Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 38 / Monday, February 26, 2001 / Notices 11569

noncancer health effects due to PCBs on

inhaled dust from the cleanups are

estimated to have been orders of

magnitude below levels of concern

established by the EPA. Information

from LLNL’s extensive groundwater

monitoring program and new

information in this SEIS regarding

present and potential future

groundwater concentrations of PCBs in

the study areas indicate that PCB

contamination levels are well below

concentrations that would impact

human health and the environment. No

adverse impacts on human health or the

environment would result from this low

level of potential contamination.

Impacts on the environment of both

alternatives—(1) continue to construct

and then operate the NIF at LLNL and

(2) cease construction of the NIF—are

similar. Concentrations of PCBs in soil

or groundwater originating from buried

material would be below any level of

regulatory concern for all alternatives,

and therefore would not adversely affect

human health.

DOE held several public hearings on

the Draft NIF SEIS: Wednesday,

December 1, 1999, at 2 p.m. at the U.S.

Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, DC; and Wednesday,

December 8, 1999, at 3 p.m. and 6:30

p.m. at LLNL, 7000 East Avenue,

Livermore CA. After the public

comment period, which ended

December 20, 1999, the Department

considered and responded to the

comments received, revised the Draft

NIF SEIS as appropriate, and issued this

Final NIF SEIS.

Copies of the Final NIF SEIS have

been distributed to appropriate

Congressional members and

committees, the State of California, local

governments, other federal agencies,

and other interested parties. DOE

intends to issue a ROD no sooner than

30 days following publication of the

EPA Notice of Availability of the Final

NIF SEIS in the Federal Register.

Issued in Washington, DC this 20th day of

February, 2001.

Thomas F. Gioconda,

Brigadier General, USAF, Acting Deputy

Administrator for Defense Programs, National

Nuclear Security Administration, Department

of Energy.

[FR Doc. 01–4641 Filed 2–23–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration

Transmission System Vegetation

Management Program

AGENCY: Bonneville Power

Administration (Bonneville),

Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of supplemental Record

of Decision (ROD).

SUMMARY: This supplemental ROD is to

clarify Bonneville’s decisions regarding

its approved herbicide list and

procedures that were adopted in its

ROD of July 2000, based on its

Transmission System Vegetation

Management Program Environmental

Impact Statement (EIS) (DOE/EIS–0285,

May 2000). The remaining text of the

supplemental ROD is included in its

entirety in the Supplementary

Information section of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Additional copies of this

supplemental ROD may be obtained by

calling Bonneville’s toll-free document

request line: 1–800–622–4520. The EIS

and initial ROD (July 2000) are also

available. These documents may also be

viewed on Bonneville’s website: http://

www.efw.bpa.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Stacy Mason, Environmental Project

Manager—KEC–4, Bonneville Power

Administration, P.O. Box 3621,

Portland, Oregon, 97208–3621;

telephone number 503–230–5455; fax

number 503–230–5699; e-mail

slmason@bpa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

a. Decisions

As part of the program that was

adopted, Bonneville approved the use of

herbicides as one of the tools that could

be used to control vegetation on rightsof-way, in electric yards, and at nonelectric facilities. Twenty-three

herbicide active ingredients were

analyzed in the EIS and adopted as the

approved herbicide list. Bonneville also

adopted a process for adding or

eliminating herbicide ingredients to or

from our program. The following

decisions are being clarified in this

supplemental ROD:

(1) Herbicide Mixtures. Bonneville

will allow the mixture of any herbicides

that are on Bonneville’s approved

herbicide list if the mixture meets all

the following conditions: (a) It is an

allowed mixture according to the

instructions contained in the herbicide

label, (b) A Bonneville environmental

review of the mixture is conducted in

order to provide information regarding

toxicity ratings so that appropriate

buffers and mitigation measures may be

applied, and (c) There are not any

known synergistic effects such that the

toxicity of the herbicide mixture is

greater than that of either herbicide used

singly. If there are known or suspected

synergistic effects, Bonneville will

conduct further environmental analysis

consistent with the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) prior

to the use of the mixture. The NEPA

analysis will begin in the form of a

supplement analysis tiered to the Final

Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)

and ROD and may result in a

supplemental EIS depending upon the

results of the supplement analysis. The

supplement analysis will compare the

potential impacts of the mixtures with

those disclosed in the FEIS and will

include public comment. This analysis

will ensure that impacts of the mixtures

with synergistic effects are adequately

analyzed within the range of

alternatives addressed in the FEIS.

(2) Adjuvants. Bonneville’s adopted

process for approving new herbicides

will be applied to new adjuvants as

well. The environmental review for that

process will begin with a supplement

analysis tiered to the FEIS and ROD as

described above for herbicide mixtures

with synergistic effects.

(3) Herbicide Facility Use Correction.

Bonneville will add glyphosate for

potential use at non-electric facilities.

The original ROD approved glyphosate

for use on rights-of-way and in electric

yards. Due to an oversight, glyphosate

was mistakenly not approved for use at

non-electric facilities for landscape and

workyard maintenance. The potential

impacts for this herbicide were

described in the FEIS.

b. Background

Bonneville is responsible for

maintaining a network of transmission

lines, substations, and other related

facilities throughout the Northwest. As

part of that maintenance, Bonneville

needs to keep vegetation a safe distance

away from our electric power facilities

(rights-of-way, electric yards, and nonelectric facilities such as maintenance

work yards). In our Transmission

System Vegetation Management

Program EIS and ROD, Bonneville

adopted a program for managing

vegetation at our facilities. Below is a

summary of the decisions we made for

our program:

• Promote the establishment of lowgrowing plant communities on the

rights-of-way to ‘‘out-compete’’ trees

and tall-growing brush;

