Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 15 / Friday, January 23, 1998 / Notices 3559

Transmission Co-operative, tendered for

filing an executed umbrella non-firm

point-to-point service agreement with

Williams Energy Services Company

under its open access transmission

tariff. Deseret requests a waiver of the

Commission’s notice requirements for

an effective date of December 17, 1997.

Deseret’s open access transmission tariff

is currently on file with the Commission

in Docket No. OA97–487–000. Williams

Energy Services Company has been

provided a copy of this filing.

Comment date: January 29, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

23. New England Power Pool

[Docket No. ER98–1140–000]

Take notice that on December 18,

1997, the New England Power Pool

(NEPOOL or Pool), Executive

Committee filed a request for

termination of membership in NEPOOL,

with an effective date of January 1,

1998, of Wheeled Electric Power

Company (Wheeled Electric). Such

termination is pursuant to the terms of

the NEPOOL Agreement dated

September 1, 1971, as amended, and

previously signed by Wheeled Electric.

The New England Power Pool

Agreement, as amended (the NEPOOL

Agreement), has been designated

NEPOOL FPC No. 2.

The Executive Committee states that

termination of Wheeled Electric with an

effective date of January 1, 1998, would

relieve Wheeled Electric, at its request,

of the obligations and responsibilities of

Pool membership and would not change

the NEPOOL Agreement in any manner,

other than to remove Wheeled Electric

from membership in the Pool. Wheeled

Electric owns no generation or

transmission facilities in the New

England Control Area.

Comment date: January 29, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

24. Washington Water Power

[Docket No. ER98–1141–000]

Take notice that on December 19,

1997, Washington Water Power,

tendered for filing with the Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission

pursuant to 18 CFR 35.13, an executed

Service Agreement under WWP’s FERC

Electric Tariff First Revised Volume No.

9, with Engage Energy US, L.P.

(Superseding an Unexecuted Service

Agreement previously assigned as

Service Agreement No. 65 under FERC

Docket No. ER97–1252–000 for Coastal

Electric Services Company, now doing

business as Engage Energy US, L.P.).

WWP requests waiver of the prior notice

requirement and requests an effective

date of December 1, 1997.

Comment date: January 29, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

25. Consolidated Edison Company of

New York, Inc.

[Docket No. ER98–1203–000]

Take notice that on December 24,

1997, Consolidated Edison Company of

New York, Inc. (Con Edison), tendered

for filing a Supplement to its Rate

Schedule, Con Edison Rate Schedule

FERC No. 2, a facilities agreement with

Central Hudson Gas and Electric

Corporation (CH). The Supplement

provides for a decrease in the monthly

carrying charges. Con Edison has

requested that this decrease take effect

as of October 1, 1997.

Con Edison states that a copy of this

filing has been served by mail upon CH.

Comment date: January 29, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

26. Consolidated Edison Company Of

New York, Inc.

[Docket No. ER98–1212–000]

Take Notice that on December 24,

1997, Consolidated Edison Company of

New York, Inc. (Con Edison), tendered

for filing a Supplement to its Rate

Schedule FERC 117, an agreement to

provide transmission and

interconnection service to Long Island

Lighting Company (LILCO). The

Supplement provides for an increase in

the annual fixed rate carrying charges.

Con Edison has requested that this

increase take effect as of November 1,

1997.

Con Edison states that a copy of this

filing has been served by mail upon

LILCO.

Comment date: January 29, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

27. New York State Electric & Gas

Corporation

[Docket No. ER98–1267–000]

Take notice that on December 31,

1997, New York State Electric & Gas

Corporation (NYSEG), tendered for

filing a Clarification with the

transmission services provided under

Niagara Mohawk Power Corporations

FERC Rate Schedule No. 165 and New

York State Electric & Gas Corporation’s

FERC Rate Schedule No. 115.

NYSEG requests waiver of the

Commission’s sixty-day notice

requirements and an effective date of

November 27, 1997, for the

Clarification. NYSEG has served copies

of the filing on The New York State

Public Service Commission and on the

Customers.

Comment date: January 29, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

28. Public Service Company of New

Mexico

[Docket No. ER98–1285–000]

Take notice that, on December 18,

1997, Public Service Company of New

Mexico (PNM), submitted tariff sheets

under its open access transmission

service tariff (tariff), incorporating

provisions for rights of first refusal for

tariff and pre-tariff transmission service

and bundled service customers. Copies

of PNM’s filing have been posted and

are available for inspection in PNM’s

office in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

This filing is also available in the Open

Access Tariff Filings directory of the

FERC Electric Power Data Bulletin

Board.

Comment date: Janaury 29, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

Standard Paragraph

E. 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, 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 18 CFR 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.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–1586 Filed 1–22–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Project No. 2612–005]

Central Maine Power Company; Notice

of Extension of Time

January 16, 1998.

The Commission issued a Notice of

Availability of a Draft Environmental

Assessment (DEA) for the abovedocketed project on December 17, 1997
3560 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 15 / Friday, January 23, 1998 / Notices

1Algonquin Gas Transmission Company’s

application was filed with the Commission 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 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.

(62 FR 67070, December 23, 1997), with

a comment period ending on January 16,

1998. On January 13, 1998, Central

Maine Power Company (CMP) filed a

motion requesting a 30-day extension of

the review period because of

unexpected emergency conditions CMP

is presently experiencing due to

unusually harsh weather.

Upon consideration, notice is hereby

given that an extension of time for CMP

and all interested parties to review the

DEA is granted. Comments on the DEA

shall be filed on or before February 17,

1998.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–1585 Filed 1–22–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP98–100–000]

Algonquin Gas Transmission

Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare

an Environmental Assessment for the

Proposed ANP Bellingham Lateral

Project and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

January 16, 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 and operation of the

facilities, about 1.1 miles of 14-inchdiameter pipeline, a new meter station

and appurtenant facilities, proposed in

the ANP Bellingham Lateral 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

Algonquin Gas Transmission

Company (Algonquin) proposes to

expand the capacity of its facilities in

Massachusetts to transport an additional

110,000 dekatherms per day of natural

gas to the planned American National

Power Bellingham Power Company

(ANP) plant. Algonquin seeks authority

to construct and operate:

• 1.1 miles of 14-inch-diameter

pipeline in the town of Bellingham,

Massachusetts;

• A new meter station at the planned

ANP power plant in Bellingham; and

• A tap and valving in Bellingham.

ANP would construct a 580 megawatt

power plant in the town of Bellingham.

ANP would construct about 200 feet of

nonjurisdictional pipeline to connect

the meter station with the power plant

and appurtenant facilities.

The location of the project facilities is

shown in appendix 1.2 If you are

interested in obtaining procedural

information, please write to the

Secretary of the Commission.

Land Requirements for Construction

Construction of the proposed facilities

would require about 9.43 acres of land.

Following construction, about 4.12 acres

would be maintained as permanent

pipeline right-of-way. The remaining

5.31 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 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;

• Land use;

• Cultural resources;

• Air quality and noise;

• Endangered and threatened species;

• Public safety; and

• 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.

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

Algonquin. This preliminary list of

issues may be changed based on your

comments and our analysis.

• Potential effect on the Charles River

during crossing by directional drilling.

• Potential effect on two water supply

wells close to the proposed lateral.

• Potential effect on two

archeological sites.

Also, we have made a preliminary

decision to not address the impacts of

the nonjurisdictional facilities. We will

briefly describe their location and status

in the EA.

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 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:

• Send two copies of your letter to:

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–

11.2;

• Reference Docket No. CP98–100–

000; and