[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 13 (Friday, January 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3279-3281]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-570]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Emergency Order To Resume Limited Operation at the Potomac River 
Generating Station, Alexandria, VA, in Response to Electricity 
Reliability Concerns in Washington, DC

AGENCY: Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of emergency action.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 10 CFR 1021.343, the U.S. Department of Energy is 
issuing this Notice to document emergency actions that it has taken, 
and to set forth the steps it intends to take in the future, to comply 
with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the matter 
described in this Notice.
    On August 24, 2005, Mirant Corporation, and its wholly owned 
subsidiary, Mirant Potomac River, LLC (collectively referred to herein 
as Mirant), ceased operations at its Potomac River Generating Station 
(the ``Plant'') in Alexandria, Virginia, after modeling that it 
conducted indicated that the Plant's operations were causing 
exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 
the Clean Air Act. On the same day, the District of Columbia Public 
Service Commission (DCPSC) filed with the U.S. Department of Energy 
(DOE or ``Department''), a petition for an emergency order pursuant to 
section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), asserting that the 
Plant's closure reduced the reliability of the electrical supply to 
much of the central business district of the District of Columbia, many 
federal institutions, the Georgetown area in DC, as well as other 
portions of Northwest DC, and the District of Columbia Water and Sewer 
Authority's Blue Plains Advanced Water Treatment Plant (collectively 
referred to herein as the ``Central DC area''), placing these 
electrical customers in risk of a blackout.
    After an exhaustive review of the facts, and consultation with 
Federal and state officials responsible for environmental compliance 
and the private entities responsible for electricity transmission, the 
Secretary of the Department of Energy on December 20, 2005, issued an 
emergency order (the ``Order'') directing the Plant's owner, Mirant, to 
generate electricity at the coal-fired Plant under certain, limited 
circumstances. The section below on ``Further Information'' includes 
information on how to obtain paper and electronic copies of the Order.
    In emergency situations such as this one, the Council on 
Environmental Quality (CEQ) Regulations Implementing the Procedural 
Requirements of NEPA at 40 CFR 1506.11 provide that a federal agency 
may take an action with significant environmental impacts without 
observing the provisions of the NEPA regulations associated with 
preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Instead, the agency 
should consult with CEQ to determine what alternative arrangements the 
agency will take in lieu of preparing a normal NEPA EIS. DOE has 
consulted with CEQ about alternative arrangements it will take in this 
matter and is publishing this notice to inform the public of those 
arrangements pursuant to DOE's NEPA regulations at 10 CFR 1021.343.
    Consistent with its consultation with CEQ, DOE will implement the 
following alternative arrangements: (1) Prepare a Special Environmental 
Analysis (SEA) that will examine the potential impacts from issuance of 
the order, and identify potential mitigation measures; (2) provide 
opportunities for public involvement by disseminating information 
related to the environmental effects of Mirant's operations and by 
accepting public comment on this notice, the compliance plan Mirant 
submitted to DOE, and the SEA; (3) continue consultations with 
appropriate agencies with regard to relevant environmental issues; and 
(4) identify in the SEA any steps that DOE believes can be taken to 
mitigate the impacts from its Order.

DATES: Comments on this notice and on issues to be addressed in the SEA 
should be submitted to DOE on or before February 21, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to: Lawrence Mansueti, 
Permitting, Siting, and Analysis Division, Office of Electricity 
Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE-20), U.S. Department of Energy, 
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0119; telephone: 
202-586-2588; fax: 202-586-5860; [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on this 
Notice, to obtain paper copies of the Order and compliance plan, to 
submit comments on the compliance plan, or for information on the 
emergency activities related to the Plant, contact Mr. Mansueti at the 
above address. In addition, all publicly available documents, including 
the Order and compliance plan, are available on DOE's Web site for this 
matter at http://www.electricity.doe.gov/about/dcpsc_docket.cfm or via 
hyperlinks from that Web site (referred to herein as the ``Mirant 
matter Web site''). Copies of the SEA will also be available on the DOE 
NEPA Web site at http://www.eh.doe.gov/nepa/.
    For information on the DOE NEPA process, please contact: Carol M. 
Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-42), U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 
20585-0119; telephone: 202-586-4600; fax: 202-586-7031; or leave a 
toll-free message at: 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Procedural Background

