[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 118 (Tuesday, June 20, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35418-35419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9634]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[OE Docket No. PP-317]


Application for Presidential Permit; AEP Texas Central Company; 
Request To Rescind Presidential Permit; Comission Federal de 
Electricidad

AGENCY: Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of application; request for rescission.

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SUMMARY: AEP Texas Central Company (TCC) has applied for a Presidential

[[Page 35419]]

permit to construct, operate, maintain, and connect an electric 
transmission line across the U.S. border with Mexico. In the same 
application, Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the national 
electric utility of Mexico, has requested a rescission of Presidential 
Permit No. PP-57.

DATES: Comments, protests, or requests to intervene must be submitted 
on or before July 20, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Comments, protests, or requests to intervene should be 
addressed as follows: Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy 
Reliability (OE-20), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence 
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-0350.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Russell (Program Office), 202-
586-9624 or Michael T. Skinker (Program Attorney), 202-586-2793.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The construction, operation, maintenance, 
and connection of facilities at the international border of the United 
States for the transmission of electric energy between the United 
States and a foreign country is prohibited in the absence of a 
Presidential permit issued pursuant to Executive Order (EO) 10485, as 
amended by EO 12038.
    On January 24, 1975, the Federal Power Commission, predecessor 
agency of the Department of Energy, in Docket No. E-8057, now 
Presidential Permit No. PP-57, authorized CFE to construct, operate, 
maintain, and connect a 138,000-volt (138-kV) electric transmission 
line across the U.S.-Mexico international border in the vicinity of 
Loredo, Texas.
    On June 12, 2006, American Electric Power Service Corporation 
(AEPSC), acting as the agent for TCC, formerly doing business as 
Central Power and Light Company (CPL), filed an application with the 
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) of the 
Department of Energy (DOE) for a Presidential permit. TCC proposes to 
construct a double circuit 230,000-volt (230-kV) electric transmission 
line across the U.S.-Mexico international border. In the same 
application CFE requests DOE rescind Presidential Permit No. PP-57 if 
the TCC-requested permit is issued.
    The existing international transmission facilities authorized in 
Presidential Permit No. PP-57 consist of a single-circuit 138-kV 
transmission line that originates at TCC's existing Laredo Power Plant 
Station, in Laredo, Texas. The facilities continue west approximately 
0.3 miles to the Rio Grande River, the U.S.-Mexico international 
border, and continue to CFE's Ciudad Industrial Station in Laredo 
Nuevo, Mexico. In its application TCC proposes construct a new 230-kV 
circuit between the Laredo Power Plant and the CFE system and to 
rebuild and convert the existing 138-kV facilities to a 230-kV 
transmission circuit to be operated initially at 138-kV. The proposed 
double circuit facilities are to be operated as an asynchronous tie 
using a Variable Frequency Transformer (VFT). The VFT equipment would 
convert the interconnection with CFE from a block-over synchronous 
radial feed configuration to a continuous asynchronous connection. The 
proposed facilities would be constructed on steel monopole structures 
and would be sited along the center-line of the existing right-of-way. 
The existing wood transmission structures would be replaced with 
approximately four steel monopole structures. All facilities and 
equipment to be constructed, including the VFT, would be placed within 
the existing fence of the Laredo Power Plant.
    TCC has indicated its intention to operate the proposed facilities 
as an open access transmission facility. If DOE were to grant the 
Presidential permit requested in OE Docket No. PP-317, it would 
simultaneously rescind Presidential Permit No. PP-57 issued to CFE.

Procedural Matters

    Any person desiring to become a party to this proceeding or to be 
heard by filing comments or protests to this application should file a 
petition to intervene, comment or protest at the address provided above 
in accordance with Sec. Sec.  385.211 or 385.214 of the FERC's Rules of 
Practice and Procedures (18 CFR 385.211, 385.214). Fifteen copies of 
each petition and protest should be filed with the DOE on or before the 
date listed above.
    Additional copies of such petitions to intervene or protests also 
should be filed directly with: Terri Gallup, Regulatory Case Manager, 
American Electric Power Service Corporation, 212 East Sixth Street, 
Tulsa, OK 74119-1295 and Carolyn Y. Thompson, Esq., Jones Day, 51 
Louisiana Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20001-2113A.
    A final decision will be made on this application after the 
environmental impacts have been evaluated pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and a determination is made by DOE 
that the proposed action will not adversely impact on the reliability 
of the U.S. electric power supply system. In addition, DOE must obtain 
the concurrence of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense 
before taking final action on a Presidential permit application.
    Copies of this application will be made available, upon request, 
for public inspection and copying at the address provided above. In 
addition, copies of the application can be obtained from Ms. Odessa 
Hopkins at 202-586-7751, or by e-mail at [email protected].

    Issued in Washington, DC, on June 14, 2006.
Ellen Russell,
Acting Director, Siting and Permitting, Office of Electricity Delivery 
and Energy Reliability.
[FR Doc. E6-9634 Filed 6-19-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P