[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 204 (Monday, October 22, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53430-53431]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-26506]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Proposed Wanapa Energy Center, Umatilla County, Oregon

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice advises the public that the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA), with the cooperation of the Confederated Tribes of the 
Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), intends to gather the information 
necessary for preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 
proposed lease to Wanapa Energy Center of up to 195 acres of land held 
in trust by the United States for the benefit of the CTUIR in Umatilla 
County, Oregon. The Williams Energy Marketing and Trading Company, 
CTUIR, the Eugene Water and Electric Board, the City of Hermiston and 
the Port of Umatilla intend to jointly build and operate the Wanapa 
Energy Center, an approximately 1,300 megawatt electric generation 
plant, on the property. The purpose of the proposed project is to 
conjointly help provide for the economic development of the CTUIR and 
for the power needs of the Pacific northwest. Details on the proposed 
project and its location are provided in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 
section. This notice also announces public scoping meetings to identify 
potential issues for inclusion in the EIS, distinguish those to be 
analyzed in depth, and eliminate from consideration those that are not 
significant.

DATES: Written comments on the scope and implementation of this 
proposal must arrive by November 21, 2001. The public scoping meetings 
will be held on November 5, 2001, and November 6, 2001, from 5 to 8 
p.m.

ADDRESSES: You may mail or hand carry written comments to Philip 
Sanchez, Superintendent, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Umatilla Agency, 
P.O. Box 520, Pendleton, Oregon 97801.
    The November 5, 2001, public hearing will be in Pendleton, Oregon. 
The November 6, 2001, public hearing will be in Hermiston, Oregon. 
Exact locations of the hearings will be determined at a later date and 
can be obtained from the FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT listed below.
    If you would like a map displaying the proposed project location, 
please contact Jerry L. Lauer, Natural Resource Officer, at the above 
Umatilla Agency address, telephone (541) 278-3790, or e-mail 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jerry L. Lauer, (541) 278-3790.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The EIS will assess the environmental 
consequences of BIA approval of a proposed lease between Wanapa Energy 
Center, the lessee, and the CTUIR, the lessor, of part of Lots 1, 2, 3, 
and 4, the South Half of the Southwest Quarter, Section 7, Township 5 
North, Range 29 East, Willamette Meridian, Umatilla County, Oregon. The 
property lies in western Umatilla County near McNary Dam on the 
Columbia River. The parties developing the Wanapa Energy Center plan to 
construct and operate the facility on this property.
    The proposed project has several components. They include an 
electrical connection at or near the Bonneville Power Administration's 
McNary Substation; a natural gas-fired, combined cycle, combustion 
turbine electric generation plant; a natural gas supply pipeline; a 
water supply pipeline; and a new electric power transmission line. All 
proposed facilities would be located within Umatilla County, Oregon.
    The proposed Wanapa Energy Center would be a combustion turbine, 
combined cycle electric power plant with a nominal generating capacity 
of 1,300 megawatts. It would consist of four essentially identical 
combustion turbine generators, four heat recovery steam generators 
(HRSG) and two steam turbines. Expanding gasses 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 steam turbines that drive their own electric 
generators. The combustion turbines would be fueled by natural gas from 
either the existing Williams pipeline or an existing PGT pipeline. The 
facility would interconnect in either case through a new, approximately 
ten mile gas supply lateral.
    Water to generate steam and cool the steam process at the plant 
would be supplied from the Port of Umatilla Regional Water Supply. A 
recirculation cooling system employing mechanically induced draft, 
evaporative cooling towers would be used. Water would be added to the 
cooling system to compensate for evaporative losses and blowdown. 
Blowdown is water bled from the cooling system to limit the build-up of 
salts.
    The proposed Wanapa Energy Center would deliver electric power to 
the regional power grid at BPA's McNary Substation, using a new high 
voltage transmission line crossing property owned by the Port of 
Umatilla.

Public Comment Solicitation

    As an alternative to submitting written comments regarding the 
scope of the EIS to the location identified in the ADDRESSES section, 
interested persons may instead comment via the Internet to 
[email protected]. Please submit Internet comments as an ASCII 
file, avoiding the use of special characters and any form of 
encryption. If you do not receive confirmation from the system that 
your Internet message was received, contact Philip Sanchez at (541) 
278-3786.
    Comments, including names and home addresses of respondents, will 
be available for public review at the BIA address shown in the 
ADDRESSES section, during regular business hours, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except holidays. Individual respondents may 
request confidentiality. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or 
address from public review or from disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of 
your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent 
allowed by law. We will not, however, consider anonymous comments. All 
submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

Authority

    This notice is published in accordance with section 1503.1 of the 
Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500 through 
1508), implementing the procedural requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 
and the Department of the Interior Manual (516 DM 1-6), and is in the 
exercise of authority delegated to the Assistant Secretary--Indian 
Affairs by 209 DM 8.


[[Page 53431]]


    Dated: October 4, 2001.
Neal A. McCaleb,
Assistant Secretary, Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 01-26506 Filed 10-19-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-02-P