[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 166 (Wednesday, August 27, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51569-51571]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21885]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[Docket No. PP-229]


Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
and Public Hearings for the Proposed Tucson Electric Power Company 
(TEP) Sahuarita-Nogales Transmission Line

AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearings.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of 
the ``Tucson Electric Power Company (TEP) Sahuarita-Nogales 
Transmission Line Draft Environmental Impact Statement'' (DOE/EIS-0336) 
for public review and comment. DOE also announces four public hearings 
on the Draft EIS. The Draft EIS was prepared pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et 
seq., the Council on Environmental Quality NEPA regulations, 40 CFR 
parts 1500-1508, and the DOE NEPA regulations, 10 CFR part 1021. The 
Draft EIS evaluates the environmental impacts of the proposed action of 
granting a Presidential permit for the proposed project and reasonable 
alternatives, including the ``No Action'' alternative of denying the 
permit. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management 
(BLM), and the U.S. Section of the International Boundary and Water 
Commission (USIBWC) are cooperating agencies in the preparation of this 
Draft EIS.

DATES: DOE invites interested Members of Congress, state and local 
governments, other Federal agencies, American Indian tribal 
governments, organizations, and members of the public to provide 
comments on the Draft EIS. The public comment period started with the 
publication in the Federal Register by the Environmental Protection 
Agency of the ``Notice of Availability'' of the Draft EIS on August 22, 
2003, and will continue until October 14, 2003. Written and oral 
comments will be given equal weight, and DOE will consider all comments 
received or postmarked by that date in preparing the Final EIS. 
Comments received or postmarked after that date will be considered to 
the extent practicable.
    Dates for the public hearings are:

1. September 25, 2003, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Green Valley, Arizona
2. September 25, 2003, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Green Valley, Arizona
3. September 26, 2003, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Nogales, Arizona
4. September 26, 2003, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Nogales, Arizona

    Requests to speak at a specific public hearing should be received 
by Dr. Jerry Pell as indicated in the ADDRESSES section below on or 
before September 15, 2003. Requests to speak may also be made at the 
time of registration for the hearing(s). However, persons who have 
submitted advance requests to speak will be given priority if time 
should be limited during the meeting.

ADDRESSES: Requests to speak at the public hearings should be addressed 
to: Dr. Jerry Pell, Office of Fossil Energy (FE-27), U.S. Department of 
Energy, Washington DC 20585, or transmitted by phone: 202-586-3362, 
facsimile: 202-318-7761, or electronic mail at [email protected]. 
Please be aware that anthrax screening delays conventional mail 
delivery to DOE.
    The locations of the public hearings are:
    1. Both hearings on September 25, 2003, will be held at the Santa 
Rita Springs Facility, Green Valley Recreation Department, 921 W. Via 
Rio Fuerte, Green Valley, Arizona 85614-5711.
    2. Both hearings on September 26, 2003, will be held in the County 
Board Hearing Room, Santa Cruz County Office Building, 2150 N. Congress 
Drive, Nogales, Arizona 85621.
    Copies of the Draft EIS are available as (a) the Summary in paper 
format, accompanied by a CD-ROM that includes the entire Draft EIS, (b) 
the entire Draft EIS in paper format, accompanied by the CD-ROM, or (c) 
the CD-ROM only; requests for any of these should be addressed to Dr. 
Pell at any of the addresses above. Additionally, the Draft EIS is 
available on the Internet at http://www.ttclients.com/tep.
    Written comments on the Draft EIS may be addressed to Dr. Jerry 
Pell as indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this notice or submitted 
on the project Web site at http://www.ttclients.com/tep.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the proposed 
project or to receive a copy of the Draft EIS, contact Dr. Pell as 
indicated in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
    For general information on the DOE NEPA process, contact: Carol M. 
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000

[[Page 51570]]

Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, Phone: 202-586-4600 or 
leave a message at 800-472-2756; Facsimile: 202-586-7031.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    Executive Order (E.O.) 10485, as amended by E.O. 12038, requires 
that a Presidential permit be issued by DOE before electric 
transmission facilities may be constructed, maintained, operated, or 
connected at the U.S. international border. The E.O. provides that a 
Presidential permit may be issued after a finding that the proposed 
project is consistent with the public interest. In determining 
consistency with the public interest, DOE considers the impacts of the 
project on the reliability of the U.S. electric power system and on the 
environment. The regulations implementing the E.O. have been codified 
at 10 CFR 205.320-205.329. Issuance of the permit indicates that there 
is no Federal objection to the project, but does not mandate that the 
project be completed.
    On August 17, 2000, TEP, a regulated public utility, filed an 
application for a Presidential permit with the Office of Fossil Energy 
of DOE and, on May 18, 2001, supplemented its application with its 
March 1, 2001 application to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) 
for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility. TEP proposes to 
construct two 345,000-volt (345-kV) transmission circuits on a single 
set of support structures across the U.S. international border in the 
vicinity of Nogales, Arizona. Both circuits would originate at TEP's 
existing South Substation located approximately 15 miles south of 
Tucson in the vicinity of Sahuarita, Arizona, and 1.4 miles east of 
Interstate Highway 19 (I-19), south of Pima Mine Road, in Pima County, 
Arizona. Near the U.S. international border, the proposed transmission 
lines would interconnect with the Citizens Communications system at the 
proposed Gateway Substation that would be constructed just west of 
Nogales, Arizona. South of the border, TEP would extend the line 
approximately 60 miles to the Santa Ana Substation, located in the City 
of Santa Ana, Sonora, Mexico, and owned by the Comisi[oacute]n Federal 
de Electricidad (CFE), the national electric utility of Mexico.
    On July 10, 2001, DOE published in the Federal Register (66 FR 
35950) a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS for the proposed 
project. The NOI informed the public of the proposed scope of the EIS, 
solicited public participation in the scoping process, and announced 
public scoping meetings that were held on July 30, 2001, in Sahuarita, 
Arizona, and on July 31, 2001, in Rio Rico, Arizona. The public scoping 
period initially closed on August 9, 2001, but then was extended to 
August 31, 2001 (Federal Register Notice of July 27, 2001, 66 FR 
39154). Comments received during the public scoping process were used 
in preparing the Draft EIS.

Action Alternatives Considered

    The action alternatives developed for the proposed project focus on 
alternative routes to interconnect TEP's South Substation with the 
proposed Gateway Substation. TEP's evaluation of interconnection 
schemes, scoping comments, and discussions with DOE resulted in three 
potentially viable alternative corridors for transmission 
interconnection in southern Arizona: the Western Corridor (the 
applicant's Preferred Alternative), the Central Corridor, and the 
Crossover Corridor. The Crossover Corridor was included for analysis in 
this Draft EIS based on public and tribal input received during the 
public scoping period and tribal consultations. Another alternative, 
the Eastern Corridor, was originally proposed by TEP but was eliminated 
from analysis as a reasonable alternative in this Draft EIS at TEP's 
request for reasons of reliability, constructability, existing 
encroachment into the right-of-way, and visual impacts.
    NEPA requires the identification of the agency's preferred 
alternative or alternatives in a Draft EIS if one or more exists or, if 
one does not yet exist at the draft stage, in the Final EIS, 40 CFR 
part 1502.14(e). DOE reported in the NOI (see above) that TEP's 
Preferred Alternative is the Western Corridor. In light of TEP's 
preference and the ACC's decision to site TEP's proposed line only 
along the Western Corridor, DOE has designated the Western Corridor as 
DOE's preferred alternative at this time. DOE welcomes comments on this 
designation. The cooperating agencies have not designated their 
respective preferred alternatives at this time but will do so after 
their review of environmental information is completed. Identification 
of a preferred alternative in the Draft EIS does not preclude selection 
of a different or modified preferred alternative in the Final EIS. The 
final selection of preferred alternatives will be based on a balanced 
evaluation of the environmental consequences, public comment, and 
consideration of national policies.

