31780 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 15, 2021 / Notices 

• Form Number: DS–261. 

• Respondents: Beneficiaries of 

approved immigrant visa petitions. 

• Estimated Number of Respondents: 

11,000. 

• Estimated Number of Responses: 

11,000. 

• Average Time per Response: 10 

minutes. 

• Total Estimated Burden Time: 1,833 

hours. 

• Frequency: On Occasion. 

• Obligation to Respond: Required to 

Obtain or Retain a Benefit. 

We are soliciting public comments to 

permit the Department to: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

information collection is necessary for 

the proper functions of the Department. 

• Evaluate the accuracy of our 

estimate of the time and cost burden for 

this proposed collection, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used. 

• Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected. 

• Minimize the reporting burden on 

those who are to respond, including the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. 

Please note that comments submitted 

in response to this Notice are public 

record. Before including any detailed 

personal information, you should be 

aware that your comments as submitted, 

including your personal information, 

will be available for public review. 

Abstract of Proposed Collection 

The DS–261 allows the beneficiary of 

an approved and current immigrant visa 

petition to provide the Department with 

his or her preferred email address, 

which will be used for communications 

with the beneficiary. The DS–261 also 

allows the beneficiary to appoint an 

agent to receive mailings from the 

National Visa Center (NVC) and assist in 

the filing of various application forms 

and/or paying the required fees. The 

beneficiary is not required to appoint an 

agent but must provide current contact 

information. All cases will be held at 

NVC until the DS–261 is electronically 

submitted to the Department. 

Methodology 

Applicants will complete the form 

online and submit it electronically to 

the Department. 

Kevin E. Bryant, 

Deputy Director, Office of Directives 

Management, Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2021–12422 Filed 6–14–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–06–P 

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY 

Environmental Impact Statement for 

Kingston Fossil Plant Retirement 

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley 

Authority (TVA) intends to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

to assess the impacts associated with the 

proposed retirement of the nine coalfired units at the Kingston Fossil Plant 

(KIF) and the construction and 

operation of facilities to replace the 

retired generation. TVA will use the EIS 

process to elicit and prioritize the 

values and concerns of stakeholders; 

formulate, evaluate and compare 

alternatives; provide opportunities for 

public review and comment; and ensure 

that TVA’s evaluation of potential 

retirement and replacement energy 

generation reflects a full range of 

stakeholder input. Public comment is 

invited concerning the scope of the EIS, 

alternatives being considered, and 

environmental issues that should be 

addressed as a part of this EIS. TVA is 

also requesting data, information and 

analysis relevant to the proposed action 

from the public; affected Federal, State, 

tribal, and local governments, agencies, 

and offices; the scientific community; 

industry; or any other interested party. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, 

comments on the scope and 

environmental issues must be 

postmarked, emailed or submitted 

online no later than July 15, 2021. To 

facilitate the scoping process, TVA will 

hold a public scoping meeting; see 

http://www.tva.gov/nepa for more 

information on the meeting. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments should 

be sent to Chevales Williams, NEPA 

Compliance Specialist, 1101 Market 

Street, BRC 2C, Chattanooga, TN 37402. 

Comments may also be submitted online 

at: www.tva.gov/nepa, or by email at 

nepa@tva.gov. Please note that, due to 

current TVA requirements for many 

employees to work remotely, TVA 

recommends the public submit 

comments electronically to ensure their 

timely review and consideration. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Please contact Chevales Williams at the 

address above, by phone at (423) 751– 

7316 or email at cwilliams1@tva.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice is provided in accordance with 

the regulations promulgated by Council 

on Environmental Quality at 40 CFR 

parts 1500 to 1508 (84 FR 43304, July 

16, 2020) and TVA’s procedures 

implementing the National 

Environmental Policy Act at 18 CFR 

part 1318. TVA is an agency and 

instrumentality of the United States, 

established by an act of Congress in 

1933, to foster the social and economic 

welfare of the people of the Tennessee 

Valley region and to promote the proper 

use and conservation of the region’s 

natural resources. One component of 

this mission is the generation, 

transmission, and sale of reliable and 

affordable electric energy. 

