[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 215 (Friday, November 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59986-59988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29803]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Western Area Power Administration


Notice of Availability of the Sutter Power Project Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Western Area Power Administration, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of Availability and Notice of Public Hearings.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 102(2) of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4332, the Western 
Area Power Administration (Western) announces that the Sutter Power 
Project (SPP) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is available 
for public review and comment. Calpine Corporation (Calpine) has 
submitted an application to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for 
the development, construction, and operation of the SPP, a 500-megawatt 
(MW) gas fueled, combined cycle, electric generating facility located 
north of Sacramento, California. This project would involve the 
construction of additional transmission facilities, as well as new 
natural gas pipelines. Calpine has approached Western concerning an 
interconnection with Western's Keswick-Elverta and Olinda-Elverta 
double-circuit 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines.
    Western and CEC are ``joint lead agencies'' for purposes of 
satisfying the requirements of NEPA and the California Environmental 
Quality Act (CEQA), respectively. Western and CEC prepared this joint 
Draft EIS/Final Staff Assessment (FSA) to satisfy the requirements of 
both agencies, and will hold joint public hearings to receive formal 
comments on the Draft EIS/FSA according to the schedule below. Western 
and CEC will accept written and oral comments during the public review 
period.


[[Page 59987]]


DATES: Written comments on the draft EIS/FSA should be sent to the 
Environmental Project Manager or CEC Project Manager by December 14, 
1998, at the addresses provided below. Those wishing to make oral 
comments may do so at the scheduled public hearings. Western and CEC 
will respond to all comments, both written and oral, in Western's final 
EIS and CEC's Presiding Member Proposed Decision. The hearings will be 
held at the Veteran's Memorial Community Building, 425 Circle Drive, 
Yuba City, CA, on November 2, 10, 12, and 16, 1998. Each hearing will 
begin at 9:00 a.m., with the exception of an additional hearing to be 
held on November 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the same location.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the Draft EIS/FSA may be directed to the 
following persons. For Western, address comments to: Ms. Loreen 
McMahon, Environmental Project Manager, Sierra Nevada Customer Service 
Region, Western Area Power Administration, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom, 
CA 95630-4710, telephone (916) 353-4460, E-mail: [email protected]. For 
CEC, address comments to Paul Richins, Project Manager, Energy 
Facilities Siting and Environmental Protection Division, California 
Energy Commission, 1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento, CA 95814, 
Telephone: (916) 654-4074, E-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, to submit 
written comments, or to request a copy or summary of the Draft EIS, 
please call or write Western's Sierra Nevada Customer Service Regional 
Office or CEC at the addresses shown above. Additional information on 
the project and the CEC may be found on CEC's website at 
www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/sutterpower/index.html.
    For general information on DOE's NEPA review process, please 
contact Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, NEPA Policy and Assistance, EH-
42, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, D.C. 20585, telephone (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Calpine proposes to construct SPP in Sutter 
County, California, on a portion of a 77-acre parcel of land owned by 
Calpine, that also houses its Greenleaf 1 cogeneration plant. Yuba 
City, California, is approximately 7 miles to the northeast; Oswald, 
California, is approximately 3.5 miles to the east; and Sacramento, 
California, is approximately 36 miles to the southeast of the proposed 
project site. The land surrounding the project area is farmland used to 
grow rice, walnuts, almonds, and other orchard crops. The SPP project 
would consist of a nominal 500 MW net electrical output natural gas-
fired, combined cycle generating facility, a 230-kV switching station, 
and a new 230-kV transmission line to connect with Western's Keswick-
Elverta and Olinda-Elverta double-circuit 230-kV transmission lines at 
some point south and west of the plant. A new 12-mile natural gas 
pipeline would be constructed to provide fuel for the project. Potable 
water and cooling water would be provided by an on site well system 
that will be developed as part of the project. Sanitary waste will be 
treated on-site. The treated and other waste water generated in the 
operation of the plant would be discharged to an existing surface 
drainage system.
    SPP would be a ``merchant plant'; it would sell power on a short 
and midterm basis to customers, and on the spot market. Power purchases 
by customers would be voluntary, and all economic costs will be borne 
by Calpine. Calpine approached Western regarding an interconnection for 
the power produced by SPP. This interconnection would require Western 
to make facility additions to its existing system to incorporate 
additional power from new generation.
    CEC, a regulatory agency of the State of California, has the 
statutory authority to license thermal powerplants of 50 MW or greater. 
CEC's review process ensures that needed energy facilities are 
authorized in an expeditious, safe, and environmentally acceptable 
manner. CEC prepares all environmental documentation by following CEQA, 
and maintains a staff of experts in more than 20 environmental and 
engineering disciplines to perform balanced, independent evaluations of 
complex projects. CEC has prepared this document in compliance with 
California Public Resources Code (Cal. Pub. Res. Secs. 25500, et seq.); 
CEQA (Cal. Pub. Res. Secs. 21000, et seq.) and its guidelines found at 
California Code of Regulations (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14 Secs. 15000, et 
seq.); and the regulations of CEC (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 20 
Secs. 1742.5, 1743, and 1744). The CEC process mirrors that of the 
Federal process; CEC's FSA document is equivalent to the Draft EIS.
    Western, a power marketing agency of the U.S. Department of Energy 
(DOE), is responsible for the transmission and marketing of electric 
power in 15 western States through an extensive, complex, and 
integrated high-voltage power transmission system. Western has prepared 
this document in compliance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the 
Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing NEPA (40 
CFR Parts 1500-1508), and the DOE regulations for compliance with NEPA 
(10 CFR Part 1021).
    Because CEC has licensing responsibilities as well as 
responsibilities under CEQA, Western agreed to be a joint lead agency 
with CEC and to utilize CEC's expertise in siting issues. The review 
process was initiated when Calpine filed an Application for 
Certification (AFC) with CEC on December 15, 1997. On January 21, 1998, 
CEC accepted the AFC as complete which began CEC's 1-year review 
process. On February 13, 1998, Western published a Notice of Intent to 
Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in the Federal Register (63 
FR 7412-7413). A scoping meeting was held in Yuba City, California, on 
March 3, 1998. Additional public workshops that addressed various 
issues of concern were held on March 25, March 31, June 3, July 14, 
August 4, August 6, and August 12, 1998.
    CEC maintains a mailing list of those interested in SPP. All 
persons and groups on that mailing list have been notified of the 
availability of the Draft EIS/FSA. A distribution has been made to 
various libraries and other repositories in the project area, as well 
as those agencies and persons that have already requested a copy. 
Copies of the Draft EIS/FSA are available for public review at the 
Sierra Nevada Customer Service Regional Office, Western Area Power 
Administration, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom, California; or at the 
Corporate Services Office, Western Area Power Administration, 1627 Cole 
Boulevard, Building 18, Golden, Colorado. This information is also 
available at the DOE Reading Room at the following address: U.S. 
Department of Energy Reading Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, D.C. CEC maintains copies for 
review at the Energy Commission Library, 1516 9th Street, Sacramento, 
California. Copies for review are also available at the Sutter County 
Community Service Department, 1160 Civic Center Boulevard, Yuba City, 
California, and at the Main Branch of the Sutter County Library, 705 
Forbs Avenue, Yuba City, California.
    During this time, Western and CEC have coordinated closely with 
other Federal, State, and local agencies such as the U.S. Fish and 
Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the California 
State Department of Water Resources, the California State Department of 
Fish and Game, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the 
California Public Utilities

