[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 5 (Monday, January 8, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1332-1333]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-442]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration


Umatilla Generating Project

AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS).

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SUMMARY: This notice announces BPA's intention to prepare an EIS, under 
the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), on a proposed electrical 
interconnection requested by Umatilla Generating Company, L.P., to 
integrate electrical power from the Umatilla Generating Project into 
the Federal transmission grid. BPA proposes to execute an agreement 
with Umatilla Generating Company L.P., to provide them with an 
interconnection.

DATES: BPA has established a 45-day scoping period during which 
affected landowners, concerned citizens, special interest groups, local 
governments, and any other interested parties are invited to comment on 
the scope of the proposed EIS. Written comments are due to the address 
below no later than February 22, 2001. Comments may also be made at an 
EIS scoping open house meeting to be held on January 30, 2001.

ADDRESSES: To comment, telephone toll-free 1-800-622-4519; send an e-
mail to the BPA Internet address [email protected]; or mail comments to 
Communications, Bonneville Power Administration--KC-7, P.O. Box 12999, 
Portland, Oregon, 97212. To be placed on the project mail list, call 1-
800-622-4520.
    An EIS open house will be held on January 30, 2001, 7:00 p.m. to 
9:00 p.m., at Hermiston High School, 600 S. First Street, Hermiston, 
Oregon. At this informal scoping meeting, BPA staff will answer 
questions and accept oral and written comments, and representatives of 
BPA and the Umatilla Generating Company, L.P., will be available to 
discuss the proposed project and the topics to be addressed in the EIS. 
Information on the proposed project will be available for review.
    Scoping will help BPA ensure that a full range of issues related to 
this proposal is addressed in the EIS, and also will identify 
significant or potentially significant impacts that may result from the 
proposed project. When completed, the Draft EIS will be circulated for 
review and comment, and BPA will hold a public comment meeting on the 
Draft EIS. BPA will consider and respond in the Final EIS to comments 
received on the Draft EIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas C. McKinney, Bonneville Power 
Administration--KEC-4, P.O. Box 3621, Portland, Oregon, 97208-3621; 
toll-free telephone 1-800-282-3713; direct telephone 503-230-4749; or 
e-mail [email protected]. Additional information can be found at BPA's 
web site: www.bpa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EIS will assess the environmental 
consequences of the agreement which BPA proposes with Umatilla 
Generating Company, L.P., and of any modifications to the transmission 
system needed to provide an electrical connection under the terms of 
the agreement. In addition to these Federal actions, the EIS will 
consider the environmental consequences of construction and operation 
of the Umatilla Generating Project.
    The proposed project has several components. They include an 
electrical connection at BPA's McNary Substation for the Umatilla 
Generating Company, L.P.; a natural-gas-fired, combined-cycle 
combustion turbine; electric-power-generation plant (Umatilla 
Generating Project); a natural-gas pipeline; and new and modified 
electric-power-transmission lines. All proposed facilities would be 
located within Umatilla County, Oregon.
    The Umatilla Generating Project is proposed by the Umatilla 
Generating Company, L.P., an independent power producer. They would 
build and operate the power plant, and would also pay for the 
construction of approximately three-quarters of a mile of new 
transmission lines and modification of approximately 11 miles of 
existing transmission lines owned by the Umatilla Electric Cooperative. 
The new transmission lines would be owned by the Umatilla Electric 
Cooperative. PG&E Gas Transmission-Northwest Corporation (GTN) or 
Cascade Natural Gas would build a natural-gas pipeline up to 5 miles in 
length to supply fuel to the power plant.
    A. Proposed Action. The proposed Umatilla Generating Project would 
be a combustion turbine/combined-cycle electric power plant with a 
nominal generating capacity of 550 megawatts. The energy facility site 
would be located about 4 miles southwest of the city of Hermiston and 
about one-half mile west of the existing Hermiston Generating Plant.
    The proposed Umatilla Generating Project would consist of two 
essentially identical combustion turbine generators, two heat-recovery 
steam generators (HRSG) and one steam turbine. The proposed generating 
project would be fueled by natural gas from the existing GTN pipeline 
that passes approximately 5 miles south of the energy facility site. 
Natural gas would be burned in the combustion turbines. Expanding gases 
from combustion would turn rotors within the turbines that are 
connected to electric generators. The hot gases exhausted from the 
combustion turbines would be used to raise steam in the HRSGs. Steam 
from the HRSGs would be expanded through a steam turbine that drives 
its own electric generator.
    Water would be needed at the facility to generate steam and cool 
the steam process. Water would be supplied from the Port of Umatilla's 
regional water supply pipeline that currently extends to the Hermiston 
Generating Plant. A recirculating cooling system employing mechanically 
induced draft evaporative cooling towers would be used to minimize 
water use. Water would be

