Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 130 / Friday, July 5, 1996 / Notices 35207

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 this filing are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection.

Lois D. Cashell

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96–17071 Filed 7–3–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

[Project No. 11437–001–NC]

Hydro Matrix Partnership, Ltd.; Notice

Ready for Environmental Analysis,

Notice Requesting Interventions,

Protests, and Comments, and Notice of

Scoping Pursuant to the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969

June 28, 1996.

On June 21, 1996, the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (Commission)

issued a letter accepting Hydro Matrix

Partnership, Ltd.’s application for the

Jordan Hydroelectric Project located at

the U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers

Jordan Dam on the Haw River in

Chatham County, North Carolina.

The Jordan Hydroelectric Project’s

principal project features would consist

of 80 small turbine generator units

installed in two modules placed in slots

on the intake tower. Each generator

would have a rated capacity of 100 kW

for a total rated capacity of 8,000 kW.

The project would have an average

annual generation of 38 GWh. The

project site is owned by the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers.

The purpose of this notice is to: (1)

Invite interventions and protests; (2)

advise all parties as to the proposed

scope of the staff’s environmental

analysis, including cumulative effects,

and to seek additional information

pertinent to this analysis; and (3) advise

all parties of their opportunity for

comment.

The application is ready for

environmental analysis at this time, and

the Commission is requesting

comments, reply comments,

recommendations, terms and

conditions, and prescriptions.

Interventions, Protests, and Comments

All filings must: (1) Bear in all capital

letters the title ‘‘PROTEST,’’ ‘‘MOTION

TO INTERVENE,’’ NOTICE OF INTENT

TO FILE COMPETING APPLICATION,’’

OR ‘‘COMPETING APPLICATION,’’

‘‘COMMENTS,’’ ‘‘REPLY COMMENTS,’’

‘‘RECOMMENDATIONS,’’ ‘‘TERMS

AND CONDITIONS,’’ OR

‘‘PRESCRIPTIONS;’’ (2) set forth in the

heading the name of the applicant and

the project number of the application to

which the filing responds; (3) furnish

the name, address, and telephone

number of the person protesting or

intervening; and (4) otherwise comply

with the requirements of 18 CFR

385.2001 through 385.2005. Agencies

may obtain copies of the application

directly from the applicant. Any of these

documents must be filed by providing

the original and the number of copies

required by the Commission’s

regulations to: Secretary, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 888 First

Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20426.

An additional copy must be sent to:

Director, Division of Project Review,

Office of Hydropower Licensing,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

at the above address. A copy of any

protest or motion to intervene must be

served upon each representative of the

applicant specified in the particular

application.

All filings for any protest or motion to

intervene must be received 60 days from

the issuance date of this notice.

The Commission directs, pursuant to

section 4.34(b) of the regulations (see

order No. 533 issued May 8, 1991, 56 FR

23108 (May 20, 1991)), that all

comments, recommendations, terms and

conditions and prescriptions concerning

the application be filed with the

Commission within 60 days from the

issuance date of this notice. All reply

comments must be filed with the

Commission within 105 days from the

date of this notice.

Anyone may obtain an extension of

time for these deadlines from the

Commission only upon a showing of

good cause or extraordinary

circumstances in accordance with 18

CFR 385.2008.

Scoping Process

The Commission’s scoping objectives

are to:

• identify significant environmental

issues;

• determine the depth of analysis

appropriate to each issue;

• identify the resource issues not

requiring detailed analysis; and,

• identify reasonable project

alternatives.

The purpose of the scoping process is

to identify significant issues related to

the proposed action and to determine

what issues should be covered in the

environmental document pursuant to

the National Environmental Policy Act

of 1969. The document entitled

‘‘Scoping document I’’ (SDI) will be

circulated shortly to enable appropriate

federal, state, and local resource

agencies, developers, Indian tribes, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and

other interested parties to effectively

participate in and contribute to the

scoping process. SDI provides a brief

description of the proposed action,

project alternative, and the geographic

and temporal scope of a cumulative

effects analysis, and a list of preliminary

issues identified by staff.

The Commission will decide, based

on the application, and agency and

public comments to scoping, whether

licensing the Jordan Hydroelectric

Project constitutes a major federal action

significantly impacting the quality of

the human environment. The

Commission staff will not hold scoping

meetings unless the Commission

decides to prepare an environmental

impact statement, or the response to SDI

warrants holding such meetings.

Individuals, organizations, and

agencies with environmental expertise

and concerns are encouraged to

comment on SDI and assist the staff in

defining and clarifying the issues to be

addressed.

All filings should contain an original

and 8 copies. Failure to file an original

and 8 copies may result in appropriate

staff not receiving the benefit of your

comments in a timely manner. See 18

CFR 4.34(h). In addition, commentors

may submit a copy of their comments

on a 31⁄2-inch diskette formatted for

MS–DOS based computers. In light of

our ability to translate MS–DOS based

materials, the text need only be

submitted in the format and version that

it was generated (i.e., MS Word,

WordPerfect 5.1/5.2, ASCII, etc.). It is

not necessary to reformat word

processor generated text to ASCII. For

Macintosh users, it would be helpful to

save the documents in Macintosh word

processor format then write them to files

on a diskette formatted for MS–DOS

machines. All comments should be

submitted to the Office of the Secretary,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, N.E., Washington, DC

20426, and should show the following

captions on the first page: Jordan

Hydroelectric Project, FERC No. 11437–

001.

