[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