff’s preliminary list of issues; (4)

determine the depth of analysis for

issues addressed in the EIS; and (5)

identify resource issues that will not

require detailed analysis in the EIS.

The scoping meetings will be

recorded by a court reporter, and all

statements (oral and written) will

become part of the Commission’s public

record for this proceeding. Before each

meeting starts, all individuals who

attend, especially those individuals that

intend to make statements during the

meeting, will be asked to sign in and

clearly identify themselves for the

record prior to speaking. Time allotted

for presentations will be determined by

staff based on the length of the meetings

and the number of people wanting to

speak. All individuals wishing to speak

will be provided at least five minutes to

present their views.

Interested parties who choose not to

speak, or are unable to attend the

scoping meetings, may provide written

comments and information to the

Commission until June 15, 1998.

Written comments and information

should be submitted to: The Secretary,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426.

The first page of all filings should

indicate ‘‘Potter Valley Project, FERC

No. 77–110’’ at the top of the page. All

filings sent to the Secretary of the

Commission should contain an original

and eight copies. Failure to file an

original and eight copies may result in

appropriate staff not receiving the

benefit of your comments in a timely

manner. Furthermore, participants in

this proceeding are reminded that if

they file comments with the

Commission, they must serve a copy of

their filing to the parties on the

Commission’s service list.

For further information, please

contact the Project Manager, Dr. John M.

Mudre at (202) 219–1208.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–12362 Filed 5–8–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice of Public Outreach Meeting;

Portland, OR

May 5, 1998

The Office of Hydropower Licensing

will hold a public Outreach Meeting in

Portland, OR, on Tuesday, May 19,

1998. The Outreach Meeting is

scheduled to start at 9:00 am and finish

at 5:00 p.m.

The purpose of the Outreach program

is to familiarize federal, state, and other

government agencies, Indian tribes,

nongovernmental organizations,

licensees, and other interested parties

with the Commission’s hydropower

licensing program. The topics for the

Outreach Meeting are pre-licensing,

licensing, and post-licensing procedures

for hydrolectric projects in Oregon

whose licenses expire between calender

years 2000 and 2010.

Staff from the Commission’s Office of

Hydropower Licensing will preside over

the meetings.

The location of the Outreach Meeting

is: Doubletree Hotel, 909 North Hayden

Island Drive, Portland, OR 97217, (503)

283–4466.

Directions to Hotel: Take I–5 North to

Exit #308/Jantzen Beach Center, You

will drive by a large Safeway store to a

stop light, Right on Hayden Island Dr.,

Hotel will be directly in front.

If you plan to attend, notify John

Blair, Western Outreach Coordinator,

fax: 202–219–2152; telephone: 202–

219–2845 or Theresa Gibson (202) 219–

2793.

David P. Boergers

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–12356 Filed 5–8–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice of Public Outreach Meeting;

Tacoma, Washington

May 5, 1998

The Office of Hydropower Licensing

will hold a public Outreach Meeting in

Tacoma, Washington, on Thursday, May

21, 1998. The Outreach Meeting is

scheduled to start at 9:00 am and finish

at 5:00 pm.

The purpose of the Outreach program

is to familiarize federal, state, and other

government agencies, Indian tribes,

nongovernmental organizations,

licensees, and other interested parties