    On August 19, 2005, Mirant submitted to the Virginia Department of 
Environmental Quality (DEQ) a computerized emissions modeling study 
Mirant had conducted of its Plant that indicated that emissions from 
the Plant caused or contributed to significant localized exceedances of 
the NAAQS. Also on August 19, 2005, DEQ issued a letter to Mirant which 
requested ``that Mirant immediately undertake such action as is 
necessary to ensure protection of human health and the environment, in 
the area surrounding the Potomac River Generating Station, including 
the potential reduction of levels of operation, or potential shut down 
of the facility.'' (emphasis in original). On August 24, 2005, Mirant 
shut down all five of the generating units at the Plant, and on the 
same day, the District of Columbia Public Service

[[Page 3280]]

Commission (DCPSC) filed an Emergency Petition and Complaint with DOE 
and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pursuant to the 
Federal Power Act (FPA). The DCPSC requested the Secretary of Energy to 
find that an emergency existed under section 202(c) of the FPA and to 
issue an order directing Mirant to continue operation of the Plant. The 
basis for the petition was that the shutdown of the Plant ``* * * will 
have a drastic and potentially immediate effect on the electric 
reliability in the greater Washington, DC, area and could expose 
hundreds of thousands of consumers, agencies of the Federal Government 
and critical federal infrastructure to curtailments of electric 
service, load shedding and, potentially, blackouts.'' On September 20, 
2005, Mirant restarted its unit number one on an 8/8/8 basis--that is, 
in any given 24-hour period, the unit runs for eight hours at its 
maximum level of 88 MW, eight hours at its minimum level of 35 MW, and 
has eight hours when it does not run. DOE has been informed that both 
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and DEQ acknowledge that 
the operation of this unit in this manner does not result in any 
modeled NAAQS exceedances.

Electricity Reliability

    The coal-fired Mirant Plant consists of five generating units, two 
of which are cycling units that range in output from 35 MW to 88 MW, 
and three of which are baseload units that range in output from 35 MW 
to 102 MW. The Plant is one of only three sources of electricity to the 
Central DC area. The other two sources are two 230,000-volt (230 kV) 
transmission lines that deliver electricity from other generating 
sources in the regional electric grid operated by PJM Interconnection 
(PJM). Although there are other generating units in close physical 
proximity to the Central DC area, there are no transmission lines that 
would allow delivery of power from these other units to reach the 
Central DC area. Under North American Electric Reliability Council 
(NERC) standards, at a minimum, the power system must carry at least 
enough contingency reserves of electricity to cover the most severe 
single contingency. The standards require that an area's system always 
be operated with sufficient reserves to compensate for the sudden 
failure of the area's most important single generator or transmission 
line. Based on the fact that the Central DC area has only three sources 
of supply, the Plant and the two 230 kV transmission lines, in order to 
maintain a minimally reliable electric power system, the Plant must be 
available to run when one of the 230 kV lines is out of service, 
because if the remaining line failed there would be no other source of 
electricity to serve the Central DC area load.
    The outage of one of these two lines is not merely a theoretical 
possibility. Since 2000, there have been 34 one-line outages for 
maintenance, and seven occasions where one of the lines has failed 
unexpectedly. DOE has been informed that, prior to 2000, there were two 
occasions when both of the lines failed simultaneously. Moreover, just 
days before issuance of the Order, PJM informed DOE on December 16, 
2005, that on the previous night, ``one of the two circuits critical to 
providing service to the District tripped. Continued [electric] service 
to certain load within the District was at that time entirely dependent 
on the remaining circuit.'' Fortunately, full service to the line that 
failed was restored by the morning of December 16, 2005. Nonetheless, 
there can be no assurance that the Central DC area would be so lucky 
next time. In addition, the Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) 
informed DOE that it needed to perform maintenance on the lines in 
January of 2006.

The Order

    On December 20, 2005, DOE found that in the circumstances 
presented, an emergency existed within the meaning of section 202(c) of 
the FPA because of the reasonable possibility an outage would occur 
that would cause a blackout, the number and importance of facilities 
and operations in our Nation's Capital that would be potentially 
affected by such a blackout, the extended number of hours of any 
blackout that might in fact occur, and the fact that the current 
situation violated applicable reliability standards. PEPCO has applied 
to the DCPSC to construct two additional 230 kV lines that would supply 
electricity to the Central DC area and in the same application, 
proposed building two new 69kV lines to supply the Blue Plains 
wastewater treatment plant. Once completed, these lines will likely 
provide a high level of electricity reliability in the Central DC area, 
even in the absence of production from the Plant. However, it will 
likely take 18-24 months to construct the new lines.
    Based on this finding, on December 20, 2005, DOE issued an Order 
requiring Mirant to, among other things, (1) operate the Plant to 
produce the amount of power (up to its full capabilities) needed to 
meet demand in the Central DC area during any period in which one or 
both of the 230kV lines serving the Central DC area is out of service 
as specified by PJM for the duration of the outage, and (2) keep as 
many generating units in operation and take all other measures to 
reduce the start-up time of units not in operation, for the purpose of 
providing electricity reliability, as feasible, as determined by DOE 
after consideration of the plan submitted by Mirant pursuant to the 
Order and after consultation with EPA, without regard to cost, and 
without causing or significantly contributing to any exceedance of the 
NAAQS. A blackout in the Central DC area would have drastic impacts on 
the environment, as well as for the employees and citizens of the 
Central DC area, affecting hundreds of thousands of residents and 
workers, as well as public safety and protection facilities, including 
hospitals, police, and fire facilities. In addition, DOE has been 
informed that within 24 hours of a blackout in the Central DC area, 
untreated sewage from the Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment plant would 
be discharged into the Potomac River.
    The time period for DOE's Order extends through October 1, 2006.