Background 

In June 2019, TVA published the 2019 

Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which 

was developed with input from 

stakeholder groups and the general 

public. The 2019 IRP evaluated six 

scenarios (plausible futures) and five 

strategies (potential TVA responses to 

those futures) and identified a range of 

potential resource additions and 

retirements throughout the TVA power 

service area, which encompasses 

approximately 80,000 square miles 

covering most of Tennessee and parts of 

Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, 

Mississippi, North Carolina, and 

Virginia. The target supply mix adopted 

by the TVA Board through the 2019 IRP 

included the potential retirement of 

2,200 MW of coal-fired generation by 

2038. The IRP acknowledged continued 

operational challenges for the aging coal 

fleet and included a recommendation to 

conduct end-of-life evaluations during 

the term of the IRP to determine 

whether retirements greater than 2,200 

MW would be appropriate. Following 

the publication of the IRP, TVA began 

conducting these evaluations to inform 

long-term planning. TVA’s recent 

evaluation confirms that the aging coal 

fleet is among the oldest in the nation 

and is experiencing deterioration of 

material condition and performance 

challenges. The performance challenges 

are projected to increase because of the 

coal fleet’s advancing age and the 

difficulty of adapting the fleet’s 

generation within the changing 

generation profile; and, in general, 

because the coal fleet is contributing to 

environmental, economic, and 

reliability risks. 

KIF is located in Harriman, Roane 

County, Tennessee, approximately 35 

miles west of downtown Knoxville. The 

plant is on a large reservation of 

approximately 1,255 acres situated on a 

peninsula formed by the confluence of 

the Clinch and Emory Rivers at the 

Clinch River. Built between 1954 and 

1955, the nine-unit, coal-fired steamgenerating plant has a summer net 

capability of 1,398 megawatts (MW). 

The intensive cycling of the KIF units, 

reflected in start-up/shutdown events 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 15, 2021 / Notices 31781 

averaging greater than 85 times per year, 

is outside the intended design basis of 

the plant. Additionally, KIF has been 

dealing with significant material 

condition issues over the last five years. 

Lower boiler drum repairs at KIF are 

symptomatic of age-driven material 

condition failures that are difficult to 

proactively address. Based on this 

analysis, TVA has developed planning 

assumptions for KIF retirement. TVA 

proposes to retire three units as early as 

2026, but no later than 2031, and the 

remaining six units as early as 2027, but 

no later than 2033, dependent on 

internal and external factors that could 

affect bringing replacement generation 

online. 

The Kingston EIS will assess the 

impact of retiring all KIF units and of 

replacing the generation of those units, 

as discussed in the Alternatives section 

below. To recover the generation 

capacity lost from retirement of the KIF 

units and to account for future load 

growth, TVA is proposing the addition 

of approximately 1,450 MW of 

replacement generation. To maintain 

adequate reserves on the TVA system, 

this 1,450 MW of replacement 

generation would need to be in 

commercial operation prior to the 

retirement of KIF. 

Alternatives 

TVA anticipates that the scope of the 

EIS will include various alternatives in 

addition to the no action alternative 

(continuing to operate KIF with needed 

regulatory updates). TVA plans to 

evaluate three action alternatives in the 

EIS: (A) Retirement of KIF and 

construction and operation of a 

Combined Cycle Combustion Turbine 

(CC) Gas Plant at the same site; (B) 

Retirement of KIF, investment in local 

and regional transmission, and 

construction and operation of Simple 

Cycle Combustion Turbine (CT) Gas 

Plants at alternate locations; (C) 

Retirement of KIF and construction and 

operation of Solar and Storage Facilities, 

primarily at alternate locations. 

Potential connected actions, such as the 

natural gas pipeline and transmission 

upgrades as necessary for any particular 

alternative, will also be considered in 

this assessment. 

