47148 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Notices 

(866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call 

(202) 502–8659. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–18752 Filed 8–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No.: 2210–169] 

Appalachian Power Company; Notice 

of Application Accepted for Filing, 

Intent To Prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement, Soliciting Motions 

To Intervene and Protests, Ready for 

Environmental Analysis, and Soliciting 

Comments, Recommendations, 

Preliminary Terms and Conditions, and 

Preliminary Fishway Prescriptions 

August 7, 2008. 

Take notice that the following 

hydroelectric application has been filed 

with the Commission and is available 

for public inspection. 

a. Type of Application: New Major 

License. 

b. Project No.: 2210–169. 

c. Date Filed: March 27, 2008. 

d. Applicant: Appalachian Power 

Company, dba American Electric Power. 

e. Name of Project: Smith Mountain 

Pumped Storage Project. 

f. Location: On the headwaters of the 

Roanoke River in south-central Virginia, 

within the counties of Bedford, 

Campbell, Franklin and Pittsylvania, 

and near the city of Roanoke, Virginia. 

No federal lands are occupied by the 

project works or otherwise located 

within the project boundary. 

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power 

Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)–825(r). 

h. Applicant Contact: Teresa P. 

Rogers, Environmental and Regulatory 

Affairs Supervisor, Appalachian Power 

Company, Hydro Generation, P.O. Box 

2021, Roanoke, VA 24022–2121; (540) 

985–2441; tprogers@aep.com. 

i. FERC Contact: Allan Creamer, 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC. 

20426; (202) 502–8365; 

allan.creamer@ferc.gov. 

j. The deadline for filing motions to 

intervene and protests, comments, 

recommendations, preliminary terms 

and conditions, and preliminary 

fishway prescriptions is 60 days from 

the issuance date of this notice (October 

6, 2008) and reply comments are due 

105 days from the issuance date of this 

notice (November 20, 2008). 

All documents (original and eight 

copies) should be filed with: Kimberly 

D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First 

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. 

The Commission’s Rules of Practice 

require all intervenors filing documents 

with the Commission to serve a copy of 

that document on each person on the 

official service list for the project. 

Further, if an intervenor files comments 

or documents with the Commission 

relating to the merits of an issue that 

may affect the responsibilities of a 

particular resource agency, they must 

also serve a copy of the document on 

that resource agency. 

Motions to intervene, protests, 

comments, recommendations, 

preliminary terms and conditions, and 

preliminary fishway prescriptions may 

be filed electronically via the Internet in 

lieu of paper. The Commission strongly 

encourages electronic filings. See 18 

CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the 

instructions on the Commission’s Web 

site (http://www.ferc.gov) under the ‘‘eFiling’’ link. 

k. This application has been accepted 

for filing and is ready for environmental 

analysis. The Commission intends to 

prepare an Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) on the project, in 

accordance with the National 

Environmental Policy Act. The EIS will 

consider both site-specific and 

cumulative environmental impacts and 

reasonable alternatives to the proposed 

action. 

l. The Project Description: The 

existing Smith Mountain Project 

consists of two developments; one used 

for pumped storage operation and the 

other conventional operation. 

The upper, pumped storage 

development, known as Smith 

Mountain, consists of: (1) A 816-footlong, 235-foot-high concrete arch dam, 

with a crest elevation of 812.0 feet 

National Geodetic Vertical Datum 

(NGVD); (2) two ogee-crest overflow 

spillways, each 100-feet-long and 

having a crest elevation of 595.0 feet 

NGVD [passing 25,000 cubic feet per 

second (cfs)]; (3) a reservoir with a 

surface area of 20,260 acres at a normal 

operating level of 795.0 feet NGVD; (4) 

a pump station/powerhouse containing 

five generating units, with a total 

capacity of 586 megawatts (MW), a total 

hydraulic capacity of 46,000 cfs, and an 

average annual generation of 476,640 

MWh (three of the units, which have a 

pumping capacity of 15,810 cfs, are 

reversible for pumping water from the 

Leesville’s reservoir to Smith 

Mountain’s reservoir); (5) a 600,000 

KVA substation and a double-circuit 

138-kV tie-in line to American Electric 

Power’s (AEP) interconnected system; 

and (6) appurtenant facilities. 

