[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 222 (Friday, November 18, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69962-69964]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-23002]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[OE Docket No. PP-305]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment and To 
Conduct Public Scoping Meetings and Notice of Floodplain and Wetlands 
Involvement; Montana Alberta Tie, Ltd.

AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental assessment and to 
conduct public scoping meetings.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intention to 
prepare an environmental assessment (EA) and to conduct public scoping 
meetings on an application for a Presidential permit to construct a new 
international transmission line that crosses the U.S.-Canada 
international border in northwest Montana. The EA will be prepared in 
compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 
applicable regulations, including DOE NEPA implementing regulations at 
10 CFR part 1021.
    Montana Alberta Tie, Ltd., (MATL) has applied to DOE's Office of 
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) for a Presidential 
permit to construct a 230,000-volt (230-kV) electric transmission line 
across the U.S. border with Canada, and to the State of Montana 
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a Linear Facilities 
construction permit. The proposed transmission line would originate at 
a new substation to be constructed northeast of Lethbridge, Alberta, 
Canada, cross the U.S.-Canada international border, and terminate north 
of Great Falls, Montana, at an existing 230-kV substation owned by 
NorthWestern Energy (NWE). The total length of the proposed 
transmission line would be 203 miles, with approximately 126 miles 
constructed inside the U.S. DOE and the State of Montana have decided 
to cooperate on the preparation of an EA that would be used for their 
respective planning and decisionmaking processes.
    With this Notice of Intent, DOE and the Montana DEQ invite public 
participation in the EA scoping process and solicit pubic comments for 
consideration in establishing the scope and content of the EA. Because 
the proposed project may involve an action in a floodplain or wetland, 
the EA will include a floodplain and wetlands assessment and floodplain 
statement of findings in accordance with DOE regulations for compliance 
with floodplain and wetlands environmental review requirements (10 CFR 
part 1022). The Montana DEQ must issue a certification pursuant to 
section 401 of the Federal Clean Water Act that any project-related 
activities will comply with water quality standards and issue permits 
for any discharges of pollutants to State waters.

DATES: DOE and the Montana DEQ invite interested agencies, 
organizations, and members of the public to submit comments or 
suggestions to assist in identifying significant environmental issues 
and in determining the appropriate scope of the EA. The public scoping 
period starts with the publication of this Notice in the Federal 
Register and will continue until January 3, 2006. In addition, DEQ will 
publish a notice on its Web site, in a press release, and also in 
Montana newspapers. Written and oral comments will be given equal 
weight, and DOE and DEQ will consider all comments received or 
postmarked by January 3, 2006 in defining the scope of this EA.

[[Page 69963]]

Comments received or postmarked after that date will be considered to 
the extent practicable.
    Dates, times and locations for the public scoping meetings are:
    1. December 5, 2005, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., 
Norley Hall, 208 N. Virginia Street, Conrad, Montana.
    2. December 6, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Missouri 
Room, Great Falls Civic Center, 2 Park Drive South, Great Falls, 
Montana.
    3. December 7, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., 917 East 
Railroad Street, Cut Bank, Montana.

ADDRESSES: Written comments or suggestions on the scope of the EA 
should be addressed to: Mrs. Ellen Russell, Office of Electricity 
Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE-20), U.S. Department of Energy, 
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0350; phone 202-
586-9624, facsimile: 202-586-5860, or by electronic mail at 
[email protected]. Comments should also be sent to Mr. Tom Ring, 
Facility Siting Program, Montana Department of Environmental Quality, 
P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 59620-0901, phone 406-444-6785, facsimile 
406-444-1499, or by electronic mail at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the proposed 
project or to receive a copy of the Pre-Approval EA when it is issued, 
contact Mrs. Russell or Tom Ring at the addresses listed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice. The MATL Presidential permit 
application, including associated maps and drawings, can be downloaded 
in its entirety from the DOE program Web site (http://www.FE.DOE.GOV; 
choose ``Electricity Regulation,'' then ``Pending Procedures''). The 
application before the Montana DEQ is available from DEQ's Web site at 
http://www.deq.state.mt.us/MFS/MATL/MFSAintroduction.pdf.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Need for Agency Action

