[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8708-8709]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-4674]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Project No. 2009-000-NC]


North Carolina Power; Notice of Scoping Meetings Pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

February 20, 1997.
    Virginia Electric and Power Company operating in Virginia as 
Virginia Power and in North Carolina as North Carolina Power (NCP) is 
the licensee for the Roanoke Rapids and Gaston Project, FERC No. 2009. 
The license for the project expires on January 31, 2001.
    On May 23, 1995, NCP held the first stage consultation meeting for 
the project. The purpose of the meeting was to identify resource issues 
to be addressed during the relicensing process. Studies were initiated 
in January 1996 and are currently ongoing.
    During 1996, NCP determined that an Applicant Prepared 
Environmental Assessment (APEA) would facilitate the relicensing 
process, which was generally supported by the resource agencies and 
interested parties. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) 
approval to conduct the APEA process was granted on December 13, 1996. 
As part of the APEA process, NCP has prepared a Scoping Document I 
(SDI), which provides information on the scoping process, APEA 
schedule, background information, environmental issues, and proposed 
project alternatives. The issues contained in SDI are based on agency 
and public comments at the May 23, 1995, and other meetings.
    The purpose of this notice is to: (1) advise all parties as to the 
proposed scope of the environmental analysis, including cumulative 
effects, and to seek additional information pertinent to this analysis; 
and (2) advise all parties of their opportunity for comment.

Scoping Process

    The Commission's scoping objectives are to:
     identify significant environmental issues;
     determine the depth of analysis appropriate to each issue;
     identify the resource issues not requiring detailed 
analysis; and
     identify reasonable project alternatives.
    The purpose of the scoping process is to identify significant 
issues related to the proposed action and to determine what issues 
should be addressed in the APEA document to be prepared pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The document, SDI, 
will be circulated to enable appropriate federal, state, and local 
resource agencies, developers, Indian tribes, nongovernmental 
organizations (NGO's), and other interested parties to effectively 
participate in and contribute to the scoping process. SDI provides a 
brief description of the proposed action, project alternatives, the 
geographic and temporal scope of a cumulative effects analysis, and a 
list of preliminary issues.

Scoping Meetings

    NCP and FERC staff will conduct two scoping meetings. All 
interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to 
attend and assist in

[[Page 8709]]

identifying the scope of environmental issues that should be analyzed 
in the APEA NEPA document.
    The public scoping meeting will be held on March 13, 1997, from 
7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Kirkwood F. Adams Community Center, 1100 
Hamilton St. Roanoke Raids, NC.
    The agency scoping meeting will be held on March 13, 1997, from 
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the offices of North Carolina Power, 1040 
Roanoke Avenue, Roanoke Rapids, NC. For more details, interested 
parties should contact Ken Baker, (804) 273-3257, prior to the meeting 
date.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the NCP and FERC staff will: (1) summarize 
the environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the 
NEPA document; (2) solicit from the meeting participants all available 
information, especially quantified data, on the resources at issue, and 
(3) encourage statements from experts and the public on issues that 
should be analyzed in the NEPA document. Individuals, organizations, 
and agencies with environmental expertise and concerns are encouraged 
to attend the meetings and to assist the staff in defining and 
clarifying the issues to be addressed.

Meeting Procedures

    The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and become a part 
of the formal record of the Commission proceeding on the Roanoke Raids 
Project. Individuals presenting statements at the meetings will be 
asked to identify themselves for the record.
    Concerned parties are encouraged to offer verbal guidance during 
public meetings. Speaking time allowed for individuals will be 
determined before each meeting, based on the number of persons wishing 
to speak and the approximate amount of time available for the session, 
but all speakers will be provided at least 5 minutes to present their 
views.
    All those attending the meeting are urged to refrain from making 
any communications concerning the merits of the project to any member 
of the Commission staff outside of the established process for 
developing the record as stated in the record of the proceeding.
    Persons choosing not to speak but wishing to express an opinion, as 
well as speakers unable to summarize their positions within their 
allotted time, may submit written statements for inclusion in the 
public record no later than April 14, 1997.
    All filings should contain an original and 8 copies. Failure to 
file an original and 8 copies may result in appropriate staff not 
receiving the benefit of your comments in a timely manner. See 18 CFR 
4.34(h). In addition, commenters may submit a copy of their comments on 
a 3\1/2\-inch diskette formatted for MS-DOS based computers. In light 
of our ability to translate MS-DOS based materials, the text need only 
be submitted in the format and version that it was generated (i.e., MS 
Word, WordPerfect 5.1/5.2, ASCII, etc.). It is not necessary to 
reformat word processor generated text to ASCII. For Macintosh users, 
it would be helpful to save the documents in Macintosh word processor 
format and then write them to files on a diskette formatted for MS-DOS 
machines. All comments should be submitted to the Office of the 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, 
N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, and should clearly show the following 
captions on the first page: Roanoke Rapids Project, FERC No. 2009.
    Further, interested persons are reminded of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedures, requiring parties or interceders (as 
defined in 18 CFR 385.2010) to file documents on each person whose name 
is on the official service list for this proceeding. See 18 CFR 
4.34(b).
    Based on all written comments and a Scoping Document II (SDII) may 
be issued. SDII will include a revised list of issues, based on the 
scoping sessions.
    For further information regarding the APEA scoping process, please 
contact Ed Crouse, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of 
Hydropower Licensing, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20426 at 
(202) 219-2794.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 97-4674 Filed 2-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M