The lower, conventional 

development, known as Leesville, 

consists of: (1) A 980-foot-long, 94 foothigh concrete gravity dam, with a crest 

elevation of 615.67 feet NGVD; (2) a 

224-foot-long gated spillway section, 

with (a) a crest elevation of 578.0 feet 

NGVD, (b) four taintor gates, and (c) a 

hydraulic capacity of 175,100 cfs; (3) a 

reservoir with a surface area of 3,260 

acres at an elevation of 613.0 feet 

NGVD; (4) a powerhouse containing two 

generating units, with a total capacity of 

50 MW, a total hydraulic capacity of 

9,000 cfs, and an average annual 

generation of 59,376 MWh; (5) a 50,000 

KVA substation and a double-circuit 

138-kV tie-in line to AEP’s 

interconnected system; and (6) 

appurtenant facilities. 

The Smith Mountain development 

operates as a peaking/load-following 

facility, with generation occurring 

during peak demand periods and pumpback operation occurring during offpeak periods. Under normal operation, 

Smith Mountain Lake uses a 2-foot 

drawdown, which equates to a 13-foot 

fluctuation in Leesville Lake. Currently, 

Leesville is operated by auto-cycling the 

units, to provide a minimum average 

daily flow of 650 cfs to the Roanoke 

River downstream. Additional flow is 

provided during the spring spawning 

season for striped bass. 

Appalachian Power does not propose 

to modify existing operations, except as 

described in its proposed Water 

Management Plan. Appalachian also 

proposes to implement numerous 

environmental enhancement measures 

that are contained in its proposed 

resource-specific management plans. 

m. Location of the Application: A 

copy of the application is available for 

review at the Commission in the Public 

Reference Room or may be viewed on 

the Commission’s Web site at http:// 

www.ferc.gov, using the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link. 

Enter the docket number, excluding the 

last three digits in the docket number 

field to access the document. For 

assistance, contact FERC Online 

Support at 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or tollfree at 1–866–208–3676, or for TTY, 

(202) 502–8659. A copy is also available 

for inspection and reproduction at the 

address in item (h) above. 

You may also register online at 

http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm 

to be notified via e-mail of new filings 

and issuances related to this or other 

pending projects. For assistance, contact 

FERC Online Support. 

n. Anyone may submit comments, a 

protest, or a motion to intervene in 

accordance with the requirements of 

Rules of Practice and Procedure, 18 CFR 


ebenthall on PRODPC60 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 157 / Wednesday, August 13, 2008 / Notices 47149 

1The May 16, 2008 NOI for the projects as 

originally proposed is included in this 

supplemental NOI as an attachment. It may also be 

accessed via the FERC’s eLibrary. Instructions about 

using eLibrary are included in this document on 

page 7. 

2 ‘‘We,’’ ‘‘us,’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to the 

environmental staff of the FERC’s Office of Energy 

Projects. 

3The appendices referenced in this notice are not 

being printed in the Federal Register. Copies of all 

appendices, other than Appendix 1 (maps), are 

available on the Commission’s Web site at the 

‘‘eLibrary’’ link or from the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, 

Continued 

385.210, .211, .214. In determining the 

appropriate action to take, the 

Commission will consider all protests 

and other comments filed, but only 

those who file a motion to intervene in 

accordance with the Commission’s 

Rules may become a party to the 

proceeding. Any comments, protests, or 

motions to intervene must be received 

on or before the specified comment date 

for the particular application. 

All filings must (1) Bear in all capital 

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

TO INTERVENE,’’ ‘‘COMMENTS,’’

‘‘REPLY COMMENTS,’’

‘‘RECOMMENDATIONS,’’

‘‘PRELIMINARY TERMS AND 

CONDITIONS,’’ or ‘‘PRELIMINARY 

FISHWAY 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. 

A copy of any protest or motion to 

intervene must be served upon each 

representative of the applicant specified 

in the particular application. 

o. Procedural Schedule: The 

application will be processed according 

to the following Hydro Licensing 

Schedule. Revisions to the schedule 

may be made as appropriate. 

Milestone Target date 

Filing of recommendations, 

preliminary terms and 

conditions, and fishway 

prescriptions.

