Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 243 / Tuesday, December 18, 2001 / Notices 65199

1PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest

Corporation’s application in Docket No. CP02–24–

000 was filed with the Commission under Section

7(c) of the Natural Gas Act.

2A loop is a segment of pipeline installed

adjacent to an existing pipeline and connected to

it at both ends. The loop allows more gas to be

moved through the system.

3The appendices referenced in this notice are not

being printed in the Federal Register. Copies are

available on the Commission’s website at the

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

Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 First

Street, NE, Room 2A, Washington DC 20426, or call

(202) 208–1371. For instructions on connecting to

RIMS refer to the last page of this notice. Copies of

the appendices were sent to all those receiving this

notice in the mail.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP02–24–000]

PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest

Corp.; Notice of Intent to Prepare an

Environmental Assessment for the

Proposed 2003 Expansion Pipeline

Project and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

December 11, 2001.

The staff of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC or

Commission) will prepare an

environmental assessment (EA) that will

discuss the environmental impacts of

the PG&E Gas Transmission, Northwest

Corporation’s (PG&E Transmission)

2003 Expansion Project in Oregon,

Washington, and Idaho.1 These facilities

would consist of about 54 miles of

pipeline and 19,500 horsepower (hp) of

compression. This EA will be used by

the Commission in its decision-making

process to determine whether the

project is in the public convenience and

necessity.

If you are a landowner on PG&E

Transmission’s proposed route and

receive this notice, you may be

contacted by a pipeline company

representative about the acquisition of

an easement to construct, operate, and

maintain the proposed facilities. The

pipeline company would seek to

negotiate a mutually acceptable

agreement. However, if the project is

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.

A fact sheet prepared by the FERC

entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas

Facility On My Land? What Do I Need

To Know?’’ was attached to the project

notice Western Frontier provided to

landowners along and adjacent to the

proposed route. This fact sheet

addresses a number of typically asked

questions, including the use of eminent

domain and how to participate in the

Commission’s proceedings. It is

available for viewing on the FERC

Internet web site (www.ferc.gov).

This notice is being sent to

landowners of property crossed by and

adjacent to PG&E Transmission’s

proposed route; Federal, state, and local

agencies; elected officials;

environmental and public interest

groups; and local libraries and

newspapers. Additionally, with this

notice we are asking those Federal,

state, local and tribal agencies with

jurisdiction and/or special expertise

with respect to environmental issues to

cooperate with us in the preparation of

the EA. These agencies may choose to

participate once they have evaluated the

proposal relative to their agencies’

responsibilities. Agencies who would

like to request cooperating agency status

should follow the instructions for filing

comments described below.

Summary of the Proposed Project

PG&E Transmission proposes to

expand the capacity of its existing

mainline system by constructing a total

of 53.6 miles of new natural gas pipeline

loop 2 (42-inch-diameter) and to upgrade

compression at its existing Compressor

Station 14. PG&E Transmission requests

Commission authorization, to construct,

install, own, operate, and maintain the

following facilities:

• About 18.4 miles of 42-inchdiameter loop in Boundary County,

Idaho, including modifications to

Compressor Station 3 and Mainline

Valve (MLV) 3–1 (Segment 3);

• About 16.7 miles of 42-inchdiameter loop in Spokane and Whitman

Counties, Washington, including

modifications to Compressor Station 6

and MLV 6–1 (Segment 6);

• About 12.7 miles of 42-inchdiameter loop in Walla Walla County,

Washington, including modifications to

Compressor Station 7 and MLV 7–1

(Segment 7);

• About 5.8 miles of 42-inch-diameter

loop in Umatilla County, Oregon,

include modifications to MLV 8–1 and

MLV 8–2;

• One new 19,500 horsepower (hp)

gas turbine-driven compressor to be

installed at PG&E Transmission’s

existing Compressor Station 14 in

Klamath County, Oregon; and

• Associated pipeline facilities,

including four pig launchers, four pig

receivers, and 5 mainline block valves.

The general location of PG&E

Transmission’s proposed project

facilities is shown on the map attached

as appendix 1.3

Land Requirements for Construction

PG&E Transmission would construct a

total of about 54 miles of new pipeline

loop, of which about 18 miles would be

in Idaho, 30 miles would be in

Washington, and 6 miles would be in

Oregon. Construction of the loop would

require about 860 acres of land. Of this

total, about 849.4 acres would be

temporary right-of-way and about 10.5

acres would be maintained as new

permanent right-of-way. PG&E

Transmission would also require the use

of about 157.9 acres of extra workspace

for its ancillary areas, aboveground

facility expansions, and access roads.

