[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