[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 134 (Friday, July 13, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38559-38560]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-13299]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service


Norborne Baseload Plant: Notice of Availability of Final 
Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Final Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency delivering the 
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development 
Utilities Programs, hereinafter referred to as Rural Development, is 
issuing a Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Norborne 
Baseload Plant (Norborne Plant). The Final 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 
1500-1508) and RUS regulations (7 CFR 1794). The U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers is a cooperating agency for this Final EIS. Rural Development 
invites comments on the Final EIS.
    The purpose of the EIS is to evaluate the potential environmental 
impacts of and alternatives to the Associated Electric Cooperative, 
Inc. (AECI) application for Rural Development financing to construct 
the proposed 660 megawatt (MW) net supercritical pulverized coal (SCPC) 
fired power plant in Carroll County, Missouri, near the town of 
Norborne. AECI also proposes to construct new and modified substations, 
approximately 134 miles of new 345-kV transmission lines, a utility 
waste landfill, new rail access from existing mainline railroads, and a 
water supply system consisting of groundwater wells and associated 
pipeline.

DATE: Written comments on this Final EIS will be accepted on or before 
August 9, 2007.

ADDRESSES: To obtain copies of the Final EIS or for further 
information, contact: Stephanie A. Strength, USDA, Rural Development 
Utilities Programs, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Mail Stop 1570, Room 
2244, Washington, DC 20250-1570, telephone (202) 720-0468, fax (202) 
720-0820, or e-mail: [email protected].
    A copy of the Final EIS has been sent to affected federal, state, 
and local government agencies and to interested parties and can be 
viewed online at: http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/ees/eis.htm.
    Copies of the Final EIS will also be available for public review at 
the following locations (hours vary; contact individual repositories 
for available times):

Boonslick Regional Library Sedalia Branch, 219 W. 3rd Street, Sedalia, 
MO 65301, Phone: 660/827-7323.
Boonslick Regional Library, 950 E. Main Street, Warsaw, MO 65355, 
Phone: 660/438-5211.
Cameron Public Library, 312 N. Chestnut Street, Cameron, MO 64429, 
Phone: 816/632-2311.
Carnegie Library, 316 Massachusetts Street, St. Joseph, MO 64504, 
Phone: 816/238-0526.
Carrollton Public Library, 1 N. Folger Street, Carrollton, MO 64633, 
Phone: 660/542-0183.
Concordia Library, 709 S. Main Street, Concordia, MO 64020, Phone: 660/
463-2277.
DeKalb County Public Library, 105 N. Polk Street, Maysville, MO 64469, 
Phone: 816/449-5695.
Dulany Memorial Library, 501 S. Broadway, Salisbury, MO 65281, Phone: 
660/388-5712.
Downtown Library, 927 Felix Street, St. Joseph, MO 64501, Phone: 816/
232-7729.
East Hills Library, 502 N. Woodbine Road, Suite A., St. Joseph, MO 
64506, Phone: 816/236-2136.
Hale Library & Museum, 321 Main Street, Hale, MO 64643, Phone: 660/565-
2617.
Lexington Library, 1008 Main Street, Lexington, MO 64067, Phone: 660/
259-3071.
Little Dixie Regional Library, 111 N. 4th Street, Moberly, MO 65270, 
Phone: 660/263-4426.
Macon Public Library, 210 N. Rutherford Street, Macon, MO 63552, Phone: 
660/385-3314.
Marshall Public Library, 214 N. Lafayette, Marshall, MO 65340, Phone: 
660/886-3391.
Maryville Public Library, 509 N. Main Street, Maryville, MO 64468, 
Phone: 660/582-5281.
Mid-Continent Public Library, Excelsior Springs Branch, 1460 Kearney 
Road, Excelsior Springs, MO 64024-1746, Phone: 816/630-6721.
Mid-Continent Public Library, Kearney Branch, 100 S. Platte-Clay Way, 
Kearney, MO 64060-7640, Phone: 816/628-5055.
Mound City Public Library, 205 E. 6th Street, Mound City, MO 64470, 
Phone: 660/442-5700.
Norborne Public Library, 109 E. Second Street, Norborne, MO 64668, 
Phone: 660-593-3514.
Oregon Public Library, 103 S. Washington Street, Oregon, MO 64473, 
Phone: 660/446-3586.
Ray County Library, 215 E. Lexington Street, Richmond, MO 64085, Phone: 
816/776-5104.
Rolling Hills Consolidated Library: Eastside, 1904 N. Belt Highway, St. 
Joseph, MO 64506, Phone: 816/232-5479.
Rolling Hills Consolidated Library: Savannah, 514 W. Main Street, 
Savannah, MO 64485, Phone: 816/324-4569.
Robertson Memorial Library, 19 W. 20th Street, Higginsville, MO 64037, 
Phone: 660/584-2880.
Sedalia Public Library, 311 W. Third Street, Sedalia, MO 65301, Phone: 
660/826-1314.
Sweet Springs Public Library, 217 Turner Street, Sweet Springs, MO 
65351, Phone: 660/335-4314.
Washington Park Library, 1821 N. Third Street, St. Joseph, MO 64505, 
Phone: 816/232-2052.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: AECI is contractually obligated to provide 
all the electric power needs of the cooperative member systems it 
serves and does not have the capacity to cost effectively meet all of 
its members' power needs beyond about 2013. More information on the 
purpose and need for the proposal is in Chapter 1 of the Final EIS.
    On August 10, 2005, Rural Development published in the Federal 
Register a Notice of Intent to prepare an

