Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 122 / Friday, June 26, 2009 / Notices 30557 

June 10, 2009. 

Patricia L. Toppings, 

OSD Federal Register, Liaison Officer, 

Department of Defense. 

[FR Doc. E9–15116 Filed 6–25–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 5001–06–C 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

[OE Docket No. EA–249–B] 

Application To Export Electric Energy; 

Exelon Generation Company, LLC 

AGENCY: Office of Electricity Delivery 

and Energy Reliability, DOE. 

ACTION: Notice of Application. 

SUMMARY: Exelon Generation Company, 

LLC (Exelon) has applied to renew its 

authority to transmit electric energy 

from the United States to Canada 

pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal 

Power Act. 

DATES: Comments, protests, or requests 

to intervene must be submitted on or 

before July 27, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Comments, protests or 

requests to intervene should be 

addressed as follows: Office of 

Electricity Delivery and Energy 

Reliability, Mail Code: OE–20, U.S. 

Department of Energy, 1000 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0350 (FAX 202– 

586–8008). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ellen Russell (Program Office) 202–586– 

9624 or Michael Skinker (Program 

Attorney) 202–586–2793. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Exports of 

electricity from the United States to a 

foreign country are regulated and 

require authorization under section 

202(e) of the Federal Power Act (FPA) 

(16 U.S.C. 824a(e)). 

On October 15, 2001, the Department 

of Energy (DOE) issued Order No. EA– 

249 authorizing Exelon to transmit 

electric energy from the United States to 

Canada as a power marketer using 

certain international transmission 

facilities located at the United States 

border with Canada. On April 5, 2004, 

DOE issued Order No. EA–249–A which 

renewed that authorization for a fiveyear period. That Order expired on 

April 5, 2009. On June 8, 2009, Exelon 

filed an application with DOE to renew 

the export authority contained in Order 

No. EA–249–A for an additional fiveyear term. 

Exelon is a power marketer that 

generates and sells electricity under its 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

approved tariffs; Exelon does not have 

a franchised electric power service area. 

The electric energy which Exelon 

proposes to export to Canada would be 

surplus energy from its own generation 

or purchased from third parties. Exelon 

proposes to export the electric energy 

using transmission lines authorized by 

Presidential permit at the U.S. border 

with Canada determined by DOE to be 

appropriate for third party use and 

available for open access transmission. 

Procedural Matters: Any person 

desiring to become a party to these 

proceedings or to be heard by filing 

comments or protests to this application 

should file a petition to intervene, 

comment, or protest at the address 

provided above in accordance with 

§§ 385.211 or 385.214 of the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission’s Rules 

of Practice and Procedures (18 CFR 

385.211, 385.214). Fifteen copies of each 

petition and protest should be filed with 

DOE on or before the date listed above. 

Comments on the Exelon application 

to export electric energy to Canada 

should be clearly marked with Docket 

No. EA–249–B. Additional copies are to 

be filed directly with Noel H. Tarsk, 

Lead Counsel, Exelon Power team, 

Exelon Generation Company, LLC, 300 

Exelon Way, Kennett Square, PA 19348. 

A final decision will be made on this 

application after the environmental 

impacts have been evaluated pursuant 

to the National Environmental Policy 

Act of 1969, and a determination is 

made by DOE that the proposed action 

will not adversely impact on the 

reliability of the U.S. electric power 

supply system. 

Copies of this application will be 

made available, upon request, for public 

inspection and copying at the address 

provided above, by accessing the 

program Web site at http:// 

www.oe.energy.gov/ 

permits_pending.htm, or by e-mailing 

Odessa Hopkins at 

Odessa.Hopkins@hq.doe.gov. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on June 19, 

2009. 

Anthony J. Como, 

Director, Permitting and Siting, Office of 

Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. 

[FR Doc. E9–15129 Filed 6–25–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

[OE Docket No. EA–358] 

Application To Export Electric Energy; 

Twin Cities Energy, L.L.C. 

AGENCY: Office of Electricity Delivery 

and Energy Reliability, DOE. 

ACTION: Notice of Application. 

SUMMARY: Twin Cities Energy, L.L.C. 

(Twin Cities) has applied for authority 

to transmit electric energy from the 

United States to Canada pursuant to 

section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act. 

