[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 215 (Friday, November 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59986-59988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29803]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Western Area Power Administration
Notice of Availability of the Sutter Power Project Draft
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Western Area Power Administration, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of Availability and Notice of Public Hearings.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 102(2) of the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4332, the Western
Area Power Administration (Western) announces that the Sutter Power
Project (SPP) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is available
for public review and comment. Calpine Corporation (Calpine) has
submitted an application to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for
the development, construction, and operation of the SPP, a 500-megawatt
(MW) gas fueled, combined cycle, electric generating facility located
north of Sacramento, California. This project would involve the
construction of additional transmission facilities, as well as new
natural gas pipelines. Calpine has approached Western concerning an
interconnection with Western's Keswick-Elverta and Olinda-Elverta
double-circuit 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines.
Western and CEC are ``joint lead agencies'' for purposes of
satisfying the requirements of NEPA and the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA), respectively. Western and CEC prepared this joint
Draft EIS/Final Staff Assessment (FSA) to satisfy the requirements of
both agencies, and will hold joint public hearings to receive formal
comments on the Draft EIS/FSA according to the schedule below. Western
and CEC will accept written and oral comments during the public review
period.
[[Page 59987]]
DATES: Written comments on the draft EIS/FSA should be sent to the
Environmental Project Manager or CEC Project Manager by December 14,
1998, at the addresses provided below. Those wishing to make oral
comments may do so at the scheduled public hearings. Western and CEC
will respond to all comments, both written and oral, in Western's final
EIS and CEC's Presiding Member Proposed Decision. The hearings will be
held at the Veteran's Memorial Community Building, 425 Circle Drive,
Yuba City, CA, on November 2, 10, 12, and 16, 1998. Each hearing will
begin at 9:00 a.m., with the exception of an additional hearing to be
held on November 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the same location.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the Draft EIS/FSA may be directed to the
following persons. For Western, address comments to: Ms. Loreen
McMahon, Environmental Project Manager, Sierra Nevada Customer Service
Region, Western Area Power Administration, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom,
CA 95630-4710, telephone (916) 353-4460, E-mail: mcmahon@wapa.gov. For
CEC, address comments to Paul Richins, Project Manager, Energy
Facilities Siting and Environmental Protection Division, California
Energy Commission, 1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento, CA 95814,
Telephone: (916) 654-4074, E-mail: prichins@energy.state.ca.us.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, to submit
written comments, or to request a copy or summary of the Draft EIS,
please call or write Western's Sierra Nevada Customer Service Regional
Office or CEC at the addresses shown above. Additional information on
the project and the CEC may be found on CEC's website at
www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/sutterpower/index.html.
For general information on DOE's NEPA review process, please
contact Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, NEPA Policy and Assistance, EH-
42, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, D.C. 20585, telephone (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Calpine proposes to construct SPP in Sutter
County, California, on a portion of a 77-acre parcel of land owned by
Calpine, that also houses its Greenleaf 1 cogeneration plant. Yuba
City, California, is approximately 7 miles to the northeast; Oswald,
California, is approximately 3.5 miles to the east; and Sacramento,
California, is approximately 36 miles to the southeast of the proposed
project site. The land surrounding the project area is farmland used to
grow rice, walnuts, almonds, and other orchard crops. The SPP project
would consist of a nominal 500 MW net electrical output natural gas-
fired, combined cycle generating facility, a 230-kV switching station,
and a new 230-kV transmission line to connect with Western's Keswick-
Elverta and Olinda-Elverta double-circuit 230-kV transmission lines at
some point south and west of the plant. A new 12-mile natural gas
pipeline would be constructed to provide fuel for the project. Potable
water and cooling water would be provided by an on site well system
that will be developed as part of the project. Sanitary waste will be
treated on-site. The treated and other waste water generated in the
operation of the plant would be discharged to an existing surface
drainage system.
SPP would be a ``merchant plant'; it would sell power on a short
and midterm basis to customers, and on the spot market. Power purchases
by customers would be voluntary, and all economic costs will be borne
by Calpine. Calpine approached Western regarding an interconnection for
the power produced by SPP. This interconnection would require Western
to make facility additions to its existing system to incorporate
additional power from new generation.
CEC, a regulatory agency of the State of California, has the
statutory authority to license thermal powerplants of 50 MW or greater.
