[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 150 (Thursday, August 3, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47817-47818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-19663]


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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Environmental Impact Statement for Addition of Electric 
Generation Peaking Capacity at Greenfield Sites, Mississippi

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed construction and 
operation of a natural gas-fired generating plant in Mississippi. The 
plant would supply peaking capacity to the TVA electric generation 
system to meet growing power demands. The EIS will evaluate the 
potential environmental impacts of constructing and operating a simple-
cycle, natural gas-fired combustion turbine plant. TVA may build and 
operate such a plant or, alternatively, TVA may choose to purchase 
power from such a plant owned by others in order to meet TVA's needs. 
If built by TVA, the plant would be constructed on a previously 
undeveloped, greenfield site. TVA will use the EIS process to obtain 
public involvement on this proposal. Public comment is invited 
concerning both the scope of the EIS and environmental issues that 
should be addressed as a part of the EIS.

DATES: Comments on the scope and environmental issues for the EIS must 
be postmarked or e-mailed no later than September 5, 2000 to ensure 
consideration. Late comments will receive every consideration possible.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Bruce L. Yeager, NEPA 
Specialist, Environmental Policy and Planning, Tennessee Valley 
Authority, Mail stop WT 8B, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, Knoxville, 
Tennessee 37902-1499. Comments may be e-mailed to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roy V. Carter, P.E., EIS Project 
Manager, Energy Research and Technology Applications, Tennessee Valley 
Authority, Mail stop CEB 4C, Muscle Shoals, Alabama 35662-1010. E-mail 
may be sent to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Project Description

    TVA proposes to construct and operate an electric power plant as 
early as June 2002. The proposed plant would be a simple-cycle, natural 
gas-fired combustion turbine plant for peaking operation. The 
generation capacity of the plant would be up to approximately 340 
megawatts (MWs) for peaking power.
    Several candidate greenfield sites have been identified in 
Mississippi. These candidate sites were identified through a detailed 
screening process that considered: (1) TVA's need for generating 
capacity; (2) transmission system stability across TVA's service 
region; (3) transmission system capacity at the locale; (4) reliability 
and economy of long-term supply of natural gas; (5) engineering 
suitability of the site; (6) compatibility with surrounding land use; 
and (7) environmental factors including wetlands, floodplains, water 
supply, water quality, air quality, and historic and archaeological 
resources.

Peaking Plant

    A typical peaking plant would consist of four simple-cycle 
combustion turbines such as the General Electric Model GE 7EA with a 
rated net power output of 85 MWs. These turbines would be fired with 
natural gas as the primary fuel and low sulfur fuel oil as the 
secondary fuel. These combustion turbines would employ dry low-
NOX combustion chambers and water injection for 
NOX control when firing fuel oil.
    The proposed sites would be located near TVA power transmission 
lines or substation and adequate natural gas service to minimize the 
lengths and, therefore, the cost of these interconnections. A plant 
would require a site area of approximately 50 acres.
    Other appurtenances and ancillary equipment would include step-up 
transformers for 161 kV or 500 kV service, transmission line 
interconnection, natural gas pipeline connection and metering, 
demineralized water supply for the water injection NOX 
control systems, fuel oil storage tank(s), and control and maintenance 
support buildings.

TVA's Integrated Resource Plan and the Need for Power

    This EIS will tier from TVA's Energy Vision 2020: An Integrated 
Resource Plan and Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement. 
Energy Vision 2020 was completed in December 1995 and a Record of 
Decision issued on February 28, 1996 (61 FR 7572). Energy Vision 2020 
analyzed a full range of supply-side and demand-side options to meet 
customer energy needs for the period 1995 to 2020. These options were 
ranked using several criteria including environmental performance. 
Favorable options were formulated into strategies. A group of options 
drawn from several effective strategies was chosen as TVA's preferred 
alternative. The supply-side options selected to meet peaking and 
baseload capacity needs through the 2005 period included: (1) Addition 
of simple-cycle or combined-cycle combustion turbines to TVA's 
generation system, (2) purchase of call options for peaking or baseload 
capacity, and (3) market purchases of peaking or baseload capacity. The 
short-term action plan of Energy Vision 2020 identified a need for 
3,000 MWs of baseload and peaking additions through the year 2002. This 
is in addition to the baseload capacity additions of the successful 
completion of Watts Bar Nuclear Plant Unit 1 and the return-to-service 
of Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 3.
    Each year TVA provides updated projections of supply and demand for 
the TVA sub-region of the Southeastern Electric Reliability Council 
(SERC). This is for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) annual 
report, EIA-411. This year's report (2000) shows expected peak demands 
growing at 2.4 percent from 2000 to 2005 and beyond. The net