[[Page 59988]]

Commission, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and several local 
authorities.
    The results of these meetings have allowed Western and CEC to 
identify areas of concern raised by the public and other agencies. The 
visual and noise impacts of the plant and the new transmission line 
were a major concern of the people who live in the immediate area of 
the plant site. Other more general issues concerned water resources--
the impact to nearby wells by a potential draw-down by SPP; water 
quality impacts to downstream users and fisheries; the use of surface 
ditches by the project; and potential impacts caused by localized 
flooding. Other concerns raised include air quality impacts, land use 
issues, impacts to agricultural operations, and the need for rezoning 
the site.
    The Draft EIS/FSA presents analyses of the no action (no project) 
alternative, as well as four siting alternatives to the proposed site. 
These alternate sites were compared to the unmitigated impacts of the 
SPP proposed location. The potential impacts to each sensitive issue 
(water, air, natural resources, cultural resources, visual, noise, 
etc.) were analyzed and discussed in some detail in the Draft EIS/FSA. 
However, each of these alternate sites were found to have environmental 
problems. Alternatives to the proposed project, as well as individual 
mitigation measures, are proposed and applied where impacts approach a 
threshold of significance. Environmentally preferred options are 
detailed for each issue.
    CEC will hold hearings on Calpine's proposal. These are held as 
evidentiary hearings with two commissioners present. All witnesses are 
sworn in and present information to the Commissioners. Each technical 
area will be discussed in this manner, so that the length of the 
hearing process depends on the amount of testimony that needs to be 
taken for each technical area. Following each portion of the hearing 
process, the public may comment on the evidence presented. A full 
transcript will be available following the hearings.
    A decision on the proposed action will be made after considering 
comments on the Draft EIS/FSA, both written and those presented at the 
hearings announced above. The final EIS will present the full analysis 
of these comments and project alternatives that are proposed in the 
Draft EIS/FSA and present the final alternative that will be the 
subject of Western's and CEC's decisions on SPP.

    Dated: October 20, 1998.
Michael S. Hacskaylo,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 98-29803 Filed 11-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P