Further, interested persons are

reminded of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedures, requiring
35208 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 130 / Friday, July 5, 1996 / Notices

1Northern Border Pipeline Company’s and

Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America’s

applications were 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, NE,

Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426 or call (202) 208–

1371. Copies of the appendices were sent to all

those receiving this notice in the mail.

parties or interceders (as defined in 18

CFR 385.2010) to file documents on

each person whose name is on the

official service list for this proceeding.

See CFR 4.34(b).

The Commission staff will consider

all written comments and may issue a

Scoping Document II (SDII). SDII will

include a revised list of issues, based on

the scoping process.

For further information regarding the

scoping process, please contact Ms. Julie

Bernt, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, Office of Hydropower

Licensing, 888 First Street, N.E.,

Washington, DC 20426 at (202) 219–

2814.

Lois D. Cashell,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96–17072 Filed 7–3–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

[Docket Nos. CP95–194–001, and CP96–

027–000 and CP96–027–001, Respectively]

Northern Border Pipeline Company

and Natural Gas Pipeline Company of

America; Notice of Additional Facilities

by Natural Gas Pipeline Company of

America To Be Included in The

Environmental Impact Statement for

the Proposed Northern Border Project

and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

June 28, 1996.

The staff of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC or

Commission) will prepare an

environmental impact statement (EIS)

that will discuss the environmental

impacts of the construction and

operation of the facilities proposed in

the Northern Border Project.1 The

original notice was issued February 16,

1996. The purpose of this supplemental

notice is to inform the public of

additional facilities which will be

included in the EIS.

On June 18, 1996, Natural Gas

Pipeline Company of America (Natural)

amended its application to add 9.6

miles of loop in Louisa and Muscatine

Counties, Iowa and to increase the

amount of new compression at

Compressor Station 110 in Henry

County, Illinois from 7,250 horsepower

(hp) to 9,000 hp. This addition is

because Natural no longer proposes to

add compression at Compressor Station

199 in Muscatine County, Iowa. Maps

showing the location of the newly

proposed loop are in appendix 1.

This EIS will be used by the

Commission in its decisionmaking

process to determine whether to

approve the project.2

Land Requirements for Construction

Pipeline

The additional 9.6-mile-long loop

would be built adjacent to Natural’s

existing pipeline, using as much of the

existing right-of-way as possible.

Natural would use a right-of-way

ranging in width from 75 to 100 feet.

Additional temporary work space would

generally be used where the pipeline

crosses roads, streams, and rivers. An

estimated 87.3 acres would be disturbed

during construction. After construction,

the disturbed area would be restored,

and a 25-foot-wide permanent right-ofway in addition to the existing right-ofway would be maintained. Existing land

uses on the remainder of the disturbed

area, as well as most land uses on the

permanent right-of-way, such as

agriculture and open areas, would be

allowed to continue following

construction.

Aboveground Facilities

All construction at Compressor

Station 110 would take place within the

existing fenced station yard.

The EIS Process/Environmental Issues

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. The EIS we are preparing will

give the Commission the information to

do that. 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 EIS 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 EIS. All comments

received are considered during the

preparation of the EIS. We encourage

state and local government

representatives to notify their

constituents of this proposed action and

encourage them to comment on their

areas of concern.

The EIS will discuss impacts that

could occur as a result of the

construction and operation of the

proposed project. We have already

identified a number of issues under

each topic that we think deserve

attention based on a preliminary review

of the proposed facilities and the

environmental information provided by

the applicants. These issues are listed

below. Keep in mind that this is a

preliminary list. The list of issues may

be added to, subtracted from, or

changed based on your comments and

our analysis.

• Geology and Soils

— Prime and farmland soils.

— Erosion control.

— Topsoil/subsoil mixing.

— Soil compaction.

— Drain tiles and ditches.

— Revegetation of non-agricultural

areas.

• Water Resources

— 7 crossings of waterbodies,

including the Ceder River.

— Effect on groundwater and surface

water supplies.

• Biological Resources

— Effect on wildlife and fisheries

habitat.

— Effect on federally listed

endangered and threatened species.

— Effect on wetland habitat.

• Cultural Resources

— Effect on historic and prehistoric

sites.

— Native American and tribal

concerns.

• Land Use

— Effect on farming.

— Effect on residences and recreation

areas.

— Effect on public lands

• Air Quality and Noise

— Effect on local and regional air

quality and local noise environment as

a result of operation of additional

compression.

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 presented in a Draft EIS

which will be mailed to Federal, state,

and local agencies, public interest

groups, interested individuals, affected

landowners, newspapers, libraries, and

the Commission’s official service list for

these proceedings. A 45-day comment

period will be allotted for review of the

Draft EIS. We will consider all

comments on the Draft EIS and revise

the document, as necessary, before