[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 101 (Thursday, May 25, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27718-27719]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12884]



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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Utilities Service


Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc.; Draft Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft supplemental environmental 
impact statement.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) 
and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are issuing a Draft 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) related to Seminole 
Electric Cooperative, Inc.'s, (Seminole) proposed Hardee Unit 3. The 
DSEIS is a supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement 
issued in January 1991 by the Rural Electrification Administration 
(predecessor of RUS), with EPA, and the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission as cooperating agencies, for their actions related to the 
Hardee Power Station. Hardee Unit 3 would increase the originally 
proposed ultimate output of the Hardee Power Station from 660 megawatts 
(MW) to 880 MW.
    RUS's federal action related to Hardee Unit 3 would be providing a 
loan guarantee to Seminole to cover the cost of project construction. 
EPA's federal action related to Hardee Unit 3 has, to date, been the 
preparation of the draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination 
System (NPDES) permit needed to operate the new unit. However, on May 
1, 1995, EPA authorized the State of Florida to administer the NPDES 
Permit Program (with EPA program oversight retained). As such, EPA's 
role as an NPDES permitting agency has changed and EPA no longer has a 
direct federal action related to the proposed Hardee Unit 3. With 
program authorization, the NPDES permitting decision now is a state 
action as opposed to an EPA federal action. The notice for the Draft 
NPDES permit will be issued by the State of Florida. Despite program 
authorization, EPA nevertheless remains a cooperating agency to RUS for 
the DSEIS and will also have a role in the RUS National Environmental 
Policy Act process for Hardee Unit 3 by providing review and comment on 
the DSEIS and Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for 
Hardee Unit 3 via its responsibilities pursuant to Section 309 of the 
Clean Air Act. The draft NPDES permit is Appendix A to the DSEIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mr. Lawrence R. Wolfe, Chief, Environmental Compliance Branch, Electric 
Staff Division, Rural Utilities Service, Ag. Box 1569, Washington, DC 
20250, Telephone (202) 720-1784, Fax (202) 720-7491.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The DSEIS for Hardee Unit 3 covers the 
construction and operation of 440 MW of additional generating capacity 
to be installed at the existing 1,300-acre Hardee Power Station site. 
The Hardee Power Station site is located in Hardee and Polk counties 
approximately 9 miles northwest of Wauchula, 16 miles south-southwest 
of Bartow, and 40 miles east of Tampa Bay. The site is bordered on the 
east by Hardee County Road 663, a CSX Railroad right-of-way, and CF 
Industries' Hardee Complex. IMC-Agrico properties surround the 
remaining portions of the site. Payne Creek flows along the southern 
and western boundary of the Hardee Power Station site. The proposed 
Hardee Unit 3 would occupy approximately 50 acres of this site.
    As proposed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Hardee Power Station, Hardee Power Partners has constructed and 
operates 295 MW of generation capacity at the Hardee Power Station and 
proposes an additional 145 MW of generation capacity there by the year 
2003 for use by Seminole. Seminole originally proposed to construct and 
operate an additional 220 MW at the Hardee Power Station at a future 
date to be determined. That addition, along with Hardee Power Partners' 
145 MW addition, would have increased the existing 295 MW Hardee Power 
Station capacity to 660 MW. Seminole now proposes in the DSEIS to 
construct 440 MW of additional capacity at the Hardee Power Station at 
a specified date, 1999, instead of the originally proposed 220 MW 
addition at an unspecified date. As now proposed, the Hardee Power 
Station Site would be made up of a total of 880 MW of capacity when 
completed.
    The proposed Hardee Unit 3 would consist of natural gas fired 
combustion turbines utilizing heat recovery steam generators that will 
operate efficiently by recovering heat from the combustion turbines. 
Fuel oil would be used as a backup source of fuel. These are the same 
type of generators already installed at the Hardee Power Station (295 
MW) and the same type proposed for future installation (145 MW) at the 
site by Hardee Power Partners. The natural gas would be transported via 
an existing 18 inch diameter, underground gas pipeline connected to the 
Florida Gas Transmission System to the Hardee Power Station. Three 
existing 230 kilovolt transmission lines would be utilized to connect 
Hardee Unit 3 into the Florida transmission grid.
    Alternatives to the project as proposed included no action, design 
alternatives, alternative fuels, and conservation.
    Seminole has provided RUS with a Site Certification Application/
Environmental Analysis for Hardee Unit 3 which is the primary support 
document used by RUS to develop its DSEIS. RUS has concluded that the 
Site Certification Application/Environmental Analysis for Hardee Unit 3 
represents an accurate assessment of the potential environmental 
impacts related to the proposed project. The Hardee Unit 3 Site 
Certification Application/Environmental Analysis has been incorporated 
by reference into the DSEIS and is available for inspection by 
interested parties at RUS or Seminole at the addresses provided in this 
notice. That document, along with the DSEIS, will also be available for 
review at the following libraries:

Bartow Public Library, 315 E. Parker Street, Bartow, Florida 33830
Hardee County Library, 315 N. 6th Avenue, Suite 114, Wauchula, Florida 
33837.

    Anyone wishing to comment on the DSEIS should do so in writing 
within the 45-day comment period to RUS at the appropriate address 
provided in this notice. All comments received during the comment 
period will be given consideration in the formulation of the Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Hardee Unit 3. (Oral 
responses submitted by telephone will be considered, but it is 
recommended that comments be submitted in writing.) A copy of each 
written comment and a summary of each oral comment received will be 
included in the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement.
    Notice of availability of the DSEIS and the 45-day comment period 
is being published in the Federal Register by RUS and EPA. Seminole 
will have a notice similar to this one published in newspapers of 
general circulation in the proposed project area. As it is possible 
that RUS, EPA, and Seminole's notices will not appear on the same date, 
the 45-day comment period will begin on the date the latest notice 
(RUS, EPA or Seminole's) is published. Questions concerning the closing 
date of the 45-day comment period should be referred [[Page 27719]] to 
Mr. Lawrence Wolfe at (202) 720-1784.

    Dated: May 22, 1995.
Adam M. Golodner,
Deputy Administrator, Program Operations.
[FR Doc. 95-12884 Filed 5-24-95; 8:45 am]
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