[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 100 (Thursday, May 22, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29743-29744]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-11506]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

 [Project No. 12615-001]


Alaska Power & Telephone Company; Notice of Scoping Meeting and 
Soliciting Scoping Comments for an Applicant Prepared Environmental 
Assessment Using the Alternative Licensing Procedures

May 15, 2008.
    a. Type of Application: Alternative Licensing Procedures.
    b. Project No.: 12615-001.
    c. Applicant: Alaska Power & Telephone Company.
    d. Name of Project: Soule River Hydroelectric Project.
    e. Location: On the Soule River, tributary to Portland Canal, 
approximately 9 miles south of the community of Hyder, Alaska. The 
project would occupy approximately 1,112 acres of federal lands within 
the Tongass National Forest, administered by the U.S. Forest Service.
    f. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    g. Applicant Contact: Glen Martin, Project Manager, Alaska Power & 
Telephone Company, 193 Otto Street, P.O. Box 3222, Port Townsend, 
Washington 98368, (360) 385-1733 X 122, [email protected].
    h. FERC Contact: Matt Cutlip, phone at (503) 552-2762; e-mail at 
[email protected].
    i. Deadline for filing scoping comments: July 21, 2008.
    All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: 
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all 
intervenors filing documents with the Commission to serve a copy of 
that document on each person on the official service list for the 
project. Further, if an intervenor files comments or documents with the 
Commission relating to the merits of an issue that may affect the 
responsibilities of a particular resource agency, they must also serve 
a copy of the document on that resource agency.

[[Page 29744]]

    Scoping comments may be filed electronically via the Internet in 
lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filings. 
See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's 
Web site (http://www.ferc.gov) under the ``e-Filing'' link.
    j. The proposed project would consist of: (1) A 1,000-foot-long, 
160-foot-high concrete-faced, rock-fill dam; (2) an impoundment with a 
950-acre surface area at a full pool elevation of 550 feet mean sea 
level; (3) a 2.5-mile-long, 14-foot-wide access road from the dam to 
the marine access facilities, with a 100-foot-long bridge across the 
Soule River; (4) marine access facilities along the Portland Canal near 
the mouth of the Soule River; (5) an 18-foot-diameter 11,100-foot-long 
power tunnel; (6) a 50-foot by 120-foot powerhouse containing two 
Francis-type generating units, having a total installed capacity of 
75,000 kilowatts; (7) a tailrace within the tidewater area of the Soule 
River confluence with Portland Canal; (8) a 10.5-mile-long, 138 
kilovolt (kV) submarine cable and a 0.5-mile-long 138 kV overhead 
transmission line that would interconnect in Stewart, British Columbia 
with British Columbia Transmission Corporation's existing electrical 
transmission system; \1\ and (9) appurtenant facilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Only the portion of the transmission line that would be 
located in the United States is under the Commission's jurisdiction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    k. Scoping Process
    Alaska Power & Telephone Company (AP&T) is utilizing the 
Commission's alternative licensing procedures (ALP). Under the ALP, 
AP&T will prepare an Applicant-Prepared Environmental Assessment (APEA) 
and license application for the Soule River Hydroelectric Project.
    AP&T expects to file, with the Commission, the APEA and the license 
application for the Soule River Hydroelectric Project by June 30, 2009. 
Although AP&T's intent is to prepare an APEA, there is the possibility 
that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be required. 
Nevertheless, this meeting will satisfy the scoping requirements, 
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, 
irrespective of whether an EA or EIS is issued by the Commission.
    The purpose of this notice is to inform you of the opportunity to 
participate in the upcoming scoping meetings identified below, and to 
solicit your scoping comments.

Scoping Meetings

    AP&T and the Commission staff will hold two scoping meetings, one 
in the daytime and one in the evening, to help us identify the scope of 
issues to be addressed in the APEA.
    The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency concerns, 
while the evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input. All 
interested agencies, Indian tribes, individuals, and organizations are 
invited to attend one or both of the meetings, and to assist staff in 
identifying the environmental issues that should be analyzed in the 
APEA. The times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Daytime Meeting

    Tuesday, June 17, 2008, 9 a.m. (PST), Federal Building, 709 W. 9th 
Street, First Floor, Room 150, Juneau, Alaska.

Evening Meeting

    Thursday, June 19, 2008, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (PST), Public Library--
Hyder Community Center, Main Street, Hyder, Alaska,

Site Visit

    AP&T, Commission staff, and state and federal resource agencies 
will participate in an aerial tour of the project site on Thursday, 
June 19, 2008. Anyone with questions about the aerial tour should 
contact Glen Martin, AP&T, at (360) 385-1733 x122. Those individuals 
planning to participate in the aerial tour should notify Mr. Martin of 
their intent no later than May 19, 2008.
    To help focus discussions, Scoping Document 1 (SD1) was mailed in 
May 2008, outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the APEA to 
the parties on the mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will be 
available at the scoping meetings. SD1 is available for review at the 
Commission in the Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the 
Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``eLibrary'' 
link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the 
docket number field to access the document. For assistance, contact 
FERC Online Support at [email protected] or toll-free at 1-
866-208-3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659.
    You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via e-mail of new filings and 
issuances related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, 
contact FERC Online Support.
    Based on all written comments received, a Scoping Document 2 (SD2) 
may be issued. SD2 will include a revised list of issues, based on the 
scoping meetings.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the APEA; 
(2) solicit from the meeting participants all available information, 
especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage 
statements from experts and the public on issues that should be 
analyzed in the APEA, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the APEA; and (5) identify those issues that 
require a detailed analysis, as well as those issues that do not 
require a detailed analysis.

Procedures

    The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and will become 
part of the formal record of the Commission proceeding for the project.
    Individuals, organizations, agencies, and Indian tribes with 
environmental expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the 
meetings and to assist AP&T and Commission staff in defining and 
clarifying the issues to be addressed in the APEA.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-11506 Filed 5-21-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P