[[Page 1333]]

added to the cooling system to compensate for evaporative losses (make-
up water) and blowdown. Blowdown is the water bled from the cooling 
system to limit the build-up of salts. Blowdown would be conveyed by 
pipeline to Madison Farms, located approximately 3 miles south of the 
proposed generating project, where it would be applied to crops.
    The proposed Umatilla Generating Project would deliver electric 
power to the regional power grid at BPA's McNary Substation in Umatilla 
using the Umatilla Electric Cooperative's existing Westland-McNary 
Transmission Line. A new 230-kilovolt (kV) radial transmission line tap 
would be constructed to connect the switchyard at the proposed Umatilla 
Generating Project to the Westland-McNary Transmission Line. Presently, 
the transmission line consists of one 115-kV circuit and one 230-kV 
circuit. The existing 115-kV line would be removed and replaced with a 
230-kV line. BPA would modify the McNary Substation to accept electric 
power from the Umatilla Generating Project.
    In addition, the section of the 115-kV transmission line between 
the Umatilla Generating Project and the Hermiston Generating Plant 
would be reconductored for 230 kV. This portion of the circuit 
reconductoring would increase the overall efficiency and reliability of 
the transmission line.
    B. Process to Date. BPA is the lead Federal agency for the project 
EIS. The State of Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council is currently 
evaluating the Application for a Site Certificate for the Umatilla 
Generating Project submitted by the Umatilla Generating Company, L.P. 
Oregon's site evaluation process, like NEPA, provides opportunity for 
public participation. Umatilla Generating Company, L.P., held a public 
informational meeting on December 7, 2000. Umatilla Generating Company, 
L.P., expects to submit an application for Air Contaminant Discharge 
and Prevention of Significant Deterioration Permit for the proposed 
project to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in January 
2001.
    C. Alternatives Proposed for Consideration. Alternatives thus far 
identified for evaluation in the EIS are: (1) The proposed action, and 
(2) no action. Other alternatives may be identified through the scoping 
process.
    D. Identification of Environmental Issues. BPA intends to prepare 
an EIS addressing both the Umatilla Generating Project and the 
associated electric power interconnection facilities. BPA decided to 
prepare the EIS for two reasons: (1) The Umatilla Generating Project 
would depend on the modifications at BPA's McNary Substation to connect 
with BPA's transmission grid, and (2) no other Federal or State agency 
is currently preparing an EIS on the proposed project. Because no other 
EIS is being prepared, the scope of BPA's EIS will cover both the 
interconnection elements and the Umatilla Generating Project.
    The principal issues identified thus far for consideration in the 
Draft EIS with respect to the Umatilla Generating Project are as 
follows: (1) Air quality impacts, (2) noise impacts from plant 
operation, (3) aesthetic impacts, (4) socioeconomic impacts created by 
an influx of construction workers into a sparsely populated area, and 
(5) impacts on wildlife habitat. The principal issues identified thus 
far for consideration in the Draft EIS with respect to the electric 
power transmission facilities are as follows: (1) Impacts of 
transmission line construction on wetlands and wildlife habitat, (2) 
aesthetic impacts, and (3) cultural resource impacts.
    These issues, together with any additional significant issues 
identified through the scoping process, will be addressed in the EIS.

    Issued in Portland, Oregon, on December 27, 2000.
Stephen J. Wright,
Acting Administrator and Chief Executive Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-442 Filed 1-5-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-U