[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 20, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11388-11389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-6708]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration


Delivery of the Canadian Entitlement

AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Record of Decision (ROD).

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SUMMARY: The United States Entity (the Administrator of the Bonneville 
Power Administration and the Division Engineer, North Pacific Division 
of the US Army Corps of Engineers) has decided to fulfill its 
obligation under the Columbia River Treaty (Treaty) between the United 
States and Canada by delivering Canada's Entitlement under the Treaty 
to a point on the United States/Canada border near Oliver, British 
Columbia (BC). Delivering the Entitlement at that location will require 
BPA to construct and operate a new single-circuit 500-kV transmission 
line from Grand Coulee or Chief Joseph Substation to the United States/
Canada border, a distance of 135 to 155 kilometers (85 to 95 miles), 
depending on the alignment selected.
    The Treaty, signed in 1961, led to the construction of three 
storage dams on the Columbia River system in Canada and one in the 
United States. Under the Treaty, Canada and the United States equally 
share the benefits of the additional power that can be generated at 
dams downstream in the United States because of the storage at the 
upstream Treaty reservoirs. Canada's half of the downstream power 
benefits, known as the Canadian Entitlement, is estimated to be 
approximately 1,200 to 1,500 megawatts (MW) of capacity and 550 to 600 
average megawatts (aMW) of energy. Canada sold its share of the power 
benefits for 30-year periods to a consortium of US utilities. The 30-
year sale will begin to expire in 1998, when the first installment of 
the Canadian Entitlement must be delivered to Canada. The Treaty 
specifies that the Entitlement must be delivered to Canada at a point 
on the border near Oliver unless other arrangements are agreed upon by 
the Entities. An interim agreement allows the Entitlement to be 
delivered over existing facilities between 1998 and 2003.
    Over a period of several years, the United States and Canadian 
Entities made a concerted effort to find a mutually agreeable 
alternative at commercially acceptable terms to delivery at Oliver. In 
the Delivery of the Canadian Entitlement Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (DOE/EIS-0197, issued in January 1996), the United States 
Entity evaluated the potential environmental impacts of a range of 
alternatives for delivering the Entitlement to Canada, including 
various combinations of delivery points, power purchases, resource 
development, and use of the Intertie System. This decision to deliver 
the full Entitlement to Oliver reflects the inability of the United 
States and Canadian Entities to agree to an alternative arrangement to 
the delivery point specified in the Treaty.
    To comply with the Treaty, the United States Entity must be able to 
deliver the full Entitlement to Canada by April 1, 2003. In order to 
meet that schedule and to provide time for environmental analysis, 
public involvement, planning, and construction of a transmission line, 
BPA will issue a Notice of Intent to prepare the Oliver Delivery 
Project EIS, and begin scoping activities to support that EIS. The 
Oliver Delivery Project EIS will address the construction and operation 
of the transmission line required to implement the United States 
Entity's decision to deliver the full Entitlement at Oliver.
    The United States Entity continues to be open to discussion with 
the Canadian Entity regarding commercially acceptable alternative 
delivery arrangements to full delivery at Oliver. In the event the 
United States Entity and the Canadian Entity mutually agree on an 
alternative disposition of the Canadian Entitlement, within a timeframe 
that allows the United States Entity to timely fulfill its obligation 
to Canada, the United States Entity will revisit its decision to 
deliver the full Canadian Entitlement to Oliver. The Delivery of the 
Canadian Entitlement EIS will be evaluated to determine whether it 
adequately covers the environmental inputs of that alternative, or 
whether a supplement to the EIS needs to be prepared.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the ROD and Environmental Impact Statement may be 
obtained by calling BPA's toll-free document request line: 1-800-622-
4520.


[[Page 11389]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Katherine Pierce--ECN, Bonneville 
Power Administration, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621, 
phone number (503) 230-3962, fax number (503) 230-5699.
    Public Availability: This ROD will be distributed to all interested 
and affected persons and agencies.

    Issued in Portland, Oregon, on March 12, 1996.
Randall W. Hardy,
Chair, United States Entity.

Major General Russell L. Fuhrman,
Member, United States Entity.
[FR Doc. 96-6708 Filed 3-19-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P