Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 14 /Thursday, January 22, 1998 / Notices 3321

1PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest

Corporation’s application was filed with the

Commission under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act

and Part 157 of the Commission’s regulations.

WNG states that a copy of its filing

was served on all participants listed on

the service list maintained by the

Commission in the docket referenced

above.

Any person desiring to protest this

filing should file a protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426, in accordance with Section

385.211 of the Commission’s Rules and

Regulations. All such protests must be

filed as provided in Section 154.210 of

the Commission’s Regulations. 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 proceedings.

Copies of this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection in the Public Reference

Room.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–1441 Filed 1–21–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP98–177–000]

Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline

Company; Notice of Request Under

Blanket Authorization

January 15, 1998.

Take notice that on January 9, 1998,

Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline

Company (Williston Basin), 200 North

Third Street, Suite 300, Bismarck, North

Dakota 58501, filed a request with the

Commission in Docket No. CP98–177–

000, pursuant to Sections 157.205 and

157.211 of the Commission’s

Regulations under the Natural Gas Act

(NGA) for authorization to utilize

existing taps for transportation of

natural gas deliveries to MontanaDakota Utilities Co. (Montana-Dakota)

authorized in blanket certificate issued

in Docket No. CP82–487–000, et al., all

as more fully set forth in the request on

file with the Commission and open to

public inspection.

Williston Basin proposes to transport

natural gas to Montana-Dakota at three

existing transmission line taps, for

ultimate use by additional end-use

customers. The taps are located in

Dawson County and Richland County,

Montana, and Pennington County,

South Dakota.

Any person or the Commission’s staff

may, within 45 days after the

Commission has issued this notice, 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

NGA (18 CFR 157.205) a protest to the

request. If no protest is filed within the

allowed time, 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 NGA.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–1452 Filed 1–21–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP98–167–000]

PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest

Corporation; Notice of Intent To

Prepare an Environmental Assessment

for the Proposed PG&E Gas

Transmission, Northwest

Corporation’s 1998 Expansion Project

and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues and Notice of

Site Visit

January 15, 1998.

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 construction, installation and

operation of three new compressor units

at three of its existing compressor

stations proposed in the PG&E Gas

Transmission, Northwest Corporation’s

1998 Expansion Project.1 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.

Summary of the Proposed Project

PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest

Corporation (PG&E), formerly Pacific

Gas Transmission Company, proposes to

expand the capacity of its facilities in

Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. PG&E

states that the proposed compression

upgrades would allow PG&E to

transport between Kingsgate, British

Columbia and Stanfield, Oregon up to

an additional 56,000 dekatherms per

day on an annual basis. PG&E seeks to

increase the total horsepower (hp) at

three of its existing compressor stations:

• 3,100 hp increase at Station 4,

located at milepost (MP) 46.7 on PG&E’s

existing mainline pipeline in Bonner

County, Idaho; specifically, by

exchanging an existing 13,000 hp unit

with a new 15,000 hp unit and

exchanging an existing 13,000 hp unit

with a low-hour 14,100 hp refurbished

unit;

• 4,700 hp increase at Station 7,

located at MP 212.6 on PG&E’s existing

mainline pipeline in Walla Walla

County, Washington; specifically, by

upgrading its existing 35,000 hp unit to

39,700 hp through equipment

modifications and control setpoint

changes; and

• 1,500 hp increase at Station 9,

located at MP 319.5 on PG&E’s existing

mainline pipeline in Morrow County,

Oregon; specifically, by exchanging an

existing 12,600 hp unit with a new

14,100 hp unit. PG&E would install a

new, higher capacity oil cooler to be

located immediately outside the

compressor building and would adjust

the temperature control setpoint to the

turbine unit.

The general location map and plot

plans for each of the proposed

compressor station upgrades are shown

in Appendix 1. If you are interested in

obtaining procedural information,

please write to the Secretary of the

Commission.

Land Requirements for Construction

All construction activities would take

place within the existing fencelines of

all three compressor stations. No new

land disturbance outside existing

compressor station fencelines would be

required.

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 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