[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5823-5824]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-3034]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. CP96-610-000]


Granite State Gas Transmission, Inc.; Notice of Availability of 
the Alternative Sites Supplement to the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Granite State LNG Project

February 3, 1997.
    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) ha prepared an Alternative Sites Supplement to the Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (Supplement). This Supplement focuses 
solely on an expanded alternative siting analysis for the liquefied 
natural gas (LNG) facilities proposed in Wells, Maine by Granite State 
Gas Transmission, Inc. (Granite State) in the above-referenced docket.
    The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that was issued by 
the Commission on January 29, 1996 for the Granite State LNG Project 
evaluated potential alternative sites between Eliot and Saco, Maine, 
based on the LNG facility providing a winter baseload service to 
Northern Utilities, Inc. After publication of the DEIS, an application 
was filed for the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System which 
included essentially the same winter baseload service for Northern 
Utilities, Inc. Subsequently, Granite State refiled its application to 
reflect a change in service from winter baseload to peak shaving. As a 
result of these applications, the range of potential alternative sites 
has expanded south to Haverhill, Massachusetts and north to Portland, 
Maine.
    The Supplement incorporates comments received on the September 11, 
1996, Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplement to the DEIS for the 
Granite State LNG Project and Request for Comments on Alternative 
Siting Issues, and an independent alternative siting analysis. Included 
in the Supplement are:
     portions of revised DEIS section 2.0, Proposed Action;
     revised DEIS section 3.3, Site Alternatives; and
     revised DEIS section 6.1, Comparison of Site Alternatives.

Comment Procedure

    Any person wishing to comment on the Supplement may do so. Comments 
on other environmental issues associated with the DEIS will not be 
accepted. The comment period for those issues has already closed.
    Written comments should be filed on or before March 31, 1997, must 
reference Docket No. CP96-610-000, and be addressed to: Office of the

[[Page 5824]]

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426.
    Public meetings to receive comments on the Supplement will be held 
in early March of 1997. We will provide the locations and times for 
these meetings in a future notice.
    After these comments are reviewed, any significant issues are 
investigated, and modifications are made to the DEIS, a Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) will be published and 
distributed. The FEIS will contain the staff's responses to timely 
comments received on the DEIS and the Supplement.
    Comments will be considered by the Commission but will not serve to 
make the commentor a party to the proceeding. Any person seeking to 
become a party to the proceeding must file a motion to intervene 
pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and 
Procedure (18 CFR 385.214).
    The date for filing timely motions to intervene in this proceeding 
has passed. Therefore, parties now seeking to file late interventions 
must show good cause, as required by section 385.214(b)(3), why this 
time limitation should be waived. Environmental issues have been viewed 
as good cause for late intervention. You do not need intervenor status 
to have your comments considered
    The Supplement has been placed in the public files of the FERC and 
is available for public inspection at:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Reference and Files 
Maintenance Branch, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 
208-1371.

    and

Town Manager's Office, Town Hall, Wells, ME 04090, (207) 646,5113.

    Copies of the Supplement have been mailed to Federal, state, and 
local agencies; public interest groups; public libraries; newspapers; 
interested individuals; and parties to this proceeding. For a limited 
number of copies of the Supplement, contact the Public Reference and 
Files Maintenance Branch identified above.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-3034 Filed 2-6-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M