[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 43 (Friday, March 5, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10229-10230]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4677]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[OE Docket No. PP-362]


Application for Presidential Permit; Champlain Hudson Power 
Express, Inc.

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

ACTION: Notice of application.

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SUMMARY: Champlain Hudson Power Express, Inc. (CHPEI) has applied for a 
Presidential permit to construct, operate, maintain, and connect an 
electric transmission line across the United States border with Canada.

DATES: Comments, protests, or requests to intervene must be submitted 
on or before April 5, 2010.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Jerry Pell (Program Office) at 
202-586-3362 or via electronic mail at [email protected], or Lot H. 
Cooke (Attorney-Adviser) at 202-586-0503 or via electronic mail at 
[email protected].

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 27, 2010, CHPEI filed an application with the Office of 
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability of the Department of Energy 
(DOE) for a Presidential permit. CHPEI is a joint venture of TDI-USA 
Holdings Corporation (TUHC), a Delaware corporation, and National 
Resources Energy, LLC (NRE). TUHC, the majority shareholder in CHPEI, 
is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transmission Developers Inc. (TDI), a 
Canadian Corporation. NRE is a wholly owned subsidiary of National RE/
sources Group, a limited liability corporation duly organized under the 
laws of the State of Connecticut.
    CHPEI proposes to construct and operate a primarily underground and 
submarine high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric transmission line 
that will originate at an HVDC converter station in Quebec, Canada, and 
ultimately terminate in Yonkers, New York, and Bridgeport, Connecticut.
    The proposed CHPEI project (the ``Project'') would be a 2,000-
megawatt (MW) HVDC Voltage Source Converter (VSC) controllable 
transmission system, comprising two 1,000-MW HVDC bipoles, each of 
which would include two submarine or underground cables connected as a 
bipole pair. Each bipole will at all times utilize its partner in the 
bipole pair as a metallic return. The ground will never be used as a 
return. In total, four cables would be laid between Quebec and the 
converter stations in New York City, where two will be terminated. The 
remaining two would continue to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
    From the U.S.-Canada border, the submarine transmission cables 
would be routed through Lake Champlain and travel south to the northern 
entrance of the Champlain Canal, near Whitehall, New York. To the 
extent practicable, the submerged cables would continue through the 
Champlain Canal to Fort Edward, where the canal joins the Hudson River. 
CHPEI expects that the transmission cables would exit the Champlain 
Canal near Lock C8, and the cables would be buried within a railroad 
ROW for a distance of approximately 69.9 miles (107.7 km). The cables 
would re-enter the Hudson River near the Town of Coeymans, downstream 
from the City of Albany, N.Y. South of Coeymans, the proposed alignment 
follows the Hudson River to the New York City metropolitan area.
    Two cables (one bipole) would terminate approximately 318.7 miles 
(512.9 km) south of the U.S.-Canada border at an HVDC converter station 
near Wells Avenue in Yonkers, New York. The remaining two cables would 
continue along the Hudson River to the entrance of Spuyten Duyvil 
Creek, and then follow a 65.8-mile-long (105.9 km) route through 
Spuyten Duyvil Creek, the Harlem River, and the East River into Long 
Island Sound before terminating at a converter station near 1 W Avenue 
in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
    Submarine or underground alternating current (AC) cables would 
transmit electricity from the converter stations to existing 
substations connected to the electrical grid. From the Yonkers 
converter station, 345-kV AC cables would re-enter the Hudson River and 
travel south along the East River, Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and the Harlem 
River for a distance of approximately 6.7 miles (10.8 km). The AC 
cables would terminate at the existing Consolidated Edison (ConEd) 
Sherman Creek/Academy substation, near the intersection of West 201st 
Street and 9th Street, in Manhattan.
    From the Bridgeport converter station, 345-kV AC cables would 
extend for a distance of approximately 150 feet (45.7 m) to the 
existing Singer substation, owned and operated by the United 
Illuminating Company.
    The applicant represents that the Project's precise final route 
would be subject to a number of factors, including resource issues, 
permitting, land acquisition, and stakeholder agreement. The 384.5-
mile-long (618.8 km) portion of the Project located within the United 
States would be owned and operated by the applicant.
    Since the restructuring of the electric industry began, resulting 
in the introduction of different types of competitive entities into the 
marketplace, DOE has consistently expressed its policy that cross-
border trade in electric energy should be subject to the same 
principles of comparable open access and non-discrimination that apply 
to transmission in interstate commerce. DOE has stated that policy in 
export authorizations granted to entities requesting authority to 
export over international transmission facilities. Specifically, DOE 
expects transmitting utilities owning border facilities to provide 
access across the border in accordance with the principles of 
comparable open access and non-discrimination contained in the Federal 
Power Act and articulated in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(FERC) Order No. 888 (Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open 
Access Non-Discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities; 
FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,036 (1996)), as amended. In furtherance of 
this policy, DOE invites comments on whether it would be appropriate to 
condition any Presidential permit issued in this proceeding on 
compliance with these open access principles.
    Procedural Matters: Any person desiring to become a party to this

[[Page 10230]]

proceeding or to be heard by filing comments on, 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 FERC's Rules of Practice and Procedures (18 CFR 385.211, 
385.214). Fifteen copies of each petition and protest should be filed 
with DOE on or before the date listed above.
    Additional copies of such petitions to intervene, comments, or 
protests should also be filed directly with Mr. Donald Jessome, 
President, Transmission Developers Inc., Pieter Schuyler Building, 600 
Broadway, Albany, New York 12207-2283.
    Before a Presidential permit may be issued or amended, DOE must 
determine that the proposed action is in the public interest. In making 
that determination, DOE considers the environmental impacts of the 
proposed project pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, determines the project's impact on electric reliability by 
ascertaining whether the proposed project would adversely affect the 
operation of the U.S. electric power supply system under normal and 
contingency conditions, and any other factors that DOE may also 
consider relevant to the public interest. Also, DOE must obtain the 
concurrences 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, by 
accessing the program Web site at http://www.oe.energy.gov/permits_pending.htm, or by emailing Odessa Hopkins at 
[email protected].

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 23, 2010.
Anthony J. Como,
Director, Permitting and Siting, Office of Electricity Delivery and 
Energy Reliability.
[FR Doc. 2010-4677 Filed 3-4-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P