[[Page 38560]]

EIS for the Norborne Plant. The EIS focused on potential impacts to the 
following resources: Soils, topography and geology; water resources, 
air quality, biological resources, the acoustic environment, 
recreation, cultural and historic resources, visual resources, 
transportation, farmland, land use, waste management, human health and 
safety, the socioeconomic environment, environmental justice, and 
cumulative effects. On January 11, 2007, Rural Development published 
its Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS for the proposed project in 
the Federal Register. The 60-day comment period ended on March 12, 
2007. Several hundred comments were received on the Draft EIS; a 
comment/response summary is appended to the Final EIS.
    Alternatives evaluated in the Final EIS include: Power purchase 
agreements; energy conservation and efficiency; renewable non-
combustible energy sources (wind energy, solar energy, 
hydroelectricity, geothermal energy); renewable combustible energy 
sources (biomass, biogas, municipal solid waste); non-renewable 
combustible energy sources (natural gas combined cycle, microturbines, 
fuel cells, SCPC, circulating fluidized bed coal, integrated 
gasification combined cycle coal, oil), nuclear power, and adding 
capacity at an existing facility. Site screening and selection was an 
iterative process that began with identification of avoidance areas, 
then identifying eight potential sites that met various criteria 
including proximity to water supply and rail. Several same-site 
alternatives for railroad spur and transmission line alignments were 
evaluated.
    Alternatives assessed in detail include the: (1) No Action 
Alternative; (2) Proposed Action (construction/operation of the 
Norborne Plant); (3) Big Lake Site (construction/operation of a plant 
similar to the Norborne Plant but in a different location); and (4) 
integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) (a technology 
alternative). The No Action Alternative avoids most direct adverse 
environmental effects, but potentially entails a number of indirect and 
cumulative impacts associated with other generation sources from which 
AECI would have to purchase power if unable to generate its own. 
Potential impacts on floodplains, wetlands, public lands, recreation, 
visual resources, fisheries and wildlife, threatened and endangered 
species, cultural resources and environmental justice would be expected 
to be greater with the Big Lake Site than with the Norborne Site. Other 
impacts would be expected to be similar. Impacts associated with the 
use of IGCC would be expected to be similar to those of the Proposed 
Action. AECI's Proposed Action has been identified as Rural 
Development's Preferred Alternative.
    Rural Development has concluded that, with actions that have been 
incorporated into the Preferred Alternative to reduce or avoid impacts, 
no impacts of the Preferred Alternative meet the CEQ threshold criteria 
for significant impacts. Any final action by Rural Development related 
to the proposed project will be subject to, and contingent upon, 
compliance with all relevant federal, state and local environmental 
laws and regulations, and completion of the environmental review 
requirements as prescribed in the USDA Rural Utilities Services' 
Environmental Policies and Procedures (7 CFR part 1794).

    Dated: June 29, 2007.
James R. Newby,
Assistant Administrator, USDA/Rural Development/Utilities Programs.
 [FR Doc. E7-13299 Filed 7-12-07; 8:45 am]
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