[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 29, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49697-49698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-17048]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service


Dry Fork Station and Hughes Transmission Project

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), 
an agency delivering the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 
Rural Development Utilities Programs, hereinafter referred to as Rural 
Development, is issuing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 
for the Dry Fork Station and Hughes Transmission Project. 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 1500-1508) and RUS regulations (7 CFR part 
1794).
    The purpose of the EIS is to evaluate the potential environmental 
impacts of and alternatives to the Basin Electric Power Cooperative, 
Inc. (Basin Electric) application for a Rural Development loan 
guarantee to construct and operate a coal-fired electric generation 
facility referred to as the Dry Fork Station, consisting of a single 
maximum net 385 Megawatt (MW) unit, at a site near Gillette, Wyoming, 
along with other proposed pollution controls collectively known as Best 
Available Control Technology (BACT). In addition, Basin Electric also 
proposes to construct and operate 136 miles of 230 kilovolt (kV) 
transmission line in Campbell and Sheridan counties, referred to as the 
Hughes Transmission Project. Basin Electric is not requesting a loan 
guarantee from Rural Development for this action. However, the Hughes 
Transmission Project is evaluated as a connected action for this EIS 
because the Dry Fork Station would interconnect with it if the Station 
is built.

DATES: With this notice, Rural Development invites 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. Rural Development will 
hold two (2) public

[[Page 49698]]

meetings, on September 25, 2007, at Sheridan College, Watt Agricultural 
Center, 3059 Coffeen Avenue, Sheridan, Wyoming 82801; and, on September 
26, 2007 at the CAM-PLEX Multi-Event Center, Central Pavilion, 1635 
Reata Drive, Gillette, Wyoming 82718.
    The public meetings will begin with an open house at 4:30 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 Section 1503.1, Inviting Comments, the purpose 
of the meeting will be to solicit comments from interested parties on 
the Draft EIS for the Dry Fork Station and Hughes Transmission Project.

ADDRESSES AND FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  To send comments or for 
more information, contact: Richard Fristik, USDA, Rural Development, 
Utilities Programs, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Mail Stop 1571, Room 
2240, Washington, DC 20250-1571, telephone (202) 720-5093, fax (202) 
690-0649, or e-mail: [email protected].
    A copy of the DEIS can be obtained or viewed online at http://www.usda.gov/rus/water/ees/deis-dfs.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 DEIS will also be available for public review during 
normal business hours at the following locations:
    Campbell County Public Library, 2101 South 4J Road, Gillette WY 
82718-5205, Phone: (307) 687-0009, FAX: (307) 686-4009.
    Wright Branch Library--Campbell County Public Library System, 305 
Wright Boulevard, Wright, WY 82732.
    Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library, 35 W. Alger Street, 
Sheridan, WY 82801.
    Clearmont Branch Library--Sheridan County Public Library, 1240 
Front Street, Clearmont, WY 82835, Phone: (307) 758-4331.
    Crook County Library, 414 Main Street, Sundance, WY 82729.
    Moorcroft Public Library--Crook County Library System, 105 East 
Converse, Moorcroft, WY 82721.
    Johnson County Library, 171 North Adams, Buffalo, WY 82834.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Basin Electric is a regional electric 
generation and transmission cooperative, a non-profit utility owned by 
its members. As such, it provides wholesale electricity and related 
services to 124 member systems in parts of Wyoming, North Dakota, South 
Dakota, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, and New Mexico. 
Basin Electric's service territory covers 430,000 square miles from the 
Canadian to the Mexican border. Under its charter, Basin Electric is 
required to meet the electric power needs of the cooperative member 
systems it serves. Due to the growing demand for power in the Powder 
River Basin (PRB), Basin Electric has determined that additional base 
load capacity is needed in the PRB.
    After considering various ways to meet those future needs, Basin 
Electric identified the construction of a new coal-fired power plant 
near Gillette, as its best course of action to meet its electric energy 
and related service needs. An Alternative Evaluation Study and Site 
Selection Study examined alternative means of responding to the 
identified purpose and need for the project. Multiple power generation 
technologies and potential sites were screened using various criteria, 
and those remaining were then evaluated in terms of cost-effectiveness, 
technical feasibility, and environmental soundness. A similar process 
was followed for the Hughes Transmission Project.
    Alternatives for power generation considered by Rural Development 
include no action, purchased power, load management, renewable energy 
sources, distributed generation, and alternative site locations. The 
three alternatives analyzed fully in the DEIS are the No Action 
Alternative, Proposed Action (Dry Fork Station at the Proposed Site, 
and the Hughes Transmission Line Proposed Alignment), and Alternative 
Action (building the power plant at the Alternative Site just over 1 
mile from the Proposed Site, and routing the transmission line along 
the Alternate Alignment).
    Under the No Action Alternative, the Dry Fork Station would not be 
constructed or operated to meet the projected 385-MW base load needs of 
Basin Electric; there would be no facilities constructed at either the 
Proposed or Alternative Sites. The Hughes Transmission Project, 
however, would still be constructed as Basin Electric is not requesting 
Rural Development funding for this action.
    Basin Electric proposes to construct and operate a (maximum net 
rating) 385 MW (422 MW maximum gross) base load coal-fired power plant 
and transmission line interconnection near Gillette, Wyoming. Basin 
Electric proposes to construct a facility in this area due to the 
proximity of the fuel source in the PRB and delivery of the power to 
its membership. Basin Electric is requesting Rural Development to 
provide financing for the proposed project.
    The transmission line would consist of approximately 136 miles of 
230-kV transmission line that will connect the Hughes Substation east 
of Gillette, Wyoming, to the Carr Draw Substation west of Gillette and 
a proposed substation northeast of Sheridan, Wyoming. The proposed 
schedule developed by Basin Electric would place the transmission line 
in operation by mid-2009, while the generating facility would be 
commercially operational by mid-2012.
    The Proposed Action would have adverse but non-significant impacts 
on soils, water, air, biological resources, noise, transportation, 
farmland and land use, visual resources, cultural resources, 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 Dry Fork Station Site and Alternative 
Hughes Transmission Line Alignment would result in broadly similar 
impacts to those of the Proposed Action, with a slightly increased loss 
of vegetation, including 120 acres of good quality sagebrush habitat at 
the alternative power plant site, and slightly increased noise impacts 
due to the Alternative Site's proximity to a residential property. 
Adverse but non-significant impacts of the Alternative Site include 
those on soils, water, air, biological resources, noise, 
transportation, farmland and land use, visual resources, cultural 
resources, human health and safety, and environmental justice. Impacts 
to some biological resources would be minimally increased due to the 
slightly greater length of the Alternative Hughes Alignment. The 
Alternative Action would also result in moderately beneficial 
socioeconomic impacts, including increased employment opportunities, 
total purchases of goods and services, and an increase in the tax base.

James R. Newby,
Assistant Administrator, Electric Program, USDA/Rural Development/
Utilities Programs.
 [FR Doc. E7-17048 Filed 8-28-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-15-P