No Action Alternative

    The Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations require 
that an agency ``include the alternative of no action'' as one of the 
alternatives it considers, 40 CFR 1502.14(d). For DOE and the 
cooperating agencies, ``no action'' means any one of the Federal 
agencies declining to grant approval for their area of jurisdiction. 
Each agency will make its own decision independently, so that it is 
possible that one or more agencies could grant permission for the 
proposal while another could deny permission.
    The Draft EIS analyzes the potential environmental effects, or 
impacts, of TEP constructing and operating the proposed project in one 
of the three alternative transmission corridors, and also analyzes the 
No Action Alternative. CEQ's regulations require that an EIS contain a 
description of the environmental effects (both positive and negative) 
of the proposed alternatives. The regulations also distinguish between 
direct and indirect effects (40 CFR 1508.8). Direct effects are caused 
by an action and occur at the same time and place as the action. 
Indirect effects are reasonably foreseeable effects caused by the 
action that occur later in time or farther in distance. Both direct and 
indirect effects are addressed in the Draft EIS. CEQ's regulations also 
require that an EIS contain a description of the cumulative impacts of 
the proposed alternatives (40 CFR 1508.7). CEQ's regulations define 
cumulative impacts as those that result from the incremental impact of 
an action when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable 
future actions, regardless of what agency or person undertakes such 
other actions. Cumulative impacts are addressed in the Draft EIS.
    The Draft EIS presents information on the potential environmental 
effects of both the proposed transmission line construction and 
subsequent operation on land use and recreation, visual resources, 
biological resources, cultural resources, socioeconomics, geology and 
soils, water resources, air quality, noise, human health and 
environment, infrastructure, transportation, and minority and low 
income populations. The Draft EIS also includes a Floodplains and 
Wetlands Assessment, in accordance with E.O. 11988, Floodplain 
Management, and E.O. 11990, Protection of Wetlands.

Coronado National Forest Plan Amendment

    The Coronado National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, has identified 
the need for amendments to its Land and

[[Page 51571]]

Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) in order to implement any of the 
action alternatives identified in the Draft EIS. The amendments needed 
are for segments of all (three) action alternative corridor locations 
and for visual resources. The public comment period for the amendments 
will coincide with DOE's comment period. Comments on Forest Plan 
amendments should be sent to Mr. John M. McGee, Forest Supervisor, U.S. 
Forest Service, 300 West Congress, Tucson, Arizona 85701. Any inquiries 
regarding the Forest Plan or the amendments should be directed to the 
U.S. Forest Service.

Availability of the Draft EIS

    DOE has distributed copies of the Draft EIS to appropriate Members 
of Congress, state and local government officials in Arizona, American 
Indian tribal governments, and other Federal agencies, groups, and 
interested parties. Copies of the document may be obtained by 
contacting DOE as provided in the section of this notice entitled 
ADDRESSES. Copies of the Draft EIS and supporting documents are also 
available for inspection at the locations identified below:

    1. U.S. Department of Energy, Freedom of Information Reading Room, 
Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, 
Washington, DC 20585.
    2. Coronado National Forest, Federal Building, 300 West Congress 
Street, 5th Floor, Room 5H, Tucson, AZ 85701 (phone 520-670-4527).
    3. Nogales Ranger District, 303 Old Tucson Road, Nogales, AZ 85621 
(phone 520-281-2296).
    4. Rio Rico Public Library, 1060 Yavapai Drive, Rio Rico, AZ 85648 
(phone 520-281-8067).
    5. Tubac Community Library, 50 Bridge Road, Tubac, AZ 85646 (phone 
520-398-9814).
    6. Conrad Joyner-Green Valley Branch Library, 601 North La 
Ca[ntilde]ada Drive, Green Valley, AZ 85614 (phone 520-625-8660).
    7. Nogales-Santa Cruz County Public Library, 518 North Grand Ave., 
Nogales, AZ 85621 (phone 520-287-3343).

    Comments on the Draft EIS may be submitted to Dr. Jerry Pell (see 
ADDRESSES, above) or provided at the public hearings (see DATES, 
above). After the public comment period ends on October 14, 2003, DOE 
will consider all comments received, revise the Draft EIS as 
appropriate, and issue a Final EIS. DOE will consider the Final EIS, 
along with other information, such as electric reliability and national 
policy factors, in deciding whether or not to issue a Presidential 
permit.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 20th day of August 2003.
Anthony J. Como,
Deputy Director, Electric Power Regulation, Office of Coal and Power 
Import/Export, Office of Coal and Power Systems, Office of Fossil 
Energy.
[FR Doc. 03-21885 Filed 8-26-03; 8:45 am]
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