[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 125 (Thursday, June 29, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37037-37038]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-5801]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service


Highwood Generating Station

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
and Notice of Public Meeting.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) 
is issuing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the 
Highwood Generating Station (HGS). The Draft EIS was prepared pursuant 
to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231 et 
seq.) in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 
regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 
parts 1500-1508) and RUS regulations (7 CFR part 1794). This document 
has been prepared jointly with the Montana Department of Environmental 
Quality (MDEQ), which has its own statutory mandates to analyze 
potential environmental impacts under the Montana Environmental Policy 
Act (MEPA) (75-1-101 et seq., MCA and ARM 17.4.601 et seq.) and to 
issue permits under the Montana Clean Air Act, Montana Clean Water Act, 
and Montana Solid Waste Management Act.
    The purpose of the EIS is to evaluate the potential environmental 
impacts of and alternatives to the Southern Montana Electric 
Transmission & Generation Cooperative, Inc. (SME) application for a RUS 
loan guarantee to construct a 250 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant 
near Great Falls, Montana. SME is proposing to use a coal combustion 
technology known as circulating fluidized bed (CFB), along with other 
proposed pollution controls collectively known as Best Available 
Control Technology (BACT). SME also proposes to construct and operate 
four, 1.5-MW wind turbines to generate supplemental electrical power at 
the preferred project location eight miles east of Great Falls.

DATES: With this notice, RUS and MDEQ invite any affected Federal, 
State, and local Agencies and other interested persons to comment on 
the Draft EIS. Written comments on this Draft EIS will be accepted for 
45 days following publication of the Environmental Protection Agency's 
notice of Availability for this Draft Environmental Impact Statement 
(DEIS) in the Federal Register.
    RUS and MDEQ will hold a public meeting on July 27, 2006, at the 
Great Falls Civic Center (Gibson Room), 2 Park Drive South, Great 
Falls, MT. The public meeting will begin with an open house at 5 p.m., 
followed by a public hearing starting at 7 p.m. The hearing will 
include a presentation summarizing the findings of the DEIS and the 
opportunity for attendees to submit both oral and written comments. In 
accordance with 40 CFR 1503.1, Inviting Comments, the purpose of the 
meeting will be to solicit comments from interested parties on the 
Draft EIS for the Highwood Generating Station.
    A copy of the Draft EIS can be obtained or viewed online at http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/ees/eis.htm. The files are in a Portable 
Document Format (.pdf); in order to review or print the document, users 
need to obtain a free copy of Acrobat[supreg] Reader[supreg] 
((copyright) 2003 Adobe Systems Incorporated). The Acrobat[supreg] 
Reader[supreg] can be obtained from http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html.
    Copies of the Draft EIS will also be available for public review 
during normal business hours at the following locations:

Montana State Library System, Attn: Roberta Gebhardt, P.O. Box 201800, 
Helena, MT 59620-1800. (406) 444-5393.

University of Montana at Missoula, 32 Campus Drive 59801, Mansfield 
Library, Missoula, MT 59812. (406) 243-6866.

Missoula Public Library, 301 East Main, Missoula, MT 59802-4799. (406) 
721-2665. FAX: (406) 728-5900.

Montana State University Libraries, P.O. Box 173320, Bozeman, MT 59717-
3320. Phone: (406) 994-3119. Fax: (406) 994-2851.

Great Falls Public Library, 301 2nd Ave., North, Great Falls, MT 59401-
2593. (406) 453-0349.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To send comments or for more 
information, contact: Richard Fristik, USDA, Rural Development, 
Utilities Programs, 1400 Independence Avenue, Mail Stop 1571, Room 
2237, Washington, DC 20250-1571, telephone (202) 720-5093, fax (202) 
720-0820, or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SME is an electric generation and 
transmission cooperative, a non-profit utility owned

[[Page 37038]]

by its members. As such, it provides wholesale electricity and related 
services to five electric distribution cooperatives and one municipal 
utility. SME's 58,000-square mile (150,220-square kilometer) service 
area encompasses 22 counties in two states--Montana and a very small 
area of Wyoming. Under its charter, SME is required to meet the 
electric power needs of the cooperative member systems it serves. 
Presently, SME meets all of its power requirements for its member 
systems by purchasing power from two Federal power suppliers--the 
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and the Western Area Power 
Administration. However, its major supplier (BPA) will begin to phase 
out its sales of power to SME in 2008, and terminate them entirely by 
2011. Thus, SME does not have the capacity to meet all of its members' 
power needs beyond roughly 2010.
    After considering various ways to meet those future needs, SME 
identified the construction of a new coal-fired power plant near Great 
Falls--the proposed HGS--supplemented with four wind turbines on the 
same site, as its best course of action to meet its electric energy and 
related service needs. An Alternative Evaluation Study and the DEIS 
examined a total of 26 alternative means of responding to the 
identified purpose and need for the project. These alternatives were 
evaluated in terms of cost-effectiveness, technical feasibility, and 
environmental soundness. Twenty-three alternatives were considered but 
dismissed from more detailed analysis on one or more of these grounds. 
The three alternatives analyzed fully in the Draft EIS are the No 
Action Alternative, Proposed Action (HGS at the Salem Site eight miles 
east of Great Falls), and Alternative Site (building the power plant at 
a designated industrial park closer to Great Falls).
    Under the No Action Alternative, the HGS would not be constructed 
or operated to meet the projected 250-MW base load needs of SME. There 
would be no facilities constructed at either the Salem or Industrial 
Park sites to meet the purpose and need.
    Under the Proposed Action, a 250-MW (net) generating station 
utilizing CFB technology to burn coal--the HGS--would be built and 
operated approximately eight miles east of Great Falls. In addition, 
four 1.5-MW wind turbines would be constructed and operated on the same 
site. Ash from coal combustion would be disposed of using approved 
means on-site. The Proposed Action would entail potentially significant 
adverse impacts on cultural and visual resources, because it is located 
on and adjacent to the Great Falls Portage National Historic Landmark. 
Other adverse but non-significant impacts of the Proposed Action 
include those on soils, water, air, biological resources, noise, 
transportation, farmland and land use, human health and safety, and 
environmental justice. The Proposed Action would result in moderately 
beneficial socioeconomic impacts, including increased employment 
opportunities, total purchases of goods and services, and an increase 
in the tax base.
    Utilizing the alternative Industrial Park Site would result in 
broadly similar impacts to those of the Proposed Action, but with some 
important distinctions. No wind turbines are proposed for the 
Industrial Park site. Due to space limitations at the Industrial Park 
site, ash from coal combustion would be hauled off-site to a licensed 
landfill for disposal. Adverse but non-significant impacts of the 
Alternative Site include those on soils, water, air, biological 
resources, noise, cultural resources, visual resources, transportation, 
farmland and land use, human health and safety, and environmental 
justice. Building and operating the proposed SME power plant at the 
Alternative Site would produce moderately beneficial socioeconomic 
impacts, including increased employment opportunities, total purchases 
of goods and services, and an increase in the tax base.

    Dated: June 22, 2006.
James R. Newby,
Assistant Administrator, Electric Program, Rural Development.
[FR Doc. 06-5801 Filed 6-28-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-15-P