PG&E Transmission’s existing

permanent right-of-way for its mainline

system on private lands is 100 feet wide,

containing the two parallel existing

pipelines, Pipelines A and B. The

proposed loop (Pipeline C) would

generally be constructed 30 feet east of

Pipeline B, using the existing 100-footwide permanent right-of-way as the

construction right-of-way. PG&E

Transmission states that no new

permanent right-of-way would be

acquired for construction of the

proposed Pipeline C, except for some

properties. After construction, the

existing 100-foot-wide permanent rightof-way would be retained, and would

typically result in a permanent right-ofway 90 feet west and 10 feet east of the

Proposed Pipeline C.

In some site-specific locations, PG&E

Transmission would install the new

loop 20 feet east of Pipeline B, instead

of 30 feet. This decrease in separation

between Pipeline C and B would occur

in areas with residences or other

structures in close proximity to the

eastern permanent right-of-way

boundary. By moving the proposed

pipeline closer to Pipeline B, PG&E

Transmission would increase the

distance between Pipeline C and the

edge of the right-of-way. This alignment

would also be installed entirely within

PG&E Transmission’s 100-foot-wide

permanent right-of-way.

On federal lands, PG&E Transmission

would obtain another Right-of-way

Grant from the U.S. Forest Service

(USFS) for an additional overlapping

53.5 -foot easement and would install

the new Pipeline C with a nominal 30-

foot separation from Pipeline B. For this

project, the total width of permanent

right-of-way, including the existing and

new easements, would be a maximum of

110 feet in width. On federal lands,

except for extra workspace for slopes

and at road, railroad, stream, and

65200 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 243 / Tuesday, December 18, 2001 / Notices

4 ‘‘We’’, ‘‘us’’, ‘‘our’’ refer to the environmental

staff of the Office of Energy Projects (OEP).

wetland crossings, no temporary rightof-way would be used as part of the

construction right-of-way.

The EA Process

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. NEPA also requires us 4 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 EA 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 EA. All comments

received are considered during the

preparation of the EA. State and local

government representatives are

encouraged to notify their constituents

of this proposed action and encourage

them to comment on their areas of

concern.

Our independent analysis of the

issues will be published in the EA

which will be mailed to Federal, state,

and local agencies, public interest

groups, affected landowners and other

interested individuals, newspapers,

libraries, and the Commission’s official

service list for this proceeding. A 30-day

comment period will be allotted for

review of and comment on the EA. We

will consider all comments on the EA

and it will be used by the Commission

in its decision-making process to

determine whether to approve the

project.

Currently Identified Environmental

Issues

The EA 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 that we

think deserve attention based on a

preliminary review of the proposed

facilities and the environmental

information provided by PG&E

Transmission. These issues are listed

below. This is a preliminary list of

issues and may be changed based on

your comments and our analysis.

• Geology and Soils

—Mixing of topsoil and subsoil during

construction.

—Compaction of soil by heavy

equipment.

—Erosion control and right-of-way

restoration.

—Potential geologic hazards, including

seismic activity.

• Water Resources and Wetlands

—Potential effects on groundwater

resources.

—Effects on private water supply wells.

—Effects on 20 perennial waterbodies,

including six crossings of the Moyie

River.

—Effects on about 2.6 acres of wetlands.

• Biological Resources

—Short- and long-term effects of rightof-way clearing and maintenance on

grasslands, wetlands, riparian areas,

and vegetation communities of special

concern.

—Effects on wildlife and species of

concern, including raptors;

—Effects on fishery habitats, including

four federally listed fish species;

—Potential effects on federally listed

species, such as the gray wolf, grizzly

bear, Sellkirk Mountains Woodland

Caribou, Ute ladies’ tresses and

habitats for the bald eagle, gray wolf

and lynx in Idaho; and water howellia

and Ute ladie’ tresses in Washington.

—Potential impact on USFS sensitive

species.

—Potential impact on state-listed

sensitive species.

• Cultural Resources

—Effects on historic and prehistoric

sites.

—Native American concerns.

• Land Use

—Effects on agricultural lands.

—Potential impacts on residential areas.

—Effects on recreation areas.