DATES: Comments, protests, or requests 

to intervene must be submitted on or 

before July 27, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Comments, protests, or 

requests to intervene should be 

addressed as follows: Office of 

Electricity Delivery and Energy 

Reliability, Mail Code: OE–20, U.S. 

Department of Energy, 1000 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0350 (FAX 202– 

586–8008). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ellen Russell (Program Office) 202–586– 

9624 or Michael Skinker (Program 

Attorney) 202–586–2793. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Exports of 

electricity from the United States to a 

foreign country are regulated by the 

Department of Energy (DOE) pursuant to 

sections 301(b) and 402(f) of the 

Department of Energy Organization Act 

(42 U.S.C. 7151(b), 7172(f)) and require 

authorization under section 202(e) of 

the FPA (16 U.S.C. 824a(e)). 

On May 26, 2009, DOE received an 

application from Twin Cities for 

authority to transmit electric energy 

from the United States to Canada as a 

power marketer using international 

transmission facilities located at the 

United States border with Canada. Twin 

Cities does not own any electric 

transmission facilities nor does it hold 

a franchised service area. The electric 

energy which Twin Cities proposes to 

export to Canada would be surplus 

energy purchased from electric utilities, 

Federal power marketing agencies, and 

other entities within the United States. 

Twin Cities has requested an electricity 

export authorization with a 5-year term. 

The construction, operation, 

maintenance, and connection of each of 

the international transmission facilities 

to be utilized by Twin Cities has 

previously been authorized by a 

Presidential permit issued pursuant to 

Executive Order 10485, as amended. 

Procedural Matters: Any person 

desiring to become a party to these 

proceedings or to be heard by filing 

comments or protests to this application 

should file a petition to intervene, 

comment, or protest at the address 

provided above in accordance with 

§§ 385.211 or 385.214 of the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission’s Rules 

of Practice and Procedures (18 CFR 

385.211, 385.214). Fifteen copies of each 

petition and protest should be filed with 

DOE on or before the date listed above. 

Comments on the Twin Cities 

application to export electric energy to 

Canada should be clearly marked with 

30558 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 122 / Friday, June 26, 2009 / Notices 

Docket No. EA–358. Additional copies 

are to be filed directly with Larry S. 

Severson, Severson, Sheldon, Dougherty 

& Molenda P.A., Suite 600, 7300 West 

147th Street, Apple Valley, Minnesota 

55124–7580 and Michael Tufte, Twin 

Cities Power, LLC, 17725 Juniper Path, 

Lakeville, Minnesota 55044. A final 

decision will be made on this 

application after the environmental 

impacts have been evaluated pursuant 

to the National Environmental Policy 

Act of 1969, and a determination is 

made by DOE that the proposed action 

will not adversely impact on the 

reliability of the U.S. electric power 

supply system. 

Copies of this application will be 

made available, upon request, for public 

inspection and copying at the address 

provided above, by accessing the 

program Web site at http:// 

www.oe.energy.gov/ 

permits_pending.htm, or by e-mailing 

Odessa Hopkins at 

Odessa.hopkins@hq.doe.gov. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on June 19, 

2009. 

Anthony J. Como, 

Director, Permitting and Siting, Office of 

Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. 

[FR Doc. E9–15127 Filed 6–25–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Variance for Certain Requirements for 

the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and 

Component Manufacturing Initiative 

Under the Department of Energy’s 

National Environmental Policy Act 

Implementing Procedures 

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of variance. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces the 

Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) 

decision, pursuant to 10 CFR 

1021.343(c), that it is in the interest of 

public welfare to grant a variance from 

certain requirements of its National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 

Implementing Procedures (10 CFR part 

1021) in regard to the review of 

applications under the Electric Drive 

Vehicle Battery and Component 

Manufacturing Initiative funded by the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The 

variance is limited to certain 

requirements identified in 10 CFR 

1021.216, Procurement, Financial 

Assistance, and Joint Ventures. The 

variance in no way affects the 

requirement to prepare an 

environmental assessment or 

environmental impact statement for any 

application selected for funding. The 

merit review of applications in response 

to this funding opportunity will include 

consideration of the potentially 

significant environmental impacts of the 

projects proposed for funding that are 

within the competitive range. By 

providing this variance, DOE can reduce 

the time needed to select applications 

for possible future funding consistent 

with the sense of urgency underpinning 

the Recovery Act. 

