[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 155 (Friday, August 11, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41061-41062]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19841]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Project No. 11545-000, MA]
Allen Ross; Notice of Scoping Pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Notice Requesting Interventions and
Protests, and Notice Not Ready for Environmental Analysis
August 7, 1995.
On July 31, 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(Commission) issued a letter accepting the Allen Ross' application for
the Book Mill Project, located on the Sawmill River in Franklin County,
Massachusetts. The application is not ready for environmental analysis
at this time. A public notice will be issued in the future indicating
its readiness for environmental analysis and soliciting comments,
recommendations, terms and conditions, or prescriptions on the
application and the applicant's reply comments.
The purpose of this notice is to (1) Invite interventions and
protests; (2) advise all parties as to the proposed scope of the
staff's environmental analysis, including cumulative effects, and to
seek additional information pertinent to this analysis; and (3) advise
all parties of their opportunity for comment.
Interventions and Protests
All filings must: (1) Bear in all capital letters the title
``PROTEST,'' ``MOTION TO INTERVENE,'' ``NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE
COMPETING APPLICATION,'' or ``COMPETING APPLICATION;'' (2) set forth in
the heading the name of the applicant and the project number of the
application to which the filing responds; (3) furnish the name,
address, and telephone number of the person protesting or intervening;
and (4) otherwise comply with the requirements of 18 CFR 385.2001
through 385.2005. Agencies may obtain copies of the application
directly from the applicant. Any of these documents must be filed by
providing the original and the number of copies required by the
Commission's regulations to: Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 825 North Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
An additional copy must be sent to: Director, Division of Project
Review, Office of Hydropower Licensing, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, Room 1027, at the above address. A copy of any protest or
motion to intervene must be served upon each representative of the
applicant specified in the particular application.
[[Page 41062]]
All filings for any protest or motion to intervene must be received
60 days from the issuance date of this notice.
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 covered in the environmental document pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The document entitled
``Scoping Document I'' (SDI) will be circulated shortly to enable
appropriate federal, state, and local resource agencies, developers,
Indian tribes, non-governmental 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
identified by staff.
Project Site Visit
The applicant and the Commission staff will conduct a project site
visit of the Book Mill Project on August 28, 1995, at 10:00 a.m.,
meeting at the Book Mill Building, Greenfield Rd., Montague Center,
Franklin County, Massachusetts 01351. All interested individuals, NGO's
and agencies are invited to attend. All participants are responsible
for their own transportation and should bring a hard hat. For more
details, interested parties should contact Jay Boeri, agent for Allen
Ross, at (802) 436-2521, prior to the site visit date.
Scoping Meetings
The Commission staff will conduct two scoping meetings, both on the
same day. All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are
invited to attend and assist the staff in identifying the scope of
environmental issues that should be analyzed in the NEPA document.
The afternoon agency scoping meeting will be held on August 28,
1995, from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M., at the Book Mill Building,
Greenfield Road, Montague Center, Franklin County, Massachusetts 01352.
The evening public scoping meeting will be held on August 28, 1995,
from 7:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. at the above-mentioned location.
The Commission will decide, based on the application, and agency
and public comments at the scoping session, whether licensing the Book
Mill Project constitutes a major federal action significantly impacting
the quality of the human environment. Irrespective of the Commission's
determination to prepare an environmental assessment or an
environmental impact statement for the Book Mill Project, the
Commission staff will not hold additional scoping meetings other than
those scheduled, as listed above.
Objectives
At the scoping meetings, the Commission 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 Book Mill
Project. Individuals presenting statements at the meetings will be
asked to identify themselves for the record.
Concerned parties are encouraged to offer us 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 application 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 up until the closing date for SDI.
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
C.F.R. 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, Word-Perfect 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, 825
North Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, and should clearly
show the following captions on the first page: Book Mill Project, FERC
No. 11545.
Further, interested persons are reminded of the Commission's Rules
of Practice and Procedures, requiring parties or interceders (as
defined in 18 C.F.R. 385.2010) to file documents on each person whose
name is on the official service list for this proceeding. See 18 C.F.R.
4.34(b).
The Commission staff will consider all written comments and may
issue a Scoping Document II (SDII). SDII will include a revised list of
issues, based on the scoping sessions.
For further information regarding the scoping process, please
contact Mary Golato, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of
Hydropower Licensing, 825 North Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC
20426 at (202) 219-2804.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-19841 Filed 8-10-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M
