[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 20, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11388-11389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-6708]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Bonneville Power Administration
Delivery of the Canadian Entitlement
AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy
(DOE).
ACTION: Notice of Availability of Record of Decision (ROD).
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SUMMARY: The United States Entity (the Administrator of the Bonneville
Power Administration and the Division Engineer, North Pacific Division
of the US Army Corps of Engineers) has decided to fulfill its
obligation under the Columbia River Treaty (Treaty) between the United
States and Canada by delivering Canada's Entitlement under the Treaty
to a point on the United States/Canada border near Oliver, British
Columbia (BC). Delivering the Entitlement at that location will require
BPA to construct and operate a new single-circuit 500-kV transmission
line from Grand Coulee or Chief Joseph Substation to the United States/
Canada border, a distance of 135 to 155 kilometers (85 to 95 miles),
depending on the alignment selected.
The Treaty, signed in 1961, led to the construction of three
storage dams on the Columbia River system in Canada and one in the
United States. Under the Treaty, Canada and the United States equally
share the benefits of the additional power that can be generated at
dams downstream in the United States because of the storage at the
upstream Treaty reservoirs. Canada's half of the downstream power
benefits, known as the Canadian Entitlement, is estimated to be
approximately 1,200 to 1,500 megawatts (MW) of capacity and 550 to 600
average megawatts (aMW) of energy. Canada sold its share of the power
benefits for 30-year periods to a consortium of US utilities. The 30-
year sale will begin to expire in 1998, when the first installment of
the Canadian Entitlement must be delivered to Canada. The Treaty
specifies that the Entitlement must be delivered to Canada at a point
on the border near Oliver unless other arrangements are agreed upon by
the Entities. An interim agreement allows the Entitlement to be
delivered over existing facilities between 1998 and 2003.
Over a period of several years, the United States and Canadian
Entities made a concerted effort to find a mutually agreeable
alternative at commercially acceptable terms to delivery at Oliver. In
the Delivery of the Canadian Entitlement Final Environmental Impact
Statement (DOE/EIS-0197, issued in January 1996), the United States
Entity evaluated the potential environmental impacts of a range of
alternatives for delivering the Entitlement to Canada, including
various combinations of delivery points, power purchases, resource
development, and use of the Intertie System. This decision to deliver
the full Entitlement to Oliver reflects the inability of the United
States and Canadian Entities to agree to an alternative arrangement to
the delivery point specified in the Treaty.
To comply with the Treaty, the United States Entity must be able to
deliver the full Entitlement to Canada by April 1, 2003. In order to
meet that schedule and to provide time for environmental analysis,
public involvement, planning, and construction of a transmission line,
BPA will issue a Notice of Intent to prepare the Oliver Delivery
Project EIS, and begin scoping activities to support that EIS. The
Oliver Delivery Project EIS will address the construction and operation
of the transmission line required to implement the United States
Entity's decision to deliver the full Entitlement at Oliver.
The United States Entity continues to be open to discussion with
the Canadian Entity regarding commercially acceptable alternative
delivery arrangements to full delivery at Oliver. In the event the
United States Entity and the Canadian Entity mutually agree on an
alternative disposition of the Canadian Entitlement, within a timeframe
that allows the United States Entity to timely fulfill its obligation
to Canada, the United States Entity will revisit its decision to
deliver the full Canadian Entitlement to Oliver. The Delivery of the
Canadian Entitlement EIS will be evaluated to determine whether it
adequately covers the environmental inputs of that alternative, or
whether a supplement to the EIS needs to be prepared.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD and Environmental Impact Statement may be
obtained by calling BPA's toll-free document request line: 1-800-622-
4520.
[[Page 11389]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Katherine Pierce--ECN, Bonneville
Power Administration, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621,
phone number (503) 230-3962, fax number (503) 230-5699.
Public Availability: This ROD will be distributed to all interested
and affected persons and agencies.
Issued in Portland, Oregon, on March 12, 1996.
Randall W. Hardy,
Chair, United States Entity.
Major General Russell L. Fuhrman,
Member, United States Entity.
[FR Doc. 96-6708 Filed 3-19-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
