[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 25 (Monday, February 7, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5853-5854]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-2692]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service


Alabama Electric Cooperative; Notice of Finding of No Significant 
Impact

AGENCY:  Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION:  Notice of finding of no significant impact.

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SUMMARY:  Notice is hereby given that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) 
has made a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) with respect to a 
request from Alabama Electric Cooperative for financing assistance to 
finance the construction of the a 496 megawatt combined cycle electric 
generation plant in Covington County, Alabama.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Bob Quigel, Environmental Protection 
Specialist, Engineering and Environmental Staff, RUS, Stop 1571, 1400 
Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-1571, telephone (202) 
720-0468, e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The proposed plant will be constructed on a 
site adjacent to the existing Alabama Electric Cooperative's McWilliams 
Plant located near Gantt in Covington County, Alabama. It will be made 
up of two combustion turbines which have the potential to generate 166 
megawatts each. The exhaust gas from each

[[Page 5854]]

combustion turbine will be fed to a heat recovery steam generator. The 
output from each heat recovery steam generator will be fed to a single 
steam turbine that has the potential to generate 164 megawatts. Each 
heat recover steam generator will incorporate a selective catalytic 
reduction system to remove nitrogen oxides from the combustion 
turbine's exhaust gas. The combustion turbines units will be shop-built 
and shipped to the site as modules that will be installed on steel-
reinforced concrete foundations. Related improvements will include the 
construction of a new electric transmission station and an 18.6-mile, 
230 kV transmission line circuit between the Gantt Plant and the Opp 
Switching Station. The Southeast Alabama Gas District will construct a 
60-mile-long, 20-inch diameter natural gas pipeline from Flomaton, 
Alabama, to the Gantt site to provide the natural gas to power the 
plant. RUS will not provide financing assistance for the natural gas 
pipeline.
    Based on its environmental assessment of the project, RUS has 
concluded that the construction and operation of the 496 megawatt plant 
at the Gantt site would have no significant impact to the quality of 
the human environment. Therefore, RUS will not prepare an environmental 
impact statement for its action related to this project.
    Copies of the FONSI are available from RUS at the address provided 
herein or from Mike Noel, Alabama Electric Cooperative, P.O. Box 550, 
Andalusia, Alabama 36420-0550, telephone (334) 427-3248. Mike's e-mail 
address is: [email protected].

    Dated: January 31, 2000.
Blaine D. Stockton, Jr.,
Assistant Administrator, Electric Program.
[FR Doc. 00-2692 Filed 2-4-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-15-P