DATES: Effective date: June 26, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

R. Paul Detwiler, Director, Office of 

Project Facilitation and Compliance, 

National Energy Technology Laboratory, 

626 Cochrans Mill Road, P.O. Box 

10940, Pittsburgh, PA 15236–0940 or 

Ralph.Detwiler@netl.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The purposes of the Recovery Act are 

to: (1) Preserve and create jobs and 

promote economic recovery; (2) assist 

those most impacted by the recession; 

(3) provide investments needed to 

increase economic efficiency by 

spurring technological advances in 

science and health; (4) invest in 

transportation, environmental 

protection, and other infrastructure that 

will provide long-term economic 

benefits; and (5) stabilize State and local 

government budgets, in order to 

minimize and avoid reductions in 

essential services and 

counterproductive state and local tax 

increases. Federal departments must 

manage and expend funds made 

available through the Recovery Act to 

achieve these purposes, ‘‘including 

commencing expenditures and activities 

as quickly as possible consistent with 

prudent management.’’ (Recovery Act, 

Section 3) 

In the Recovery Act, the Congress 

appropriated $2 billion for DOE to 

provide grants to manufacturers of 

advanced battery systems and vehicle 

batteries to be produced in the United 

States, including advanced lithium ion 

batteries, hybrid electrical systems, 

component manufacturers, and software 

designers. (Recovery Act, Title IV) To 

implement this provision, DOE issued a 

financial assistance funding opportunity 

announcement on March 19, 2009, for 

the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and 

Component Manufacturing Initiative. 

(DE–FOA–0000026) 

This initiative is critical to the 

development and production of electric 

drive vehicle systems that will 

substantially reduce petroleum 

consumption. In addition, as stated in 

the funding opportunity announcement, 

the grants will meaningfully aid in the 

nation’s economic recovery by creating 

U.S. based manufacturing jobs. 

The funding opportunity 

announcement is a competitive 

solicitation, and DOE has received more 

applications than it expects to be able to 

fund. DOE is now reviewing the merits 

of the applications in order to select 

those to which it may provide funding. 

Criterion 4 of the merit review criteria 

includes consideration of anticipated 

environmental impacts. As with 

environmental reviews under NEPA, the 

focus will be on potentially significant 

environmental impacts. As part of the 

application process, each applicant was 

required to complete an environmental 

questionnaire, which will be considered 

during the merit review. Consideration 

of potential environmental impacts will 

be facilitated by the participation of a 

DOE NEPA Compliance Officer as a 

resource to the merit review panel and 

the selection official. 

DOE’s NEPA implementing 

procedures, at 10 CFR 1021.216, 

establish a process for the consideration 

of potential environmental impacts 

prior to selection. The central element 

of this process is preparation by DOE of 

an environmental critique containing, 

among other things, a ‘‘brief 

comparative evaluation of the potential 

environmental impacts of the offers, 

which will address direct and indirect 

effects, short-term and long-term effects, 

proposed mitigation measures, adverse 

effects that cannot be avoided, areas 

where important environmental 

information is incomplete and 

unavailable, unresolved environmental 

issues and practicable mitigating 

measures not included in the offeror’s 

proposal.’’ (10 CFR 1021.216(g)(3)) This 

environmental critique forms the basis 

for an environmental synopsis, which is 

made available to the public and is 

incorporated into any environmental 

assessment or environmental impact 

statement prepared. (10 CFR 

1021.216(h)) Another feature of the 

environmental critique is that, in 

addition to information provided by the 

applicant, ‘‘it may also evaluate 

supplemental information developed by 

DOE as necessary for a reasoned 

decision.’’ (10 CFR 1021.216(f)) This 

contrasts with the merit review process, 

which is limited to information 

provided in the application. Some other 

components of an environmental 

critique (e.g., brief discussion of the 

purpose of the funding opportunity and 

of the applicants’ proposals) repeat 

information that is already part of the 

Merit Review Report that is prepared for 

the selection official. (The Merit Review 

Report is not publicly available.)