—Effects of about 3.9 miles of crossing

USFS, Panhandle National Forest

lands (Segment 3).

—Potential impacts on future land uses

and consistency with local land use

plans and zoning.

—Visual/aesthetic effects of

constructing the project.

• Air Quality and Noise

—Construction impacts on local air

quality and noise environment.

—Impact on local air quality and noise

environment as a result of operation

of the upgraded compressor stations.

• Pipeline Reliability and Safety

—Assessment of public safety factors

associated with natural gas pipelines.

• Alternatives

—Assessment of alternative routes,

systems or energy sources to lessen or

avoid impacts on the various resource

areas.

Public Participation

You can make a difference by

providing us with your specific

comments or concerns about the project.

By becoming a commentor, your

concerns will be addressed in the EA

and considered by the Commission. You

should focus on the potential

environmental effects of the proposal,

alternatives to the proposal (including

alternative routes), and measures to

avoid or lessen environmental impact.

The more specific your comments, the

more useful they will be. Please

carefully follow these instructions to

ensure that your comments are received

in time and properly recorded:

• Send an original and two copies of

your letter to: Linwood A. Watson,

Acting Secretary, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 888 First

Street, NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC

20426.

• Label one copy of the comments for

the attention of the Environmental Gas

Branch I, PJ–11.1;

• Reference Docket Nos. CP02–24–

000;

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before January 11, 2002.

Federal and state agencies, such as the

U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers, are invited to

participate as cooperating agencies in

the preparation of the EA. If any agency

is interested in participating with the

Commission on this basis, please write

to the Secretary with this request at the

address listed above.

Comments, protests and interventions

may be filed electronically via the

Internet in lieu of paper. See, 18 CFR

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

on the Commission’s web site at http:/

/www.ferc.gov under the ‘‘e-Filing’’ link

and link to the User’s Guide. Before you

can file comments you will need to

create an account which can be created

by clicking on ‘‘Login to File’’ and then

‘‘New User Account.’’

Everyone who responds to this notice

or comments throughout the EA process

will be retained on our mailing list. If

you do not want to send comments at

this time but still want to remain on our

mailing list, please return the

Information Request (appendix 3). If you

do not return the Information Request,

you will be taken off the mailing list.

Becoming an Intervenor

In addition to involvement in the EA

scoping process, you may want to

become an official party to the

proceeding or become an ‘‘intervenor.’’

Intervenors play a more formal role in

the process. Among other things,

intervenors have the right to receive

copies of case-related Commission

documents and filings by other

intervenors. Likewise, each intervenor

must provide 14 copies of its filings to

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 243 / Tuesday, December 18, 2001 / Notices 65201

5 Interventions may also be filed electronically via

the Internet in lieu of paper. See the previous

discussion on filing comments electronically.

the Secretary of the Commission and

must send a copy of its filings to all

other parties on the Commission’s

service list for this proceeding. If you

want to become an intervenor you must

file a motion to intervene according to

rule 214 of the Commission’s rules of

practice and procedure (18 CFR

385.214) (see appendix 2).5 Only

intervenors have the right to seek

rehearing of the Commission’s decision.

Affected landowners and parties with

environmental concerns may be granted

intervenor status upon showing good

cause by stating that they have a clear

and direct interest in this proceeding

that would not be adequately

represented by any other parties. You do

not need intervenor status to have your

environmental comments considered.

Availability of Additional Information

Copies of this filing are on file with

the Commission and are available for

public inspection. This filing may also

be viewed on the web at http://

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘RIMS’’ link,

select ‘‘Docket#’’ and follow the

instructions (call 202–208–2222 for

assistance).

Similarly, the ‘‘CIPS’’ link on the

FERC Internet website provides access

to the texts of formal documents issued

by the Commission, such as orders,

notices, and rulemakings. From the

FERC Internet website, click on the

‘‘CIPS’’ link, select ‘‘Docket ι’’ from the

CIPS Menu, and follow the instructions.

For assistance with access to CIPS, the

CIPS helpline can be reached at (202)

208–2474.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–31061 Filed 12–17–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice of Application Tendered for

Filing With the Commission Soliciting

Additional Study Requests and

Establishing Procedures for

Relicensing and a Deadline for

Submission of Final Amendments

December 11, 2001.

a. Type of Application: New Major

License.

b. Project No.: P–401–027.

c. Date Filed: September 14, 2001.

d. Applicant: Indiana Michigan Power

Company.

e. Name of Project: Mottville

Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the St. Joseph River, in

Mottville Township, St. Joseph County,

Michigan. The project does not affect

Federal lands.

