99-19382. Portland General Electric Company; Scoping Meetings Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for an Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 145 (Thursday, July 29, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41101-41102]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-19382]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 477-000-OR]


Portland General Electric Company; Scoping Meetings Pursuant to 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for an Applicant Prepared 
Environmental Assessment

July 23, 1999.
    Pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 1992, the Portland General 
Electric Company (PGE) has been using a third party contractor, 
alternative process, to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to 
file along with a relicensing application, with the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (Commission) for the Bull Run Project, Project 
No. 477. The license for the project expires on November 16, 2004. PGE 
will continue with the alternative process but now intends to file an 
Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment (APEA) in connection with 
an application to surrender its license for the project.
    In October 1997, state and federal agencies, local interests, and 
nongovernmental organizations, undertook a collaborative effort for the 
relicensing of the Bull Run Project. The process involved 
identification of environmental issues associated with the relicensing 
of the Bull Run Project, including public meetings in March 1999, to 
solicit comments on the Initial Consultation Document. In September 
1998, PGE requested use of an alternative procedure, involving a third-
party contractor, in filing an application for a new license for the 
Bull Run Project. On December 10, 1998, the Commission approved the use 
of an alternative licensing procedure in the preparation of the Bull 
Run relicensing application.
    In May 1999, PGE decided to pursue a surrender of its operating 
license and to decommission the Bull Run Project. PGE obtained support 
from the parties involved in the collaborative effort to pursue the 
APEA procedure for the decommissioning of the Bull Run Project. As part 
of the APEA procedure, PGE with the Commission 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 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

[[Page 41102]]

this analysis; and (2) advise all parties of their opportunity for 
comment.

Scoping Process

    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 document to be prepared pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The SDI will be 
circulated to enable appropriate federal, state, and local resource 
agencies, Indian tribes, NGOs, and other interested parties to 
participate in 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 issues.

Scoping Meetings

    PGE and FERC staff will conduct two scoping meetings. All 
interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to 
attend and assist in identifying the scope of environmental issues that 
should be analyzed in the APEA.
    The agency/public scoping meeting will be held on Wednesday 
September 1, 1999, from 9:00 am until noon, at Two World Trade Center, 
Bridge Level Conference Rooms A and B, 121 SW Salmon Street, Portland, 
Oregon. The public scoping meeting will be held on Wednesday September 
1, 1999, from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at U.S. Forest Service Mount 
Hood National Forest Headquarters Office, First Floor Conference Room, 
16400 Champion Way, Sandy, Oregon. For more details, interested parties 
should contact Julie Keil, PGE, [phone] before the meeting date.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, PGE and FERC staff will: (1) summarize the 
environmental issues identified for analysis in the APEA; (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 APEA. Individuals, organizations, and agencies with 
environmental expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the 
meetings and to assist in defining and clarifying the issues to be 
addressed.

Meeting Procedures

    The meeting will be conducted according to the procedures used at 
Commission scoping meetings. Because this meeting will be a NEPA 
scoping meeting, the Commission will not conduct another scoping 
meeting when the surrender application and APEA are filed with the 
Commission in Spring 2000.
    The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer or audio tape and 
become a part of the formal record of the Commission proceeding on the 
Bull Run Project. Individuals presenting statements at the meetings 
will be asked to identify themselves for the record. 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. 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 August 30, 
1999.
    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. 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, Bull 
Run Project, FERC No. 477. A copy of each filing should also be sent to 
Julie Keil, Portland General Electric Company, 121 SW Salmon Street, 
3WTC-BRHL, Portland, OR 97204.
    Based on all written comments, 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 Jim Hastreiter, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 101 SW 
Main St., Suite 905 Portland, OR, 97204 at [phone], or Julie 
Keil, Portland General Electric Company, at [phone].
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-19382 Filed 7-28-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M