Mirant's Compliance Plan

    Pursuant to DOE's Order, Mirant submitted a compliance plan 
(referred to as the Operating Plan by Mirant) on December 30, 2005. The 
plan outlines a proposed temporary phase, and two options for a 
proposed intermediate phase, Option A and Option B. All proposals 
include the use of ``trona'' (sodium sesquicarbonate, a naturally 
occurring substance similar to baking soda) and/or lower sulfur coal to 
manage air emissions. On January 4, 2006, DOE authorized Mirant to 
``immediately take the necessary steps to implement Option A of the 
intermediate phase proposed in the implementation plan,'' stating that 
``Mirant represents that implementation of this option will produce no 
NAAQS exceedences.'' DOE will work with EPA to verify the accuracy of 
that representation. DOE is still in the process of reviewing the other 
proposals described in Mirant's compliance plan in consultation with 
EPA.

NEPA Compliance Actions

    Pursuant to CEQ regulations at 40 CFR 1506.11, DOE consulted with 
CEQ on December 20, 2005, December 22, 2005, January 13, 2006, and 
January 17, 2006, about formulating a plan for alternative 
arrangements. Under the agreed upon alternative arrangements plan, 
which will expire October 1, 2006, unless extended, DOE will:

[[Page 3281]]

    1. Prepare a Special Environmental Analysis (SEA). The SEA will 
examine potential impacts resulting from issuance of the Order, and 
describe further DOE decisionmaking regarding reasonable future 
alternatives and potential further mitigation actions DOE may take in 
this matter. The analysis will present reasonably foreseeable impacts 
from possible changes in operations of the Plant over the time until 
two additional transmission lines planned by PEPCO are installed. DOE 
intends to issue its SEA no later than August 2006 and will make it 
available to the public on the DOE NEPA and Mirant matter Web sites as 
well as announce its availability in the Federal Register. DOE will 
consider information contained in the SEA, and public input received on 
the SEA, in any future decisionmaking in this matter.
    2. Provide Opportunities for Public Involvement. DOE is currently 
accepting public comments on the compliance plan that DOE required 
Mirant to submit under the DOE Order. DOE also invites public comments 
on this Notice, as well as on issues to be addressed in the SEA. DOE 
will consider public input in determining appropriate mitigation 
measures and any additional actions DOE may take as DOE adaptively 
manages implementation of the Order. DOE will post on the Mirant matter 
Web site publicly available information (not exempt from disclosure 
under the Freedom of Information Act) regarding the environmental 
effects of ongoing or alternative operations of the Plant (e.g., 
reasonably available ambient air quality data and results of air 
quality modeling), that the Department receives from Mirant, EPA, and 
DEQ.
    3. Continue Agency Consultations. DOE will continue to consult with 
EPA and DEQ concerning information on emissions, modeling results, 
potential mitigation measures, and any changes to the operation of the 
Plant. EPA will act as a ``cooperating agency'' (see 40 CFR 1501.6 and 
1508.5) for purposes of providing reasonably available public 
information regarding the environmental effects of operations of the 
Plant to be disseminated via DOE's Mirant matter Web site and evaluated 
in the SEA.
    4. Identify Mitigation. DOE will identify in its SEA any steps that 
it believes can be taken to mitigate the impacts from its Order. DOE 
will continue to track the impacts of its Order and public input and 
provide for appropriate mitigation where practicable. DOE will publish 
on its Web sites, as noted above, its discussion of which mitigation 
measures are adopted for any future decision, and if not, why they are 
not adopted.
    DOE may modify, in consultation with CEQ, the foregoing alternative 
arrangements as conditions warrant and will notify the public in the 
Federal Register if it does so.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on January 18, 2006.
John Spitaleri Shaw,
Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety and Health.
[FR Doc. 06-570 Filed 1-19-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P