[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 114 (Monday, June 15, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 32654]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-15794]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project 2177, GA]


Georgia Power Company; Notice of Scoping Meeting Pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for an Applicant Prepared 
Environmental Assessment and a Site Visit

June 9, 1998.
    The Commission's regulations allow applicants to prepare their own 
Environmental Assessment (EA) for hydropower projects and file it with 
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) along with their 
license application as part of the applicant-prepared EA (APEA) 
process.\1\ On May 26, 1998, the Commission approved the use of the 
APEA process in the preparation of license application for Georgia 
Power Companies' (GPC) Middle Chattahoochee Project, No. 2177.
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    \1\ 81 FERC para. 61,103 (1997)
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    GPC will hold two public meetings, pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, to identify the scope of 
environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. At the scoping 
meetings, GPC will: (1) summarize the environmental issues tentatively 
identified for analysis in the EA; (2) outline any resources they 
believe would not require a detailed analysis; (3) identify reasonable 
alternatives to be addressed in the EA; (4) solicit from the meeting 
participants all available information, especially quantitative data, 
on the resources at issue; and (5) encourage statements from experts 
and the public on issues that should be analyzed in the EA.
    Although GPC's intent is to prepare an EA, there is the possibility 
that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be required. 
Nevertheless, this meeting will satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, 
irrespective of whether an EA or EIS is issued by the Commission.

Scoping Meetings

    The times and locations of the scoping meeting are:

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         Agency scoping meeting               Public scoping meeting    
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July 9, 1998, 8:30 am to Noon, The       July 9, 1998, 7:00 pm, Columbus
 Columbus Hilton, Chattahoochee Room,     State University, Elizabeth   
 800 Front Street, Columbus GA 31901,     Bradley Turner Center, 4225   
 (706) 324-1800.                          University Avenue, Columbus,  
                                          GA 31907, (706) 568-2023.     
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    All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited 
and encouraged to attend any or all of the meetings to assist in 
identifying and clarifying the scope of environmental issues that 
should be analyzed in the EA.
    To help focus discussions, GPC prepared and distributed a scoping 
document on May 6, 1998. Copies of the Scoping Document can be obtained 
by calling George Martin, Georgia Power Company, at (404) 506-1357. 
Copies of the document will also be available at the scoping meetings.

Site Visit

    GPC has also scheduled a site visit, for all interested 
individuals, to the Middle Chattahoochee Project on Thursday, July 9, 
1998. The site visit participants will depart from the Columbus Hilton 
at 1:30 pm and will return to the Columbus Hilton at 5:00 pm.

Meeting Procedures

    The meetings will be conducted according to the procedures used at 
Commission scoping meetings. Because this meeting will be a NEPA 
scoping meeting under the APEA process, the Commission does not intend 
to conduct a NEPA scoping meeting after the application and draft EA 
are filed with the Commission. Instead, Commission staff will attend 
the meetings on July 9, 1998.
    All the scoping meetings will be recorded by a stenographer or tape 
recorder, and will become part of the formal record of the proceedings 
for this project.
    Those who choose not to speak during the scoping meetings may 
instead submit written comments on the project. Written comments should 
be mailed to: Mr. C.M. Hobson, Manager, Environmental Affairs, Georgia 
Power Company, 241 Ralph McGill Boulevard NE, BIN 10221, Atlanta, GA 
30308-3374, Attn: George Martin, by September 8, 1998. All 
correspondence should show the following caption on the first page: 
Scoping Comments, Middle Chattahoochee Project Hydroelectric Project 
(2177).
    For further information please contract George Martin at (404) 506-
1357 or Ronald McKitrick of the Commission at (404) 770-2363 ext. 44.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-15794 Filed 6-12-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M