DOE Presidential Permit

    Executive Order 10485, as amended by Executive Order 12038, 
requires that a Presidential permit be issued by DOE before electric 
transmission facilities may be constructed, operated, maintained, or 
connected at the U.S. international border. The Executive Order 
provides that a Presidential permit may be issued after a finding that 
the proposed project is consistent with the public interest and after 
favorable recommendations from the U.S. Departments of State and 
Defense. In determining consistency with the public interest, DOE 
considers the environmental impacts of the proposed project under NEPA, 
determines the project's impact on electric reliability (including 
whether the proposed project would adversely affect the operation of 
the U.S. electric power supply system under normal and contingency 
conditions), and any other factors that DOE may also consider relevant 
to the public interest. The regulations implementing the Executive 
Order have been codified at 10 CFR 205.320--205.329. Issuance of a 
Presidential permits indicates that there is no Federal objection to 
the project, but does not mandate that the project be completed.

Montana Department of Environmental Quality

    The Montana Major Facility Siting Act requires that a Certificate 
of Compliance (Certificate) be issued by DEQ prior to construction of a 
covered 230-kV transmission line more than 10 miles in length. A 
Certificate may be issued after DEQ finds and determines the basis of 
the need for the facility, the nature of the potential environmental 
impact, that the facility minimizes adverse environmental impact, and 
considers the state of available technology and the nature and 
economics of the various alternatives. Additional findings, for cases 
involving an electric, gas, or liquid transmission line or aqueduct 
are: (i) What part, if any, of the line or aqueduct will be located 
underground; (ii) is the facility consistent with regional plans for 
expansion of the appropriate grid of the utility systems serving the 
State and interconnected utility systems; (iii) will the facility serve 
the interests of utility system economy and reliability; (iv) does the 
location of the facility as proposed conform to applicable State and 
local laws and regulations (except that DEQ may refuse to apply any 
local law or regulation if it finds that, as applied to the proposed 
facility, the law or regulation is unreasonably restrictive in view of 
the existing technology, factors of cost or economics, the needs of 
consumers, whether located inside or outside the directly affected 
government subdivisions); (v) that the facility will serve the public 
interest, convenience, and necessity; (vi) that the Department or board 
has issued any necessary air or water quality decision, opinion, order, 
certificate, or permit; and (vii) that the use of public lands for 
location of the facility was evaluated and public lands were selected 
whenever their use is as economically practicable as the use of private 
lands. If a Certificate is issued, the transmission line would have to 
be constructed within 10 years.

Proposed Actions and Alternatives

    The proposed DOE action is to issue a Presidential permit to MATL 
and the proposed DEQ action is to issue MATL a Certificate of 
Compliance and any other required water and air quality permits. The 
DOE and MATL actions are for construction of a single 230-transmission 
line that would cross the U.S. international border directly north of 
Cut Bank, Montana, (west of Sweetgrass) and extend approximately 125 
miles into the U.S., terminating north of Great Falls, Montana, at an 
existing 230-kV substation owned by NWE. Between the U.S.-Canada border 
and Great Falls, the transmission line would also connect to an 
existing substation owned by Glacier Electric Cooperative in Cut Bank, 
Montana. A phase-shifting transformer would be installed at the 
substation in Lethbridge, Alberta, to control power flows between the 
two regions.
    The MATL transmission line project would connect the Alberta 
Interconnected Electrical System and NWE's transmission system. MATL 
has indicated that it intends to operate the proposed facilities as a 
merchant transmission line and make it available for third-party use. 
In addition, MATL asserts that the proposed transmission facilities 
would enable the development of new wind electric generation projects 
because the proposed line route passes through an area that has the 
potential for wind generation development.
    Three alternative corridors for constructing the proposed 
transmission line inside the U.S. have been identified: Route A, the 
MATL preferred corridor; Route B; and Route C. All three corridors 
cross the U.S.-Canada border approximately 26 miles north of Cut Bank, 
Montana, and extend south over the same route until approximately 2 
miles north of Cut Bank where they converge to skirt the community to 
the east and south. At the Glacier Electric Cooperative substation 
located approximately 1 mile west of Cut Bank, the alternatives diverge 
traveling over roughly parallel routes east of the Blackfoot Indian 
Reservation in a southeastward direction. Routes A and B roughly 
parallel NWE's existing 115-kV line along its entire distance to its 
tie-in to NWE's 230-kV substation north of Great Falls. Route C 
traverses to the east away from Routes A and B at a location 
approximately 9 miles southeast of Brady, Montana, and approximately 5 
miles north of the Teton River. Route C jogs directly east and south to 
take advantage of existing