CEC's review process ensures that needed energy facilities are
authorized in an expeditious, safe, and environmentally acceptable
manner. CEC prepares all environmental documentation by following CEQA,
and maintains a staff of experts in more than 20 environmental and
engineering disciplines to perform balanced, independent evaluations of
complex projects. CEC has prepared this document in compliance with
California Public Resources Code (Cal. Pub. Res. Secs. 25500, et seq.);
CEQA (Cal. Pub. Res. Secs. 21000, et seq.) and its guidelines found at
California Code of Regulations (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14 Secs. 15000, et
seq.); and the regulations of CEC (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 20
Secs. 1742.5, 1743, and 1744). The CEC process mirrors that of the
Federal process; CEC's FSA document is equivalent to the Draft EIS.
Western, a power marketing agency of the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE), is responsible for the transmission and marketing of electric
power in 15 western States through an extensive, complex, and
integrated high-voltage power transmission system. Western has prepared
this document in compliance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the
Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing NEPA (40
CFR Parts 1500-1508), and the DOE regulations for compliance with NEPA
(10 CFR Part 1021).
Because CEC has licensing responsibilities as well as
responsibilities under CEQA, Western agreed to be a joint lead agency
with CEC and to utilize CEC's expertise in siting issues. The review
process was initiated when Calpine filed an Application for
Certification (AFC) with CEC on December 15, 1997. On January 21, 1998,
CEC accepted the AFC as complete which began CEC's 1-year review
process. On February 13, 1998, Western published a Notice of Intent to
Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in the Federal Register (63
FR 7412-7413). A scoping meeting was held in Yuba City, California, on
March 3, 1998. Additional public workshops that addressed various
issues of concern were held on March 25, March 31, June 3, July 14,
August 4, August 6, and August 12, 1998.
CEC maintains a mailing list of those interested in SPP. All
persons and groups on that mailing list have been notified of the
availability of the Draft EIS/FSA. A distribution has been made to
various libraries and other repositories in the project area, as well
as those agencies and persons that have already requested a copy.
Copies of the Draft EIS/FSA are available for public review at the
Sierra Nevada Customer Service Regional Office, Western Area Power
Administration, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom, California; or at the
Corporate Services Office, Western Area Power Administration, 1627 Cole
Boulevard, Building 18, Golden, Colorado. This information is also
available at the DOE Reading Room at the following address: U.S.
Department of Energy Reading Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, D.C. CEC maintains copies for
review at the Energy Commission Library, 1516 9th Street, Sacramento,
California. Copies for review are also available at the Sutter County
Community Service Department, 1160 Civic Center Boulevard, Yuba City,
California, and at the Main Branch of the Sutter County Library, 705
Forbs Avenue, Yuba City, California.
During this time, Western and CEC have coordinated closely with
other Federal, State, and local agencies such as the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the California
State Department of Water Resources, the California State Department of
Fish and Game, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the
California Public Utilities
[[Page 59988]]
Commission, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and several local
authorities.
The results of these meetings have allowed Western and CEC to
identify areas of concern raised by the public and other agencies. The
visual and noise impacts of the plant and the new transmission line
were a major concern of the people who live in the immediate area of
the plant site. Other more general issues concerned water resources--
the impact to nearby wells by a potential draw-down by SPP; water
quality impacts to downstream users and fisheries; the use of surface
ditches by the project; and potential impacts caused by localized
flooding. Other concerns raised include air quality impacts, land use
issues, impacts to agricultural operations, and the need for rezoning
the site.
The Draft EIS/FSA presents analyses of the no action (no project)
alternative, as well as four siting alternatives to the proposed site.
These alternate sites were compared to the unmitigated impacts of the
SPP proposed location. The potential impacts to each sensitive issue
(water, air, natural resources, cultural resources, visual, noise,
etc.) were analyzed and discussed in some detail in the Draft EIS/FSA.
However, each of these alternate sites were found to have environmental
problems. Alternatives to the proposed project, as well as individual
mitigation measures, are proposed and applied where impacts approach a
threshold of significance. Environmentally preferred options are
detailed for each issue.
CEC will hold hearings on Calpine's proposal. These are held as
evidentiary hearings with two commissioners present. All witnesses are
sworn in and present information to the Commissioners. Each technical
area will be discussed in this manner, so that the length of the
hearing process depends on the amount of testimony that needs to be
taken for each technical area. Following each portion of the hearing
process, the public may comment on the evidence presented. A full
transcript will be available following the hearings.
A decision on the proposed action will be made after considering
comments on the Draft EIS/FSA, both written and those presented at the
hearings announced above. The final EIS will present the full analysis
of these comments and project alternatives that are proposed in the
Draft EIS/FSA and present the final alternative that will be the
subject of Western's and CEC's decisions on SPP.
Dated: October 20, 1998.
Michael S. Hacskaylo,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 98-29803 Filed 11-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
