[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 1, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19267-19268]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-10755]



-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Bonneville Power Administration


Bonneville Power Administration/Lower Valley Power and Light; 
Transmission System Reinforcement Project

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

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Lower Valley Power and Light (LVPL) buys electricity from BPA 
and sells it to the homes and businesses of the Jackson and Afton, 
Wyoming, areas. Since the mid-1980s, LVPL's electrical load has been 
growing by an average of 4-5 megawatts per year and continued growth is 
expected. LVPL's customers use the greatest amount of electricity in 
the winter when temperatures are low and heating needs are high. By 
2001, during the winter season, an outage of one of the BPA or LVPL 
transmission lines that serves these areas could cause voltage to dip 
below acceptable levels in the Jackson area and to a lesser extent in 
the Afton area. Low voltage levels can cause brown-outs or, under 
certain conditions, a black-out. Without electricity, homes and 
businesses are left without heat and lights. These conditions can be 
dangerous to residents and businesses in winter. The transmission 
system that serves the Afton and Jackson, Wyoming, areas needs to be 
reinforced by 2001 to maintain voltage stability. BPA and LVPL propose 
to maintain voltage stability by building an additional 115-kilovolt 
line from BPA's Swan Valley Substation in Swan Valley, Idaho, to Teton 
Substation in Jackson, Wyoming.
    Potential Federal cooperating agencies include the U.S. Department 
of Interior--Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture--Targhee and Bridger-Teton National Forests. In accordance 
with National Environmental Policy Act requirements, BPA and the 
cooperating agencies will prepare an EIS on this proposal to inform 
decisionmakers about potential environmental effects of the proposal. 
In addition, LVPL will take an active role in providing information to 
BPA, the cooperating agencies, and identified publics.

DATES: Interested and affected publics such as landowners, special 
interest groups, local and State governments, Tribes, utilities, and 
community groups are invited to help BPA and the cooperating agencies 
identify alternatives, environmental resources, and issues to be 
addressed in the draft EIS. A packet of information to explain the 
proposal, the environmental process, and how to participate will be 
sent to interested or potentially affected publics at the beginning of 
the scoping period. Four BPA-sponsored scoping meetings will be held in 
May or June in Idaho Falls, Swan Valley, and Victor or Driggs, Idaho; 
and Jackson, Wyoming. Meetings will be open-house style and project 
material will be available for public review. BPA, the cooperating 
agencies, and LVPL staff will answer questions and BPA will accept 
verbal and written comments. The time and place of scoping meetings 
will be announced in the packet of information being sent to interested 
publics and in local newspapers. Written comments before, during, or 
after scoping meetings should be sent to the Public Involvement Manager 
at the address below. Close of the comment period will be announced in 
the information packet and at the public meetings.
    BPA, in conjunction with the cooperating agencies, plans to file 
and distribute a draft EIS for public review in the spring of 1997. 
BPA, the cooperating agencies, and LVPL will hold public meetings in 
local communities to give the public an opportunity to review and 
comment on the draft EIS.

ADDRESSES: BPA invites participation, comments, and suggestions on the 
proposed scope of the draft EIS. Send comment letters, requests to be 
placed on the project mail list, and requests for more information to 
the Public Involvement Manager, Bonneville Power Administration--CKP, 
P.O. Box 12999, Portland, Oregon, 97212, or call 503-230-3478, toll-
free 1-800-622-4519, or fax 503-230-3984. Comments

[[Page 19268]]