[[Page 47818]]

capacity resources needed to meet the growth in demand increases 2,000 
MWs by the year 2002, and 3,200 MWs by the year 2004. The addition of 
the combustion turbines is needed by TVA to meet the peaking capacity 
requirements from both a reliability and cost standpoint.
    Since 1995, additional power needs have been met or will be met 
through the following steps: (1) Continuing to modernize existing TVA 
hydroelectric plants (both conventional and pumped storage) and, thus, 
adding approximately 388 MWs of peaking capacity through 2002; (2) 
completion in 2001 of the Red Hills Power Project, a 440 MW lignite 
coal-fired plant supplying baseload power commercially (TVA Record of 
Decision, 63 FR 44944); (3) the installation and operation in 2000 of 
680 MWs of peaking power capacity at the TVA Johnsonville and Gallatin 
Fossil Plants (TVA Record of Decision, 64 FR 138); (4) the installation 
and operation of up to 1,400 MWs of peaking power capacity at a 
greenfield site in Haywood County, Tennessee (TVA Record of Decision, 
64 FR 92); (5) the completion of various power purchase agreements in 
effect over this period; (6) the implementation of demand-side customer 
service programs through TVA power distributors with an estimated 154 
MWs of capacity added from 1995 to 2002 and an additional 264 MWs from 
2000 through 2002; (7) the pursuance of distributed generation 
initiatives by TVA, including the operation of the 14 MW emergency 
diesel generators at the unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant 
site; and (8) the implementation of a Green Power Program in 2000 as a 
market test providing several MWs of capacity. Technologies for this 
program include landfill gas, photovoltaics, and wind.
    Because Energy Vision 2020 identified and evaluated alternative 
supply-side and demand-side energy resources and technologies for 
meeting peak and baseload capacity needs, this EIS will not reevaluate 
those alternatives. This EIS will focus on the site-specific impacts of 
constructing and operating simple-cycle combustion turbines at 
candidate sites.

Proposed Issues To Be Addressed

    The EIS will describe the existing environmental and socioeconomic 
resources at and in the vicinity of each candidate site that would be 
affected by the construction and operation of the proposed power plant. 
TVA's evaluation of environmental impacts to these resources will 
include, but not necessarily be limited to, the potential impacts on 
air quality, water quality, aquatic and terrestrial ecology, endangered 
and threatened species, wetlands, aesthetics and visual resources, 
noise, land use, historic and archaeological resources, and 
socioeconomic resources.

Alternatives

    The results of evaluating the potential environmental impacts and 
other important issues identified in the scoping process together with 
engineering and economic considerations will be used by TVA in 
selecting a preferred alternative. Currently, TVA plans to evaluate in 
detail, the construction and operation of a simple-cycle combustion 
turbine peaking plant at two or more candidate sites in Mississippi by 
as early as May 2002, as well as the alternative of no action. All of 
the potential power plant sites currently under consideration are in 
Kemper County.

Scoping Process

    Scoping, which is integral to the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) process, is a procedure that solicits public input to the EIS 
process to ensure that: (1) Issues are identified early and properly 
studied; (2) issues of little significance do not consume substantial 
time and effort; (3) the draft EIS is thorough and balanced; and (4) 
delays caused by an inadequate EIS are avoided. TVA's NEPA procedures 
require that the scoping process commence soon after a decision has 
been reached to prepare an EIS in order to provide an early and open 
process for determining the scope and for identifying the significant 
issues related to the proposed action. The scope of issues to be 
addressed in the draft EIS will be determined, in part, from written 
comments submitted by mail or e-mail, and comments presented orally or 
in writing at public meetings. The preliminary identification in this 
notice of reasonable alternatives and environmental issues is not meant 
to be exhaustive or final.
    The scoping process will include both interagency and public 
scoping input. The public is invited to submit written comments or e-
mail comments on the scope of this EIS no later than the date given 
under the DATES section of this notice.
    TVA is conducting a public scoping meeting at the East Mississippi 
Community College, 1512 Kemper Street in Scooba, Mississippi on August 
3, 2000. Registration is at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting begins at 6 p.m. 
At this meeting, TVA management and project staff will present an 
overview of the proposed power plant project, answer questions, and 
solicit comments on the issues that the public expresses an interest in 
having addressed in the EIS. The meeting was publicized through notices 
in local newspapers, through TVA press releases, and in meetings 
conducted between TVA officials and local elected officials preceding 
the public meetings.
    The agencies to be included in the interagency scoping are U.S. 
Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mississippi 
Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi State Historic 
Preservation Officer, and other agencies as appropriate.
    After consideration of the scoping comments, TVA will further 
develop alternatives and environmental issues to be addressed in the 
EIS. Following analysis of the environmental consequences of each 
alternative, TVA will prepare a draft EIS for public review and 
comment. The Environmental Protection Agency will publish a notice of 
availability (NOA) of the draft EIS in the Federal Register. In the 
NOA, TVA will solicit written comments on the draft EIS, as well as 
announce information pertaining to the schedule of public meetings to 
be held for the purpose of receiving comments on the draft EIS. TVA 
expects to release a draft EIS in December 2000 and a final EIS in 
April 2001.

    Dated: July 25, 2000.
Kathryn J. Jackson,
Executive Vice-President, River System Operations and Environment.
[FR Doc. 00-19663 Filed 8-2-00; 8:45 am]
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