[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 181 (Tuesday, September 17, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48937-48938]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23763]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. CP96-610-000]
Granite State Gas Transmission, Inc.; Notice of Intent To Prepare
a Supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the
Proposed Granite State LNG Project and Request for Comments on
Alternative Siting Issues
September 11, 1996.
On January 29, 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the
proposed Granite State Gas Transmission Inc.'s (Granite State) LNG
Project in Docket No. CP95-52-000. However, on June 21, 1996, the
Director of the Office of Pipeline Regulation of FERC dismissed the
CP95-52-000 application without prejudice to the refiling by Granite
State to change its proposal from a winter baseload to a peakshaving
service. The dismissal letter also stated that all of the environmental
information would be retained by the FERC staff and that Granite State
could incorporate this material by reference if, and when, it
[[Page 48938]]
filed a new application reflecting a peakshaving facility.
Subsequently, Granite State filed an application in Docket No. CP96-
610-000 to reflect a change in the nature of the service from a winter
baseload service to both an interim baseload and an ultimate
peakshaving service. Granite State states that the LNG facility
proposed in this application is identical to the facility proposed in
Docket No. CP95-52-000.
On July 11, 1996, the FERC issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) To
Prepare a Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Granite State
LNG Project and stated that a new DEIS would not be issued for public
comment. However, the notice did provide a 15-day period to file
additional comments on environmental topics to be addressed in the FEIS
as a result of the new application.
A number of commenters to the DEIS and to the July 11, 1996 NOI do
not believe that the siting range for the proposed LNG facility should
be limited to the 32-mile range examined in the DEIS. They believe that
sites south of Eliot, Maine (the furthest area south of Wells studied
in the DEIS) to Haverhill, Massachusetts should be studied in detail.
Haverhill was identified in the DEIS as the optimum location for an LNG
peakshaving facility to serve customers of the Portland Natural Gas
Transmission System (PNGTS) in terms of engineering/pipeline flow
objectives but it was beyond the DEIS study area. We agree that further
study of sites south of Eliot, Maine is warranted, and will also expand
the analysis to sites north of the area studied in the DEIS along both
the PNGTS and Granite State systems for the following additional
reasons: (1) Granite State confirmed that once PNGTS is in full
service, the proposed LNG facility in Wells, ME could be moved anywhere
along the Granite State pipeline or anywhere along the PNGTS section
that parallels the Granite State pipeline; and (2) the siting decision
for a major industrial facility should be based on the long-term
intended use of the facility, rather than on a short-term interim
service which may never be used. We are hereby specifically requesting
recipients of this NOI to provide the staff with information on
potential sites from Portland, Maine to Haverhill, Massachusetts which
are or could be available for potential LNG peakshaving use.
The Supplement to the DEIS will focus solely on an expanded
alternative siting analysis. Comments on other environmental issues
associated with the DEIS will not be accepted. The comment period for
those issues has already closed. If you have already submitted comments
on the DEIS and/or the July 11, 1996 NOI, you should not resubmit them.
Address your letter to: Lois Cashell, Secretary, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC
20426.
Reference Docket No. CP96-610-000.
Send a copy of your letter to: Mr. Chris Zerby, EIS
Project Manager, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First
Street, NE, Room 72-55, Washington, DC 20426; and
Mail your comments so that they are received in
Washington, DC on or before October 11, 1996.
For further information on the EIS process for this project, call
Robert Arvedlund, Chief, Environmental Review and Compliance Branch I,
at (202) 208-0091 or Mr. Zerby at (202) 208-0111.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-23763 Filed 9-16-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M
