[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 181 (Tuesday, September 17, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49003-49004]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23938]
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE
[Public Notice 2442]
Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs; Finding of No
Significant Impact: Express Pipeline To Cross the U.S.-Canadian Border
From Alberta to Montana
AGENCY: Department of State.
ACTION: Notice of a finding of no significant impact with regard to an
application to construct, connect, operate and maintain a pipeline to
transport petroleum across the Canada-U.S. border.
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Express Pipeline Partnership has applied for
a Presidential Permit to authorize construction, connection, operation
and maintenance of a crude oil pipeline that would originate at a
terminal near Hardisty, Alberta, Canada and cross the international
boundary near Simpson, Montana.
Express Pipeline, Inc (Express), an affiliate of Alberta Energy
Company Ltd., and TransCanada PipeLines Limited, proposes to construct,
operate, and maintain a 24 inch pipeline from Wild Horse (located on
the border between Montana and Canada) to Casper, Wyoming.
The pipeline would transport crude oil from the production fields
in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Kansas,
Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee via the
existing pipelines downstream of Casper. Initially, the pipeline would
be capable of transporting 172,000 barrels of crude oil per day between
Hardisty and Casper. With additional pump stations, the capacity could
ultimately increase to 280,000 b/d.
Summary
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
(NEPA), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321 et seq., the Council on Environmental
Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA,
40 CFR 1500-1508, and the State Department Regulations for
Implementation of NEPA, 22 CFR Part 161, the Department of State has
prepared an Environmental Assessment of the proposed Express Pipeline
permit. In our Environmental Assessment (EA), the State Department
proposes to incorporate by reference a final Environmental Impact
Statement prepared by the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land
Management for the proposed pipeline in February 1996. The State
Department's EA also includes supplemental information requested by the
Department to review the additional reasonably foreseeable cumulative
impacts from the connection of Express to the existing Platte pipeline
or other pipelines, and in particular, any anticipated construction or
modifications as a result of the acquisitions and/or connection of such
pipelines.
The Department of State is charged with the issuance of
Presidential Permits authorizing construction of such international
pipelines under Executive Order 11423 (1968), as amended by Executive
Order 12847 (1993). Several federal agencies cooperated in preparation
of the Environmental Assessment, reviewing and commenting on the
analysis and conclusions presented therein.
Interested parties were invited to comment on the proposed
application in a Federal Register Notice number 2416, in the Federal
Register Vol. 61, 37787, July 19, 1996.
Based on the final environmental assessment, which incorporated the
final Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the U.S. Department of
Interior, supplemental information on the cumulative impact of the
proposed pipeline and comments received from interested agencies and
responses to those comments, the Department of State has concluded that
issuance of a Presidential Permit authorizing construction of the
proposed pipeline (as described in the permittee's application of May
3, 1996) will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human
environment within the United States. Therefore, in accordance with
CEQ's NEPA regulations, 40 CFR 1501.4 and 1508.13 and with State
Department Regulations, 22 CFR 161.8(c), an environmental impact
statement will not be prepared.
[[Page 49004]]
Factors Considered
The environmental assessment carefully considered a wide variety of
factors including, but not limited to: the physical environment,
consisting of geology, soils, hydrology, air quality and noise; the
biological environment including vegetation, wildlife, fisheries, and
threatened, endangered, or sensitive species; the social environments
consisting of land-use, recreation, visual resources, and cultural
resources. The environmental assessment also considered the project
purpose, alternatives, environmental consequences, cumulative impacts
and other related information.
Environmental Justice
In addition to the analysis conducted in accordance with NEPA, the
Department of State addressed environmental justice considerations
pursuant to Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994 (``Federal
Actions to address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and
Low-Income Populations''). Based on its examination of environmental
justice considerations, the Department has determined that the proposed
pipeline will not have disproportionately high and adverse human health
or environmental effects on minority and low-income populations. The
analysis supporting this determination can be obtained from the State
Department Office of International Energy and Commodities Policy, 202-
647-2887.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE PIPELINE PERMIT APPLICATION, CONTACT:
Susan Phillips, Office of International Energy and Commodities Policy,
Room 3529, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, 20520, (202) 647-
2887.
Dated: August 29, 1996.
Herbert Yarvin,
Director, International Energy and Commodities Policy.
[FR Doc. 96-23938 Filed 9-16-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-07-M