[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 74 (Friday, April 17, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 19247]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-10192]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 2016, WA]


City of Tacoma, Washington; Notice of Scoping Meeting Pursuant to 
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for an Applicant Prepared 
Environmental Assessment and a Site Visit

April 13, 1998.
    The Commission's regulations allow applicants to prepare their own 
Environmental Assessment (EA) for hydropower projects and file it with 
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) along with their 
license application as part of the applicant-prepared EA (APEA) 
process.\1\ On February 24, 1998, the Commission approved the use of 
the APEA process in the preparation of license application for Tacoma 
Public Utilities' (Tacoma) Cowlitz Hydroelectric Project, No. 2016.
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    \1\ 81 FERC para. 61,103 (1997).
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    Tacoma will hold three public meetings, pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, to identify the scope of 
environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. At the scoping 
meetings, Tacoma will: (1) Summarize the environmental issues 
tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (2) outline any 
resources they believe would not require a detailed analysis; (3) 
identify reasonable alternatives to be addressed in the EA; (4) solicit 
from the meeting participants all available information, especially 
quantitative data, on the resources at issue; and (5) encourage 
statements from experts and the public on issues that should be 
analyzed in the EA.
    Although Tacoma's intent is to prepare an EA, there is the 
possibility that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be 
required. Nevertheless, this meeting will satisfy the NEPA scoping 
requirements, irrespective of whether an EA or EIS is issued by the 
Commission.

Scoping Meetings

    The times and locations of the scoping meeting are:

Agency Scoping Meeting
    May 5, 1998--1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, US Fish and Wildlife Service 
Office, 510 Desmond Drive, Sawyer Hall, Lacey, WA
Public Scoping Meetings
    May 6, 1998--7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Lewis County, Courthouse Annex, 
345 W. Main St., Room 1, Chehalis, WA
    May 7, 1998--7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Mossyrock High School Gymnasium, 
Mossyrock, WA

    All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited 
and encouraged to attend any or all of the meetings to assist in 
identifying and clarifying the scope of environmental issues that 
should be analyzed in the EA.
    To help focus discussions, Tacoma prepared and distributed a 
scoping document on April 3, 1998. Copies of the Scoping Document can 
be obtained by calling Joan Nichol, Harza Engineering Company, at (425) 
602-4000. Copies of the document will also be available at the scoping 
meetings.

Site Visit

    Tocoma has also scheduled a site visit to the Cowlitz River Project 
on Thursday, May 7, 1998, if sufficient interest exists. Those wishing 
to attend the site visit must notify Toby Freeman, Tacoma City Light at 
(253) 502-8862 by April 24, 1998. Also contact Toby for information on 
the meeting time and place.

Meeting Procedures

    The meetings will be conducted according to the procedures used at 
Commission scoping meetings. Because this meeting will be a NEPA 
scoping meeting under the APEA process, the Commission does not intend 
to conduct a NEPA scoping meeting after the application and draft EA 
are filed with the Commission. Instead, Commission staff will attend 
the meetings on May 5, 6, and 7, 1998.
    All the scoping meetings will be recorded by a stenographer or tape 
recorder, and will become part of the formal record of the proceedings 
for this project.
    Those who choose not to speak during the scoping meetings may 
instead submit written comments on the project. Written comments should 
be mailed to: Joan Nichol, Harza Engineering Company, 2353 130th Avenue 
N.E., Bellevue, WA 98005, by June 8, 1998. All correspondence should 
show the following caption on the first page: Scoping Comments, Cowlitz 
River Hydroelectric Project (2016).
    For further information please contact Joan Nichol at (425) 602-
4000 or David Turner of the Commission at (202) 219-2844.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-10192 Filed 4-16-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M