[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 169 (Tuesday, September 1, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46425-46426]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-23481]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[FE Docket No. PP-190]
Application to Amend Presidential Permit Niagara Mohawk Power
Corporation
AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE.
ACTION: Notice of application.
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SUMMARY: Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation has applied to amend an
existing Presidential permit which authorized construction of electric
transmission facilities at the United States border with Canada in the
vicinity of Buffalo, New York. The amendment is requested in order to
upgrade the existing facilities.
DATES: Comments, protests, or requests to intervene must be submitted
on or before October 1, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Comments, protests, or requests to intervene should be
addressed as follows: Office of Coal & Power Import and Export (FE-27),
Office of Fossil Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585-0350.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Russell (Program Office) 202-
586-9506 or Michael T. Skinker (Program Attorney) 202-586-6667.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The construction, connection, operation, and
maintenance of facilities at the international border of the United
States for the transmission of electric energy between the United
States and a foreign country is prohibited in the absence of a
Presidential permit issued pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 10485, as
amended by EO 12038.
Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation (Niagra Mohawk), a generation and
transmission-owning regulated public utility in New York State, owns
several international electric transmission facilities that were
authorized by Presidential permits issued by the Federal Power
Commission (FPC).1 Some of the cross-border facilities
permitted to Niagara Mohawk in FPC Docket IT-6797 (FE Docket PP-31)
include four, 3-phase, 38-kV, 25 Hz transmission lines at Buffalo--Ft.
Erie.
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\1\ Authority to issue Presidential permits was transferred from
the Federal Power Commission to the Department of Energy on October
1, 1977.
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On July 21, 1998, Niagara Mohawk filed an application with the
Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department of Energy (DOE) for
amendment of the Presidential permit issued in FPC Docket No. IT-6797
in order to upgrade one of the four Buffalo-Ft. Erie 38-kV, 25 Hz lines
(identified as Huntley-Linde line No. 46) to 115-kV, 60 Hz. When the
upgrade is completed, the resulting 115-kV facilities will be
maintained as an emergency interconnection with Canadian Niagara Power
Company, Limited (CNP) and will be used to supply electric energy to
CNP only when CNP looses its normal source of power from Ontario Hydro,
the provincial electric utility of the Province of Ontario, Canada.
In order to accomplish the upgrade, Niagara Mohawk proposes to
construct two underground concrete pipes (10-inch diameter, each) from
Niagara Mohawk's existing ``structure 13'' near Dearborn Street and
extending approximately 9,250 feet south along West Street to Terminal
House B. Niagara Mohawk will then extend an existing 115-kV line (which
originates at the Huntley substation and presently terminates at
``structure 13'') through one of the underground concrete pipes and
connect this line to the existing 38-kV border crossing at Terminal
House B. The physical change to the portion of the existing 38-kV line
which crosses the border will be only reinsulation.
Since the restructuring of the electric power industry began,
resulting in the introduction of different types of competitive
entities into the marketplace, DOE has consistently expressed its
policy that cross-border trade in electric energy should be subject to
the same principles of comparable open access and non-discrimination
that apply to transmission in interstate commerce. DOE has stated that
policy in export authorizations granted to entities requesting
authority to export over international transmission facilities.
Specifically, DOE expects transmitting utilities owning border
facilities constructed pursuant to Presidential permits to provide
access across the border in accordance with the principles of
comparable open access and non-discrimination contained in the FPA and
articulated in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order No. 888, as
amended (Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open Access Non-
Discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities). In
furtherance of this policy, DOE intends to condition any Presidential
permit issued in this proceeding on compliance with these open access
principles.
Procedural Matters
Any person desiring to be heard or to protest this application
should file a petition to intervene or protest at the address provided
above in accordance with section 385.211 or 385.214 of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR
385.211, 385.214).
Fifteen copies of such petitions and protests should be filed with
the DOE on or before the date listed above. Additional copies of such
petitions to intervene or protest also should be filed directly with:
Susan Hodgson, Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, 300 Erie Boulevard
West, Syracuse, NY 13202 and Scott Klurfeld, Swidler & Berlin, Chtd.,
3000 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20007.
Before a Presidential permit may be issued or amended, the DOE must
determine that the proposed action will not adversely impact on the
reliability of the U.S. electric power supply system and also consider
the environmental impacts of the proposed action pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. DOE also must obtain the
concurrence of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense
before taking final action on a Presidential permit application.
[[Page 46426]]
Copies of this application will be made available, upon request,
for public inspection and copying at the address provided above. In
addition, the application may be reviewed or downloaded from the Fossil
Energy Home Page at: http://www.fe.doe.gov. Upon reaching the Fossil
Energy Home page, select ``Regulatory'' and then ``Electricity'' from
the options menu.
Issued in Washington, DC, on August 25, 1998.
Anthony J. Como,
Manager, Electric Power Regulation, Office of Coal & Power Im/Ex,
Office of Fossil Energy.
[FR Doc. 98-23481 Filed 8-31-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
