[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8708-8709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-4674]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Project No. 2009-000-NC]
North Carolina Power; Notice of Scoping Meetings Pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
February 20, 1997.
Virginia Electric and Power Company operating in Virginia as
Virginia Power and in North Carolina as North Carolina Power (NCP) is
the licensee for the Roanoke Rapids and Gaston Project, FERC No. 2009.
The license for the project expires on January 31, 2001.
On May 23, 1995, NCP held the first stage consultation meeting for
the project. The purpose of the meeting was to identify resource issues
to be addressed during the relicensing process. Studies were initiated
in January 1996 and are currently ongoing.
During 1996, NCP determined that an Applicant Prepared
Environmental Assessment (APEA) would facilitate the relicensing
process, which was generally supported by the resource agencies and
interested parties. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
approval to conduct the APEA process was granted on December 13, 1996.
As part of the APEA process, NCP has prepared a Scoping Document I
(SDI), which provides information on the scoping process, APEA
schedule, background information, environmental issues, and proposed
project alternatives. The issues contained in SDI are based on agency
and public comments at the May 23, 1995, and other meetings.
The purpose of this notice is to: (1) advise all parties as to the
proposed scope of the environmental analysis, including cumulative
effects, and to seek additional information pertinent to this analysis;
and (2) advise all parties of their opportunity for comment.
Scoping Process
The Commission's scoping objectives are to:
identify significant environmental issues;
determine the depth of analysis appropriate to each issue;
identify the resource issues not requiring detailed
analysis; and
identify reasonable project alternatives.
The purpose of the scoping process is to identify significant
issues related to the proposed action and to determine what issues
should be addressed in the APEA document to be prepared pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The document, SDI,
will be circulated to enable appropriate federal, state, and local
resource agencies, developers, Indian tribes, nongovernmental
organizations (NGO's), and other interested parties to effectively
participate in and contribute to the scoping process. SDI provides a
brief description of the proposed action, project alternatives, the
geographic and temporal scope of a cumulative effects analysis, and a
list of preliminary issues.
Scoping Meetings
NCP and FERC staff will conduct two scoping meetings. All
interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to
attend and assist in
[[Page 8709]]
identifying the scope of environmental issues that should be analyzed
in the APEA NEPA document.
The public scoping meeting will be held on March 13, 1997, from
7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Kirkwood F. Adams Community Center, 1100
Hamilton St. Roanoke Raids, NC.
The agency scoping meeting will be held on March 13, 1997, from
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the offices of North Carolina Power, 1040
Roanoke Avenue, Roanoke Rapids, NC. For more details, interested
parties should contact Ken Baker, (804) 273-3257, prior to the meeting
date.
Objectives
At the scoping meetings, the NCP and FERC staff will: (1) summarize
the environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the
NEPA document; (2) solicit from the meeting participants all available
information, especially quantified data, on the resources at issue, and
(3) encourage statements from experts and the public on issues that
should be analyzed in the NEPA document. Individuals, organizations,
and agencies with environmental expertise and concerns are encouraged
to attend the meetings and to assist the staff in defining and
clarifying the issues to be addressed.
Meeting Procedures
The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and become a part
of the formal record of the Commission proceeding on the Roanoke Raids
Project. Individuals presenting statements at the meetings will be
asked to identify themselves for the record.
Concerned parties are encouraged to offer verbal guidance during
public meetings. Speaking time allowed for individuals will be
determined before each meeting, based on the number of persons wishing
to speak and the approximate amount of time available for the session,
but all speakers will be provided at least 5 minutes to present their
views.
All those attending the meeting are urged to refrain from making
any communications concerning the merits of the project to any member
of the Commission staff outside of the established process for
developing the record as stated in the record of the proceeding.
Persons choosing not to speak but wishing to express an opinion, as
well as speakers unable to summarize their positions within their
allotted time, may submit written statements for inclusion in the
public record no later than April 14, 1997.
All filings should contain an original and 8 copies. Failure to
file an original and 8 copies may result in appropriate staff not
receiving the benefit of your comments in a timely manner. See 18 CFR
4.34(h). In addition, commenters may submit a copy of their comments on
a 3\1/2\-inch diskette formatted for MS-DOS based computers. In light
of our ability to translate MS-DOS based materials, the text need only
be submitted in the format and version that it was generated (i.e., MS
Word, WordPerfect 5.1/5.2, ASCII, etc.). It is not necessary to
reformat word processor generated text to ASCII. For Macintosh users,
it would be helpful to save the documents in Macintosh word processor
format and then write them to files on a diskette formatted for MS-DOS
machines. All comments should be submitted to the Office of the
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street,
N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, and should clearly show the following
captions on the first page: Roanoke Rapids Project, FERC No. 2009.
Further, interested persons are reminded of the Commission's Rules
of Practice and Procedures, requiring parties or interceders (as
defined in 18 CFR 385.2010) to file documents on each person whose name
is on the official service list for this proceeding. See 18 CFR
4.34(b).
Based on all written comments and a Scoping Document II (SDII) may
be issued. SDII will include a revised list of issues, based on the
scoping sessions.
For further information regarding the APEA scoping process, please
contact Ed Crouse, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of
Hydropower Licensing, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20426 at
(202) 219-2794.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-4674 Filed 2-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M
