[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 154 (Thursday, August 9, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41865-41867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-19985]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. CP01-419-000 and CP01-421-000]


Portland General Electric Company; Notice of Application

August 3, 2001.
    Take notice that on July 27, 2001, Portland General Electric 
Company (Portland General), 121 S.W. Salmon Street, 1 WTC-1301, 
Portland, Oregon 97204, filed in Docket No. CP01-419-000, an 
application pursuant to Section 7, Part 157, Subpart F, of the Natural 
Gas Act (NGA) for issuance of a Blanket Certificate of Public 
Convenience and Necessity, and in Docket No. CP01-421-000, an 
application pursuant to Section 7, Part 284, Subpart G of the NGA for 
issuance of a Blanket Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, 
a Request for Waiver and Extension of Time, and approval of initial 
rates for firm and interruptible transportation services to be rendered 
by Portland General and pro forma tariff provisions, all as more fully 
set forth in the application which is on file with the Commission and 
open to public inspection. Copies of this filing are on file with the 
Commission and are available for public inspection. This filing may be 
viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``RIMS'' link, 
select ``Docket #'' from the RIMS Menu and follow the instructions 
(call (202) 208-2222 for assistance).
    Portland General requests the issuance of a blanket certificate 
pursuant to Subpart F of Part 157 of the Commission's Regulations to 
permit the construction, acquisition, and abandonment of facilities and 
for approval of other routine activities permitted by that subpart and 
the issuance of a blanket certificate pursuant to Subpart G of Part 284 
of the Commission's Regulations authorizing