• Have all possible vegetation control

methods available for use to maintain

rights-of-way (manual, mechanical,

11570 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 38 / Monday, February 26, 2001 / Notices

1Regulation of Short-Term Natural Gas

Transportation Services, and Regulation of

biological, and herbicide—spot,

localized, broadcast, and aerial

application);

• Allow the use of herbicides

available to treat any kind of vegetation

needing management for rights-of-way;

• Continue our current practice of

controlling vegetation in electrical yards

using primarily pre-emergent

herbicides;

• For other non-electric facilities,

continue to have available a variety of

methods for use to manage vegetation,

including manual and mechanical

methods, herbicides, and fertilizers;

• Use the planning steps outlined in

the FEIS to guide site-specific vegetation

projects and their environmental review

tiered to the FEIS;

• Use only a list of herbicides that

Bonneville approves for use; and

• Adopt a procedure of

environmental review tiered to the FEIS

for adding or eliminating herbicide

ingredients, or new methods or

techniques to the program.

This supplemental ROD addresses

three herbicide-use decisions that were

overlooked in the original ROD.

c. Rationale for the Decisions

The rationales for adopting the

decisions described in this

supplemental ROD are as follows:

(1) Herbicide Mixtures. Bonneville

analyzed the impacts of herbicide active

ingredients in the FEIS. In most cases,

the toxicity ratings for a herbicide

mixture will be the same as that of the

single active ingredient in the mixture

that has the highest toxicity rating.

Therefore, the potential environmental

impacts of using the mixture would be

the same as using the ingredients singly,

and those impacts have been analyzed

in the FEIS.

There is a potential that mixing two

herbicides could cause a synergistic

effect such that the toxicity of the

herbicide mixture is greater than that of

either herbicide used singly. Therefore,

if the mixtures have known synergistic

effects, or are likely to have synergistic

effects, we would conduct further NEPA

review to determine (a) the potential

impacts of those effects, (b) if the

impacts are consistent with impacts

disclosed in the FEIS, and (c) whether

the use of the mixture would be allowed

in the program. This process ensures

that Bonneville will be considering the

environmental impact of the use of

herbicide mixtures.

(2) Adjuvants. Adjuvants are

ingredients mixed with herbicides to

enhance the usefulness of the herbicide

(such as sticking agents, thickening

agents, stabilizers, etc.). Adjuvants by

themselves can potentially cause

environmental impacts. If Bonneville

wants to add adjuvants not considered

in the FEIS for use in the program, we

will develop a supplement analysis,

which includes public involvement as

discussed in the initial ROD, to make

sure the potential impacts are

considered.

(3) Herbicide Facility Use Correction.

Bonneville intended to list glyphosate

as a herbicide to be used at non-electric

facilities (it was analyzed in the FEIS

and approved for use on rights-of-way

and in electric yards). The human

health toxicity assessment and

ecological toxicities and characteristics

of glyphosate are as researched and

reported in the FEIS. Glyphosate is

practically non-toxic to mammals, avian

species, and microorganisms.

Glyphosate is moderately toxic to

aquatic species. Glyphosate has no soil

residual activity and must be applied by

direct foliar application thereby

reducing direct or indirect introduction

into water bodies. Keeping in mind that

using glyphosate at non-electric

facilities typically means for use in

landscaping, adding glyphosate for

landscaping will potentially decrease or

eliminate the use and amount of more

toxic active ingredients already

approved for use at non-electric

facilities.

Issued in Portland, Oregon, on February

16, 2001.

Steven G. Hickok,

Acting Administrator and Chief Executive

Officer.

[FR Doc. 01–4640 Filed 2–23–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. ER01–294–000 and ER01–294–

001]

Ameren Energy Development

Company; Notice of Issuance of Order

February 14, 2001.

Ameren Energy Development

Company (Ameren Energy) submitted

for filing a rate schedule under which

Ameren Energy will engage in

wholesale electric power and energy

transactions at market-based rates.

Ameren Energy also requested waiver of

various Commission regulations. In

particular, Ameren Energy requested

that the Commission grant blanket

approval under 18 CFR part 34 of all

future issuances of securities and

assumptions of liability by Ameren

Energy.

On February 9, 2001, pursuant to

delegated authority, the Director,

Division of Corporate Applications,

Office of Markets, Tariffs and Rates,

granted requests for blanket approval

under Part 34, subject to the following:

Within thirty days of the date of the

order, any person desiring to be heard

or to protest the blanket approval of

issuances of securities or assumptions of

liability by Ameren Energy should file

a motion to intervene or protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC

20426, in accordance with Rules 211

and 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211

and 385.214).

Absent a request for hearing within

this period, Ameren is authorized to

issue securities and assume obligations

or liabilities as a guarantor, indorser,

surety, or otherwise in respect of any

security of another person; provided

that such issuance or assumption is for

some lawful object within the corporate

purposes of the applicant, and

compatible with the public interest, and

is reasonably necessary or appropriate

for such purposes.

The Commission reserves the right to

require a further showing that neither

public nor private interests will be

adversely affected by continued

approval of Ameren’s issuances of

securities or assumptions of liability.

Notice is hereby given that the

deadline for filing motions to intervene

or protests, as set forth above, is March

12, 2001.

Copies of the full text of the Order are

available from the Commission’s Public

Reference Branch, 888 First Street, NE.,

Washington, DC 20426. The Order may

also be viewed on the Internet at http:/

/www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm (call

202–208–2222 for assistance).

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–4574 Filed 2–23–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. MG01–20–000]

Egan Hub Partners, L.P.; Notice of

Filing

February 20, 2001.

On February 12, 2001, Egan Hub

Partners, L.P. filed revised standards of

conduct under Order No. 637.1