[[Page 69964]]

north-south and east-west state highway and county road rights-of-way 
enroute to NWE's 230-kV substation. Major river crossings include those 
of the Marias approximately 10 miles south of Cut Bank, and the Teton, 
approximately 14 miles south of Brady, Montana.
    In addition to transmission line routes within the above proposed 
corridors, the EA will consider the environmental impacts of the ``No 
Action'' alternative. Under the No Action alternative DOE would not 
issue a Presidential permit and DEQ would not issue a Certificate of 
Compliance. DOE and DEQ will also consider any additional reasonable 
alternatives that result from comments received during the scoping 
period.
    However, not issuing the Presidential permit or Certificate would 
not necessarily imply maintenance of the status quo. MATL indicated its 
proposed action is to construct a merchant transmission line to improve 
the reliability of both the Alberta and Montana power transmission 
grids and to enable the development of new power generation projects in 
Alberta and Montana. MATL asserts that the proposed transmission 
facilities would enable the development of new wind electric generation 
projects because the proposed line route passes through an area that 
has tremendous wind generation potential. If the Presidential permit 
and Certificate are not issued and this proposed project is not built, 
other transmission facilities may be constructed in support of future 
wind development. The No Action Alternative will address the 
environmental impacts that are reasonably foreseeable to occur if the 
Presidential permit and Certificate are not issued.

Identification of Environmental Issues

    In the EA, DOE and DEQ will examine public health and safety 
effects and environmental impacts in the U.S. from the proposed 
transmission facilities. The EA will be prepared in accordance with the 
requirements of the Council on Environmental Quality NEPA Implementing 
Regulation (40 CFR parts 1500-1508) and DOE's NEPA Implementing 
Procedures (10 CFR part 1021). Because the project involves action in a 
floodplain, the EA will include a floodplain assessment and floodplain 
statement of findings in accordance with DOE regulations for compliance 
with floodplain and wetlands environmental review (10 CFR part 1022). 
Tribal governments and Federal, State and local agencies with special 
expertise or jurisdiction over the proposed project are being invited 
to become cooperating agencies on the EA.
    This notice is to inform agencies and the public of the proposed 
project and to solicit comments and suggestions for consideration in 
the preparation of the EA. To help the public frame its comments, this 
notice contains a preliminary list of potential environmental issues in 
the U.S. that DOE and MATL have tentatively identified for analysis. 
These issues include:
    1. Impact from development of wind generation resources;
    2. Impacts on farming;
    3. Impacts on protected, threatened, endangered, or sensitive 
species of animals or plants, or their critical habitats;
    4. Impacts on floodplains and wetlands;
    5. Impacts on cultural or historic resources;
    6. Impacts on human health and safety;
    7. Impacts on air, soil, and water;
    8. Visual impacts; and
    9. Socioeconomic impacts, and disproportionately high and adverse 
impacts on minority and low-income populations.

Scoping Process

    Interested parties are invited to participate in the scoping 
process both to refine the environmental issues to be analyzed and to 
identify the reasonable range of alternatives. Both oral and written 
comments will be considered and given equal weight by DOE and DEQ.
    Public scoping meetings will be held at the locations, dates, and 
times indicated above under the DATES and ADDRESSES sections. The 
scoping meetings will be structured as informal open houses. They will 
provide interested parties the opportunity to view proposed project 
exhibits, ask questions, and make comments. DOE, DEQ, and any 
cooperating agency representatives will be available to answer 
questions and provide additional information to attendees.
    DOE and DEQ invite those entities with jurisdiction by law or 
special expertise with respect to environmental issues to be 
cooperating agencies on the EA, as defined at 40 CFR 1501.6. 
Cooperating agencies have certain responsibilities to support the NEPA 
process, as specified at 40 CFR 1501.6(b).
    Persons submitting comments during the scoping process will receive 
copies of the Pre-Approval EA. Persons who do not wish to submit 
comments or suggestions at this time but who would like to receive a 
copy of the document for review and comment when it is issued should 
notify Mrs. Ellen Russell and also Tom Ring at the addresses provided 
above.

Pre-Approval EA Schedule and Availability

    The Pre-Approval EA is scheduled to be issued in the spring, 2006, 
at which time its availability will be announced in the Federal 
Register and public comments again will be solicited.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on November 16, 2005.
Anthony J. Como,
Director, Permitting and Siting, Office of Electricity Delivery and 
Energy Reliability.
[FR Doc. 05-23002 Filed 11-17-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P