[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 13, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31910-31913]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-14875]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Western Area Power Administration


Post-2004 Resource Pool--Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects

AGENCY: Western Area Power Administration, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Allocation.

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SUMMARY: The Western Area Power Administration (Western), a Federal 
power marketing agency of the Department of Energy, announces its Post-
2004 Resource Pool--Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects (SLCA/IP) 
Proposed Allocation of Power. This allocation fulfills the requirements 
of Subpart C--Power Marketing Initiative of the Energy Planning and 
Management Program Final Rule. The Post-2004 Resource Pool Proposed 
Allocation of Power is Western's application of Subpart C--Power 
Marketing Initiative of the Energy Planning and Management Program 
Final Rule to the SLCA/IP.

DATES: All comments must be received by the end of the comment period, 
to be assured of consideration. The comment period on the Proposed 
Allocation of Power begins today and ends October 11, 2001.

ADDRESSES: All comments regarding the Proposed Allocation of Power 
should be directed to the following address: Mr. Burt Hawkes, Power 
Marketing and Contracts, CRSP Management Center, Western Area Power 
Administration, P.O. Box 11606, Salt Lake City, UT 84147-0606. Comments 
may also be faxed to (801) 524-5017 or e-mailed to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Burt Hawkes, Power Marketing and 
Contracts, (801) 524-3344, or Lyle Johnson, Public Utilities 
Specialist, (801) 524-5585. Written requests for information should be 
sent to CRSP Management Center, Western Area Power Administration, P.O. 
Box 11606, Salt Lake City, UT 84147-0606.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Western will also consult with the 
applicants and interested parties at the combined public information 
forums and comment forums, which are planned for Albuquerque, New 
Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; and Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Notification of the location and times of the forums will be given in a 
subsequent Federal Register notice at least 30 days prior to the first 
of these forums. All documentation developed or retained by Western in 
developing the Proposed Allocation of Power will be available for 
inspection and copying at the CRSP Management Center, 150 East Social 
Hall Avenue, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, Utah. After all public comments 
have been thoroughly considered, Western will prepare and publish the 
Final Allocation of Power in the Federal Register.
    Western published its decision on June 25, 1999, at 64 FR 34414, to 
apply Subpart C--Power Marketing Initiative of the Energy Planning and 
Management Program Final Rule, 10 CFR part 905 to the SLCA/IP. The 
Energy Planning and Management Program (Program), which was developed 
in part to implement section 114 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, 
became effective on November 20, 1995. Subpart C of the Program 
provides for the establishment of project-specific resource pools and 
the allocation of power from these pools to new preference customers. 
Western's power allocation criteria and call for applications for power 
were published in the Federal Register at 64 FR 48825, September 8, 
1999, and revised and clarified in the Federal Register at 65 FR 11303, 
March 2, 2000. These established the framework for allocating power 
from the resource pool to be established from the SLCA/IP. Applications 
for power were accepted at Western's Colorado River Storage Project 
(CRSP) Management Center until close of business on June 8, 2000. The 
Proposed Allocation of Power published herein is the result of 
Western's decision in response to those applications. Only comments 
relevant to the proposed allocations will be accepted during this 
period. A Federal Register notice of the final allocations of power 
will address the comments received during the comment period.

I. Proposed Allocation of Power

    Western will respond to the comments received about the Proposed 
Allocation of Power and publish its final allocations after the public 
comment period ends. If any adjustments or corrections are necessary in 
a recipient's allocation, the fixed size of the pool will cause the 
change to affect the allocations of all other recipients. Western plans 
to enter into contracts with new customers after publication of that 
notice.
    The SLCA/IP Post-2004 Power Pool will consist of 7 percent of the 
SLCA/IP firm power resources available on October 1, 2004. On this 
date, 7 percent of the firm power resources will be withdrawn from 
current customers and

[[Page 31911]]