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the transportation of natural gas for others.
    Portland General requests a waiver of the Commission's electronic 
data interchange (EDI) and electronic delivery mechanism (EDM) unless 
and until a customer requests that Portland General implement such 
standards. Portland General indicates that their pipeline is small and 
the costs of implementing EDI/EDM are comparatively high. Portland 
General states that even after the acceptance of the requested blanket 
open-access certificate, they are likely to serve few, if any, shippers 
prior to any expansion of its facilities.
    Portland General further requests an extension of time by which to 
comply with the Commission's Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB) 
requirements until the later of: (a) such time as Portland General has 
contracted with a shipper to provide service; or (b) one year from the 
date Portland General's tariff becomes effective. Portland General has 
previously indicated that it has a limited amount of capacity available 
in the short term and is likely to serve few, if any, shippers prior to 
any expansion of its facilities.
    Portland General also requests that the Commission grant any 
additional waivers that it may deem necessary to issue the 
certificates.
    On October 24, 1991, the Commission issued a certificate 
authorizing Portland General and KB Pipeline Company to construct and 
operate the Kelso-Beaver Pipeline, 17 miles of 20-inch diameter 
pipeline, with a capacity of 193 Mmcf per day, in Docket No. CP91-1607-
000. Portland General states that it will offer both firm and 
interruptible services on an open-access, not unduly discriminatory 
basis pursuant to Part 284 of the Commission's Regulations, with 
services available at both recourse and negotiated rates. Portland 
General states that its FT-1 recourse rate is cost-based, designed 
using a postage stamp, straight-fixed variable rate structure. Portland 
General indicates that its maximum recourse rate, expressed on a 100 
percent load factor basis, is $0.047. Portland General declares that it 
will offer shippers interruptible transportation service under Rate 
Schedule IT-1 when and to the extent that Portland General determines 
that sufficient capacity is available. Portland General states that its 
proposed maximum IT-1 rate is the 100 percent load factor equivalent of 
the maximum FT-1 recourse rate. Portland General indicates that its 
Rate Schedules FT-1 and IT-1 include overrun and underrun charges. 
Portland General states that it will charge the Annual Charge 
Adjustment surcharge as set forth in the tariff.
    Portland General states that one aspect of the certificate 
application and the pro forma tariff is out of the ordinary. Portland 
General declares that it currently does not provide transportation 
service for any other party over the Kelso-Beaver Pipeline, including 
affiliates of Portland General. Instead, Portland general states that 
it consumes 100 percent of the gas that it transports for itself in the 
Beaver generating station and, starting this summer, in its new 24.9 MW 
generation facility. As a consequence, Portland General indicates that 
it does not have any transportation contracts for the use of the Kelso-
Beaver Pipeline.
    Portland General proposes to adopt a system similar to that used by 
the Commission under Order No. 888 (FERC Statutes and Regulations para. 
31,036) for open-access transmission by electric utilities. Portland 
General indicates that under Order No. 888, transmission owners serving 
their own bundled retail load and bundled wholesale requirements 
customers (collectively, these loads are referred to as native load) do 
not have to take transmission service under their open-access tariffs. 
Portland General indicates that instead, they are permitted to reserve 
capacity on their system to serve their native load, and also are 
permitted to reserve additional capacity to serve load growth.
    Portland General proposes that it similarly be permitted to reserve 
capacity on the Kelso-Beaver Pipeline for transportation of gas used 
for Portland General's own consumption. Portland General states that 
Section 22.1(a) of the General Terms and Conditions has been added to 
the tariff to implement this proposal. Portland General indicates that 
under Section 22.1(a), the amount of capacity that Portland General is 
reserving for its own use must be listed on the Index of Customers and 
will be posted on its webpage.
    Portland General states that it is reserving 122.5 Mmcf per day of 
capacity to serve the Beaver Station and the 24.9 MW generating 
facility that will be placed in service this summer, leaving 31.5 Mmcf 
per day of capacity that is available in the short term. However, 
Portland General indicates that it has plans to use that 31.5 Mmcf per 
day in the future, and therefore is reserving that capacity for itself, 
starting in 2003. Portland General states that this capacity will be 
used in connection with their future uses, including the Port Westward 
project. In addition, Portland General declares that it has received a 
request for transportation from Summit Power NW LLC (Summit), which has 
requested 85 Mmcf per day of capacity. Portland General states that it 
has reached an agreement in principle with Summit to propose an 
expansion of the Kelso-Beaver Pipeline to the pipeline co-owners that 
would permit Portland General to grant Summit's request for service. 
Portland General declares that any expansion would be performed 
pursuant to an open season.
    Any questions regarding this amendment should be directed to 
Michele Farrell, FERC Project Manager, Portland General Electric 
Company, 121 S.W. Salmon Street, 1 WTC-1301, Portland, Oregon 97204, at 
(503) 464-7371.
    There are two ways to become involved in the Commission's review of 
this project. First, any person wishing to obtain legal status by 
becoming a party to the proceedings for this project should, on or 
before August 24, 2001, file with the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426, a motion to 
intervene in accordance with the requirements of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.214 or 385.211) and the 
Regulations under the NGA (18 CFR 157.10). A person obtaining party 
status will be placed on the service list maintained by the Secretary 
of the Commission and will receive copies of all documents filed by the 
applicant and by all other parties. A party must submit 14 copies of 
filings made with the Commission and must mail a copy to the applicant 
and to every other party in the proceeding. Only parties to the 
proceeding can ask for court review of Commission orders in the 
proceeding.
    However, a person does not have to intervene in order to have 
comments considered. The second way to participate is by filing with 
the Secretary of the Commission, as soon as possible, an original and 
two copies of comments in support of or in opposition to this project. 
The Commission will consider these comments in determining the 
appropriate action to be taken, but the filing of a comment alone will 
not serve to make the filer a party to the proceeding. The Commission's 
rules require that persons filing comments in opposition to the project 
provide copies of their protests only to the party or parties directly 
involved in the protest.
    Persons who wish to comment only on the environmental review of 
this project should submit an original and two copies of their comments 
to the Secretary of the Commission. Environmental commenters will be

[[Page 41867]]

placed on the Commission's environmental mailing list, will receive 
copies of the environmental documents, and will be notified of meetings 
associated with the Commission's environmental review process. 
Environmental commenters will not be required to serve copies of filed 
documents on all other parties. However, the non-party commenters will 
not receive copies of all documents filed by other parties or issued by 
the Commission (except for the mailing of environmental documents 
issued by the Commission) and will not have the right to seek court 
review of the Commission's final order.
    The Commission may issue a preliminary determination on non-
environmental issues prior to the completion of its review of the 
environmental aspects of the project. This preliminary determination 
typically considers such issues as the need for the project and its 
economic effect on existing customers of the applicant, on other 
pipelines in the area, and on landowners and communities. For example, 
the Commission considers the extent to which the applicant may need to 
exercise eminent domain to obtain rights-of-way for the proposed 
project and balances that against the non-environmental benefits to be 
provided by the project. Therefore, if a person has comments on 
community and landowner impacts from this proposal, it is important 
either to file comments or to intervene as early in the process as 
possible.
    Comments, protests and interventions may be filed electronically 
via the Internet in lieu of paper. See, 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and 
the instructions on the Commission's web site under the ``e-Filing'' 
link.
    If the Commission decides to set the application for a formal 
hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, the Commission will issue 
another notice describing that process. At the end of the Commission's 
review process, a final Commission order approving or denying a 
certificate will be issued.

David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-19985 Filed 8-8-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P