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power

Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)–825(r).

h. Applicant Contact: J.F. Norris, Jr.,

American Electric Power Service

Corporation, 1 Riverside Plaza,

Columbus, OH 43215, (614) 223–1700,

or jfnorris@aep.com.

i. FERC Contact: Lee Emery (202)

219–2778 or lee.emery@FERC.fed.us.

j. Deadline for filing additional study

requests: January 31, 2002.

All documents (original and eight

copies) should be filed with: Linwood

A. Watson, Jr., Secretary, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 888 First

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.

Additional study requests may be filed

electronically via the Internet in lieu of

paper. See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(iii) and

the instructions on the Commission’s

Web site (http://www.ferc.gov) under the

‘‘e-filing’’ link.

The Commission’s Rules of Practice

require all interveners 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 intervener 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.

k. This application is not ready for

environmental analysis at this time.

l. Description of Project: The existing

Mottville Project consists of: (1) Two 17-

foot high earth-filled embankments

extending towards the center of the river

from both riverbanks, (i) a west

embankment that is 140 feet long and

has a crest width of 15 feet and extends

to the powerhouse, (ii) an east

embankment that is 365 feet long and

has a crest width of 8 feet and extends

from the east riverbank to the spillway;

(2) a 237-foot long, reinforced concrete

spillway with 10 steel Taintor gates

along the crest of the spillway, which

are separated by 2.5-foot wide piers

between Bays 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and

1.5-foot-wide piers between the

remaining Bays, (i) Taintor gates are 22

feet wide and 13 feet high in Bays 1 and

2 and 22 feet wide and 7.5 feet high in

Bays 3 through 10; (3) a combined

powerhouse-intake structure, made of

brick and concrete, that is 118 feet long,

28 feet wide, and 25 feet long; (4) 4

vertical shaft, single runner, propeller

type generating units with an installed

generating capacity of 420 kW each; (5)

a 14.5-foot-long, 28-foot-wide, and 25-

foot-long switchboard bay attached to

the west end of the powerhouse; (6) a 50

horsepower, 460-volt, 3-phase air

bubbler system; (7) a 15-ton overhead

traveling crane; (8) a 20-foot-wide

stilling basin extending across the

length of the spillway; (9) a 12-inch

thick, reinforced concrete spillway

apron; (10) an inoperable 4-foot-wide by

150-foot-long concrete fishway with a

slope of about 25 percent; (11) sets of

angled steel intake trashracks that are 3-

feet 2-inches wide by 14-feet-high with

3/8-inch steel bars with 4-inch spacing

between the bars; (12) a five-mile-long,

378-acre reservoir with a gross storage

capacity of 2,900-acre-feet at the normal

operating pool surface elevation of 770.4

NGVD; (13) a three phase, 2.4/34.5 kV

transformer; and (14) other appurtenant

facilities. The applicant estimates that

the total average annual generation

would be 7,800 MWh. All generated

power is sold to Indiana Michigan

Power Company’s customers.

m. With this notice, we are initiating

consultation with the MICHIGAN

STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION

OFFICER (SHPO), as required by § 106,

National Historic Preservation Act, and

the regulations of the Advisory Council

on Historic Preservation, 36, C.F.R., at

800.4.

n. A copy of the application is on file

with the Commission and is available

for public inspection. This filing may

also be viewed on the Web at http://

www.ferc.gov using the ‘‘RIMS’’ link—

select ‘‘Docket #’’ and follow the

instructions (call 202–208–2222 for

assistance). A copy is also available for

inspection and reproduction at the

address in item h above.

o. Pursuant to § 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR

of the Commission’s regulations, if any

resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person

believes that an additional scientific

study should be conducted in order to

form an adequate factual basis for a

complete analysis of the application on

its merit, the resource agency, Indian

Tribe, or person must file a request for

a study with the Commission not later

than the date set in paragraph j of this

notice and serve a copy of the request

on the applicant.

p. Procedural schedule and final

amendments: The application will be

processed according to the following

milestones, some of which may be

combined to expedite processing:

Notice of application has been accepted for

filing

Notice of NEPA Scoping

Notice of application is ready for

environmental analysis

Final amendments to the application must be

filed with the Commission*