allocated to new customers. In addition, another 7 megawatts (MW) of 
capacity and associated energy (14,660,861 kilowatthours (kWh) in the 
Winter Season and 15,350,991 kWh in the Summer Season) will be 
withdrawn from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-
State) and included in the Post-2004 Power Pool. These 7 MW will be 
made available to Navopache Electric Cooperative (Navopache). 
Navopache, as a member of Plains Electric Generation and Transmission 
Cooperative, Inc. (Plains), had received SLCA/IP power through Plains 
for many years. However, Navopache decided not to participate in a 
recent merger between Plains and Tri-State. Because the Federal power 
allocation was under contract to Plains rather than Navopache, 
Navopache lost its share of the benefits of Plains' Federal power 
allocation when the merger was completed in 2000. Consistent with 
Western's policy of encouraging the widespread distribution of Federal 
power, Western is remedying this situation by reducing the Plains/Tri-
State allocation by 7 MW in both seasons, effective October 1, 2004, 
and allocating 7 MW in each season with 14,660,861 kWh available in the 
Winter Season and 15,350,991 kWh in the Summer Season to Navopache.
    Western received applications for power from 57 Native American 
tribes or organizations and 9 utilities. Following the established 
criteria of allocating first to Native American tribes with the stated 
target of serving 65 percent of the eligible loads, the tribes' 
Applicant Profile Data (APD) indicated that the electrical loads of 
these Native American tribes were large enough to require the entire 
Post-2004 Power Pool be allocated to the qualifying Native American 
tribes. Navopache is the only non-tribal applicant that will receive an 
allocation.
    Since the entire Post-2004 Power Pool was used to meet the 
commitment to Navopache and to meet the needs of Native American 
applicants, there is no power available for the remaining eight new 
applicants. Accordingly, Western is unable to allocate SLCA/IP power to 
the following: Utah Transit Authority; Deseret Chemical Depot; U.S. 
Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories; U.S. Department of 
Energy, Waste Isolation Pilot Project; Town of Fredonia, Arizona; City 
of Monticello, Utah; City of Eagle Mountain, Utah; and Washington 
County Water Conservancy District.
    Several tribes within the SLCA/IP marketing area were determined 
ineligible for an allocation of power from the Post-2004 Power Pool 
primarily because they did not meet the qualifying criteria or failed 
to submit proper applications. Tribes that have not been assigned a 
proposed allocation include the following:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Tribe                                Reason
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ak Chin Indian Community...............  Current allocation of Federal
                                          power exceeds 65 percent of
                                          Indian total load.
Cherokee Nation Southwest Longhair       Not a Federally recognized
 Tribe.                                   tribe. No reservation; no
                                          electrical load during the
                                          base year.
Colorado River Indian Tribes...........  Current Federal power available
                                          exceeds 65 percent of total
                                          load.
Navajo Agricultural Products Industry..  Current reservation of Federal
                                          power exceeds 65 percent of
                                          total load.
San Juan Southern Paiute...............  No reservation. Receive
                                          benefits of an allocation
                                          through Navajo Tribal Utility
                                          Authority.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Four tribes, the Moapa Band of Paiutes, the Pueblo of San 
Ildefonso, the Pueblo of Santo Domingo, and the Pueblo of Taos, 
submitted incomplete applications. No allocations are proposed for 
these tribes.
    Western's intent is that the benefits of Federal power be made 
available first to Native American individuals, businesses, and tribal 
loads and to essential services existing on reservations that may be 
owned by non-Native Americans. Because the Post-2004 Power Pool is not 
large enough to meet the goal of serving 65 percent of the total loads 
of the Native American applicants, Western is able to allocate power 
only for those uses as initially intended. If there had been 
unallocated energy remaining in the Post-2004 Power Pool, Western would 
have considered allocating it to non-Native American loads on the 
reservations.
    For the two tribes, the Gila River Indian Community and the Tonto 
Apache Tribe, that did not separate their commercial and industrial 
loads into Indian- and non-Indian-owned loads, Western used the amount 
of energy reported in the small commercial category of their APDs as 
estimates of their Indian-owned load on their respective reservations.
    The Power Allocation Procedures published September 8, 1999, state, 
``For Native American Tribes currently receiving power from utilities 
that have allocations of Federal power resources, Western will take 
into account the benefit received through the existing supplier when 
determining their allocations.'' Accordingly, the percentage of Western 
service that each of the tribes receives through its current power 
supplier(s) was used in determining the allocations for tribes served 
by current Western customers. The White Mountain Apache Tribe's (White 
Mountain) allocation was calculated using the percentage of service 
that its serving utility, Navopache, will receive when service to 
Navopache and White Mountain begins on October 1, 2004. This is 
consistent with the method used to determine allocations to the other 
applicant tribes that are served by utilities that receive Federal 
power.
    Energy from the Post-2004 Power Pool was allocated to the 
applicants in a manner consistent with the intent of the criteria in 
that each tribe received an equal percent of its energy needs from the 
Post-2004 Power Pool. Energy was allocated using the following formula: 
Post-2004 Proposed Allocation = EL  x  (P - C)
Where

EL = Eligible loads, the sum of reported residential, agricultural, 
Indian-owned commercial, and other essential service loads.
P = Percent of eligible load served, not to exceed 65 percent.
C = Percent of eligible load currently served by Federal power.

    Contract rates of delivery (CROD) were determined by applying 
Western's seasonal load factors of 49.4 percent in the Winter Season 
and 53.1 percent in the Summer Season to the energy allocations. The 
resulting allocations serve 61.2 percent of the tribal applicants' 
Winter Season and 59.3 percent of their Summer Season loads. The 
resource pool was not large enough to serve any non-Indian-owned loads.
    The proposed allocations of power for new Native American customers 
are as follows:

[[Page 31912]]