Issues To Be Addressed in EIS 

The EIS will address the effects of 

each alternative on the environment, 

including 

• Emissions of greenhouse gases, 

• fuel consumption, 

• air quality, 

• water quality and quantity, 

• waste generation and disposal, 

• land use, 

• ecological, 

• cultural resources, 

• transportation, 

• visual and noise, 

• socioeconomic impacts and 

environmental justice. 

The EIS will include discussion and 

review of any proposed natural gas 

pipeline(s) that would be a necessary 

component of a new proposed CC or CT 

plants under Alternatives A or B. 

Currently under Alternative A, TVA is 

considering replacing generation at the 

KIF location, which would require 

approximately 125 miles of natural gas 

pipeline facilities that will, to the extent 

practicable, be located within or 

adjacent to an existing pipeline right of 

way, to bring gas supply to the KIF 

reservation. The construction of the 

natural gas pipeline(s) would be subject 

to Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission (FERC) jurisdiction and 

additional review will be undertaken by 

FERC in accordance with its own NEPA 

procedures. TVA’s proposed action may 

also require issuance of an Individual or 

Nationwide Permit under Section 404 of 

the Clean Water Act; Section 401 Water 

Quality Certification; conformance with 

Executive Orders on Environmental 

Justice (12898), Wetlands (11990), 

Floodplain Management (11988), 

Migratory Birds (13186), and Invasive 

Species (13112); and compliance with 

Section 106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act, Section 7 of the 

Endangered Species Act, and other 

applicable Local, Federal and State 

regulations. 

Scoping Process 

Scoping, which is integral to the 

process for implementing NEPA, 

provides an early and open process to 

ensure that (1) issues are identified early 

and properly studied; (2) issues of little 

significance do not consume substantial 

time and effort; (3) the draft EIS is 

thorough and balanced; and (4) delays 

caused by an inadequate EIS are 

avoided. TVA invites members of the 

public as well as Federal, state, and 

local agencies and federally recognized 

Indian tribes to comment on the scope 

of the EIS. Information about this 

project is available on the TVA web 

page at www.tva.gov/nepa, including a 

link to a virtual public meeting room 

and an online public comment page. 

Comments on the scope of this EIS 

should be submitted no later than the 

date given under the DATES section of 

this notice. Any comments received, 

including names and addresses, will 

become part of the administrative record 

and will be available for public 

inspection. 

After consideration of the comments 

received during this scoping period, 

TVA will summarize public and agency 

comments, identify the issues and 

alternatives to be addressed in the draft 

EIS, and identify the schedule for 

completing the EIS process. Following 

analysis of the issues, TVA will prepare 

a draft EIS for public review and 

comment. Notice of availability of the 

draft EIS will be published by the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency in the 

Federal Register. TVA will solicit 

written comments on the draft EIS and 

also hold a public open house, which 

may be virtual, for this purpose. TVA 

expects to release the draft EIS in 

Summer of 2022. TVA anticipates 

issuing the final EIS in Spring of 2023 

and a record of decision at least 30 days 

after its release. 

Rebecca Tolene, 

Vice President, Environment. 

[FR Doc. 2021–12693 Filed 6–14–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8120–08–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Noise Exposure Map Notice, Sikorsky 

Memorial Airport, Stratford, 

Connecticut 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration, DOT. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA) announces its 

determination that the noise exposure 

maps for Sikorsky Memorial Airport, as 

submitted by the City of Bridgeport, 

Connecticut. 

DATES: Applicable Date: The applicable 

date of the FAA’s determination on the 

noise exposure maps is June 8, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Richard Doucette, Federal Aviation 

Administration, New England Region, 

Airports Division, 1200 District Avenue, 

Burlington, Massachusetts 01803. 

Office: 781–238–7613. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice announces that the FAA finds 

that the noise exposure maps submitted 

for Sikorsky Memorial Airport are in 

compliance with applicable 

requirements of Part 150, effective June 

8, 2021. 

Under Section 103 of Title I of the 

Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement 

Act of 1979 (hereinafter referred to as 

‘‘the Act’’), an airport operator may 

submit to the FAA noise exposure maps 

that meet applicable regulations and 

that depict non-compatible land uses as 


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