may also be sent to the BPA Internet address: [email protected]. 
Documents can be requested by calling toll-free 1-800-622-4520.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Mike Johns, Project Manager, 
Bonneville Power Administration--TE, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 
97208-3621. E-mail requests or questions should be sent to 
[email protected], or call toll-free 1-800-662-6963. You may also contact 
Nancy Wittpenn, Environmental Project Lead, Bonneville Power 
Administration--ECN, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621. E-
mail requests or questions should be sent to [email protected], or 
call toll-free 1-800-662-6963. In the local area, contact Rick Knori, 
Lower Valley Power and Light, P.O. Box 572, Jackson, Wyoming, 83001, or 
call him at 307-739-6038 or toll-free 1-800-882-5875.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: LVPL serves its customers from two 115-
kilovolt transmission lines. One line, owned and operated by BPA, runs 
from Swan Valley Substation near Swan Valley in Bonneville County, 
Idaho, east to Teton Substation near Jackson in Teton County, Wyoming. 
The other line, owned by LVPL, runs from Palisades Substation at 
Palisades Dam, southeast along the reservoir to LVPL's Snake River 
Substation in Alpine, Wyoming. At Snake River Substation, the line 
splits; one line follows the Snake River most of the way into Jackson, 
the other line runs south to serve the Afton area.
    BPA can reliably provide 125 megawatts (MW) of electricity to LVPL 
even if one of the lines described above goes out of service. In 1994, 
LVPL's system winter peak was 120.0 MW. In 1995, the winter peak 
unexpectedly hit 139.5 MW. In 1996, the peak climbed to 141.2 MW. A 5-
MW load from a commercial mine was not operating at the time. If one of 
the transmission lines had gone out of service during the winter peak 
in 1995 or 1996, voltages would have quickly dropped and the 
transmission system could have collapsed, leaving homes and businesses 
without electricity.
    During winter conditions in this area, twice as much electricity is 
needed at the time of shut down to re-energize the transmission system. 
That is more than the existing system can handle, requiring BPA, LVPL, 
the Bureau of Reclamation, and others to bring the system up in stages. 
This requires a lot of time and could create a dangerous situation for 
LVPL's customers without their own source of fuel for heat and lights.
    As loads continue to grow, LVPL's ability to reliably serve its 
customers will decrease. Reinforcing the BPA transmission system now 
will provide LVPL with a reliable transmission system they need to 
serve their customers.
    Alternatives Proposed for Consideration: BPA and LVPL have been 
studying ways to reinforce the transmission system. (1) Proposed 
Action--Construct a new single-circuit 115-kilovolt line from BPA's 
Swan Valley Substation, west of Swan Valley in Bonneville County, 
Idaho, 36 miles east to BPA's Teton Substation northwest of Jackson in 
Teton County, Wyoming. The new line would parallel the existing Swan 
Valley-Teton No. 1 115-kilovolt line where feasible and would be a mix 
of wood pole H-frame structures and lattice steel structures. 
Approximately 75 feet of additional right-of-way width would be needed. 
(2) Construct a new single-circuit 115-kilovolt line from BPA's Targhee 
Tap substation south of Victor in Bonneville County, Idaho, 18 miles 
east to Teton Substation northwest of Jackson in Teton County, Wyoming. 
The new line would parallel the existing Swan Valley-Teton No. 1 115-
kilovolt line where feasible and would be a mix of wood pole H-frame 
structures and lattice steel structures. Approximately 75 feet of 
additional right-of-way width would be needed. A new switching station 
would need to be constructed on or near the existing right-of-way near 
Targhee Tap. The new switching station could occupy about three to five 
acres of land. (3) Install Static Var Compensation at either BPA's 
Teton Substation, or LVPL's Wilson or Rafter J Substation. All of these 
substations are in the Jackson area and, depending on location, the 
existing substation fence line may need to be expanded. (4) No Action--
The consequences of not taking any action.
    Identification of Environmental Issues: Potential issues presently 
identified for this proposal include: (1) effects on fish, wildlife, 
and vegetation, including threatened and endangered species; (2) socio-
economic effects of potentially removing property from the local tax 
base; (3) effects of construction and placement of electrical 
facilities in floodplains and wetlands; (4) concern over visual 
effects, noise, and other interference produced by electrical 
facilities in rural and populated areas; (5) impacts on range, forest, 
and agricultural resources due to construction and placement of 
electrical facilities; (6) concern over human exposure to electric and 
magnetic fields created by electrical facilities; (7) impacts to 
cultural resources; (8) impacts to recreational resources; (9) 
conflicting land use; (10) impact to property values; and (11) 
potential impacts to soils (erosion) and water quality. Additional 
issues identified through the scoping process may also be examined in 
the Draft EIS.

    Issued in Portland, Oregon, on April 23, 1996.
John S. Robertson,
Deputy Chief Executive Officer.
[FR Doc. 96-10755 Filed 4-30-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P