[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