October 2008. 

Commission issues Draft 

EIS.

January 2009. 

Comments on Draft EIS .... March 2009. 

Modified Terms and Conditions.May 2009. 

Commission Issues Final 

EIS.

August 2009. 

p. Final amendments to the 

application must be filed with the 

Commission no later than 30 days from 

the issuance date of this notice. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E8–18733 Filed 8–12–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. PF08–13–000] 

Southern Natural Gas Company; 

Supplemental Notice of Intent To 

Prepare An Environmental 

Assessment for the South System 

Expansion III Project and Request for 

Comments On Environmental Issues 

August 7, 2008. 

The staff of the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission (FERC or 

Commission) issued on May 16, 2008, a 

Notice of Intent to Prepare an 

Environmental Assessment (NOI) 1 for 

the related natural gas pipeline projects 

proposed by Southern Natural Gas 

Company (SNG) for the South System 

Expansion III Project (SSEIII Project), 

Docket No. PF08–13–000; and by 

Southeast Supply Header, LLC (SESH) 

for the Joint Pipeline Expansion Phase 

II Project (JPE Phase II Project), Docket 

No. PF08–16–000. In documents filed 

July 31, 2008, SNG informed that it has 

modified the SSEIII Project by adding 

additional pipeline facilities in four 

areas, by changing the proposed facility 

constructed in one area, and by 

modifying the timeframe for 

construction of one facility, as described 

below. These modifications were made 

as a result of the changes in the 

transportation service requirements of 

SNG’s customer, Georgia Power 

Company (Georgia Power). This 

supplemental NOI is being issued to 

notify the public about the modification 

to the SSEII Project and to request 

comments about the proposed modified 

facilities only. Please note that the 

scoping period for this supplemental 

NOI will close on September 8, 2008. 

The staff of the FERC will prepare an 

environmental assessment (EA) that will 

address the environmental impacts of 

the SSEIII Project proposed by SNG and 

the JPE Phase II Project proposed by 

SESH; together they are referred to as 

‘‘the projects’’. The Commission will 

use the EA in its decision-making 

process to determine whether or not to 

authorize the project. This notice 

explains the scoping process we 2 will 

use to gather environmental input from 

the public and interested agencies on 

the projects. Your input will help the 

Commission determine the issues that 

need to be evaluated in the EA. 

Details on how to submit written 

comments are provided in the Public 

Participation section of this notice. 

If you are a landowner receiving this 

supplemental NOI, you may be 

contacted by a pipeline company 

representative about the acquisition of 

an easement to construct, operate, and 

maintain the proposed project facilities. 

The pipeline company would seek to 

negotiate a mutually acceptable 

agreement for its project. However, if 

the projects are approved by the 

Commission, that approval conveys 

with it the right of eminent domain. 

Therefore, if easement negotiations fail 

to produce an agreement, the pipeline 

company could initiate condemnation 

proceedings in accordance with state 

law. 

This supplemental NOI is being sent 

to affected landowners; federal, state, 

and local government agencies; elected 

officials; environmental and public 

interest groups; Native American tribes; 

other interested parties; and local 

libraries and newspapers where the 

modified facilities are proposed. We 

encourage government representatives 

to notify their constituents of this 

planned project and encourage them to 

comment on their areas of concern. 

A fact sheet prepared by the FERC 

entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas 

Facility on My Land? What Do I Need 

To Know?’’ is available for viewing on 

the FERC Internet Web site (http:// 

www.ferc.gov). This fact sheet addresses 

a number of typically asked questions, 

including the use of eminent domain 

and how to participate in the FERC’s 

proceedings. 

Summary of the Proposed Project 

The original SSEIII Project and the 

JPE Phase II Project descriptions are in 

the May 16, 2008 NOI and will not be 

repeated in this Supplemental NOI. 

Only the modified facilities proposed by 

SNG are described herein. 

SNG proposes to construct, own, 

operate, and maintain certain natural 

gas transportation facilities within the 

states of Georgia, Alabama, and 

Mississippi for the SSEIII Project. The 

general locations of the proposed 

pipeline and compression facilities are 

shown in the figure included as 

Appendix 1,3 and the modified and 


ebenthall on PRODPC60 with NOTICES