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   Salt Lake City Area Integrated                        Proposed Post-2004 Power Allocations
              Projects               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
      Native American Tribes or        Winter Seasonal    Summer Seasonal    Winter Seasonal    Summer Seasonal
            Organizations               Energy  (kWh)      Energy  (kWh)        CROD  (kW)         CROD  (kW)
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Alamo Navajo Chapter................            520,517            467,324                241                199
Canoncito Navajo Chapter............            384,767            342,392                178                146
Cocopah Indian Tribe................          2,622,934          2,987,305              1,216              1,274
Confederated Tribes of the Goshute              157,457             93,602                 73                 40
 Reservation........................
Duckwater Shoshone Tribe............            170,417            164,419                 79                 70
Ely Shoshone Tribe..................            326,822            185,540                151                 79
Fort Mojave Indian Tribe............            984,261          1,122,834                456                479
Ft. McDowell Mojae-Apache Indian              5,643,637          5,491,311              2,615              2,342
 Community..........................
Gila River Indian Community.........         24,007,510         21,831,572             11,126              9,310
Havasupai Tribe.....................            590,971            468,834                274                200
Hopi Tribe..........................          6,963,674          6,333,627              3,227              2,701
Hualapai Tribe......................          1,519,945          1,471,351                704                627
Jicarilla Apache Tribe..............          1,955,562          1,470,092                906                627
Kiabab Band of Paiute Indians.......             13,892             10,156                  6                  4
Las Vegas Paiute Tribe..............          1,296,112          1,680,347                601                717
Mescalero Apache Tribe..............          2,634,241          2,473,888              1,221              1,055
Nambe Pueblo........................            173,892            148,429                 81                 63
Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.....         62,990,277         50,935,888             29,192             21,722
Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah.........            392,204            380,489                182                162
Pascua Yaqui Tribe..................          2,577,307          3,105,707              1,194              1,324
Picuris Pueblo......................             58,763            192,033                 27                 82
Pueblo De Cochiti...................            556,234            431,475                258                184
Pueblo of Acoma.....................          1,091,073          1,065,061                506                454
Pueblo of Isleta....................          2,748,820          2,559,866              1,274              1,092
Pueblo of Jemez.....................            704,202            542,516                326                231
Pueblo of Laguna....................          2,003,804          1,881,827                929                803
Pueblo of Pojoaque..................            721,462            527,582                334                225
Pueblo of San Felipe................          1,044,582            764,873                484                326
Pueblo of San Juan..................          1,620,183          1,569,299                751                669
Pueblo of Sandia....................          2,024,432          2,198,256                938                937
Pueblo of Santa Clara...............          1,413,816          1,124,568                655                480
Pueblo of Santo Domingo.............          1,086,300          1,053,375                503                449
Pueblo of Tesuque...................            738,366            705,739                342                301
Pueblo of Zia.......................            225,272            173,537                104                 74
Pueblo of Zuni......................          3,154,688          2,585,656              1,462              1,103
Quechan Indian Tribe................          1,807,040          1,177,660                837                502
Ramah Navajo Chapter................          1,095,757            760,531                508                324
Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian              33,272,972         37,793,973             15,420             16,118
 Community..........................
San Carlos Apache Tribe.............          8,507,052          8,766,037              3,942              3,738
Santa Ana Pueblo....................          1,016,119          1,072,447                471                457
Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians             36,688             35,576                 17                 15
Southern Ute Indian Tribe...........          3,125,651          2,846,489              1,449              1,214
Tohono O'Odham Utility Authority....          2,292,447          2,056,301              1,062                877
Tonto Apache Tribe..................            865,611            891,647                401                380
Ute Indian Tribe....................          1,832,215          1,158,870                849                494
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe..............          1,351,661          1,208,840                626                516
White Mountain Apache Tribe.........         15,078,751         13,797,601              6,988              5,884
Wind River Reservation..............          1,307,138          1,227,998                606                524
Yavapai Apache Nation...............          3,631,777          4,414,186              1,683              1,882
Yavapai Prescott Indian Tribe.......          6,866,719          7,429,022              3,182              3,168
Yomba Shoshone Tribe................             75,518             73,229                 35                 31
                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...........................        217,281,509        203,251,178            100,696             86,678
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II. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. section 601-621 (Act), 
requires Federal agencies to perform a regulatory flexibility analysis 
if a proposed rule is likely to have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. Western has determined that this 
is a rulemaking of particular applicability relating to services 
offered by Western and, therefore, is not a rule within the purview of 
the Act. In addition, the requirements of this Act can be waived if the 
head of the agency certifies that the rule will not, if promulgated, 
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities. By his execution of this Federal Register notice, Western's 
Administrator certifies that no significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities will occur.

III. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act

    Western has completed environmental impact statements (EIS) on the 
Program, and on the marketing of SLCA/IP power pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), 
Council on Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508); 
and DOE NEPA regulations (10 CFR part 1021). The Records of Decision 
were

[[Page 31913]]

published in the Federal Register (60 FR 53181, October 12, 1995; and 
61 FR 56534, November 1, 1996). Since then, Western has determined that 
this action is categorically excluded from preparation of an additional 
environmental assessment or EIS. See Appendix B4.1 of subpart D of 10 
CFR part 1021. Accordingly, no further environmental assessment will be 
conducted.

IV. Determination Under Executive Order 12866

    DOE has determined this is not a significant regulatory action 
because it does not meet the criteria of Executive Order 12866, 58 FR 
51735. Western has an exemption from centralized regulatory review 
under Executive Order 12866; accordingly, no clearance of this notice 
by OMB is required.

    Dated: May 30, 2001.
Michael S. Hacskaylo,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 01-14875 Filed 6-12-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P