[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 104 (Tuesday, June 1, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30364-30366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-12920]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service


Mt. Hood and Willamette National Forests, Oregon; Cascade 
Crossing Transmission Project

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement.

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SUMMARY: Portland General Electric (PGE), an independent investor-owned 
utility regulated by the Oregon Public Utility Commission, is proposing 
to construct, maintain, and operate a new electric transmission system 
consisting of approximately 210 miles of single- and double-circuit 500 
kilovolt (kV) transmission line from Boardman, Oregon to near Salem, 
Oregon. The proposed transmission line would cross Federal, Tribal, 
State, municipal, and private lands. Approximately 42 percent of the 
lands the transmission line would cross are administered by Federal 
agencies, including the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, 
Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Bureau of 
Reclamation.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of the analysis must be received 
by August 2, 2010. The draft environmental impact statement is expected 
August, 2011 and the final environmental impact statement is expected 
February, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Cascade Crossing Transmission Line 
Project; 1515 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 1022, Portland, OR 97201-5449. 
Comments may also be sent via e-mail to 
[email protected] or via facsimile to (888) 291-6460. 
The project Web site is located at http://www.CascadeCrossingProject.com.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such a way that they are useful to the Agency's preparation of 
the ETS. Therefore, comments should be provided prior to the close of 
the

[[Page 30365]]

comment period and should clearly articulate the reviewer's concerns 
and contentions.
    Comments received in response to this solicitation, including names 
and addresses of those who comment, will be part of the public record 
for this proposed action. Comments submitted anonymously will be 
accepted and considered, however.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristy Boscheinen at (503) 668-1645, 
by e-mail at [email protected], or by postal mail at 16400 Champion 
Way, Sandy, OR 97055.
    Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) 
may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Purpose and Need for Action

    On January 20, 2010, Portland General Electric (PGE) submitted an 
application for a special use permit to construct, operate, and 
maintain a 500kv transmission line across Forest Service-managed lands. 
On January 20, 2010 PGE also submitted an application for right of-way 
across BLM-managed lands. Under Section 501 of the Federal Land Policy 
and Management Act of 1976, there is a need for the Federal agencies to 
respond to applications for special use permits for rights-of-way.
    PGE's purposes for proposing this transmission line are to relieve 
congestion on the present electric grid, provide additional capacity 
for transmission (including power generated from future renewable 
energy projects), and alleviate reliability constraints. Also, PGE 
believes this project would help respond to the State of Oregon's 
Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires that the largest utilities 
and electricity service suppliers provide 15 percent of their power 
with renewable energy by 2015, 20 percent by 2020, and 25 percent by 
2025. Finally, PGE believes there will be an increase in demand for 
electricity in the future in its service area, and that this line would 
meet that demand.

Proposed Action

    PGE is proposing to construct, maintain, and operate a new electric 
transmission system consisting of approximately 210 miles of single- 
and double-circuit 500kV transmission line from Boardman, Oregon to 
near Salem, Oregon. The proposed transmission line would cross Federal, 
Tribal, State, municipal, and private lands. Approximately 42 percent 
of the lands the proposed line would cross are administered by Federal 
agencies including the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, 
Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of 
Reclamation, and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
    In addition to the 210-mile transmission line, PGE has also 
proposed the construction of three new substations, expansion of two 
existing substations, fiber optic signal regeneration stations 
associated with the ``smart'' grid communication system, and permanent 
roads which would be used to access the substations, regeneration 
stations, and transmission line towers. As proposed, the right-of-way 
for the new transmission line would be 250 feet wide. 176 miles of the 
new line would be immediately adjacent to existing transmission lines. 
The Cascade Crossing Transmission Project is independent of any 
particular new generation project, and no new generation sources are 
proposed as part of this project. PGE is proposing to acquire the 
necessary approvals, rights-of-way, easements and permits in order to 
have the transmission line in service (transmitting electricity) by 
2015.

Possible Alternatives

    Two alternate routes have been preliminarily identified, but it has 
not been determined if the alternate routes will be considered as 
alternatives during the environmental analysis. One alternate route 
would follow the Westwide Energy Corridor as it crossed National Forest 
lands, then follow the existing Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) 
transmission lines through National Forest lands. The second 
alternative would follow the existing BPA transmission lines through 
the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation and then through 
National Forest lands. Scoping will determine if the preliminarily 
identified alternate routes will be analyzed in detail or if they will 
be dropped from consideration. Scoping may also identify additional 
routes that may be considered as alternatives.

Lead and Cooperating Agencies

    The Forest Service is the lead Federal agency for the Cascade 
Crossing Transmission Project, pursuant to the October 2009 Memorandum 
of Understanding Among the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department 
of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Environmental 
Protection Agency, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, the Advisory Council on Historic 
Preservation, and the Department of the Interior, Regarding 
Coordination in Federal Agency Review of Electric Transmission 
Facilities on Federal Land. The Bureau of Land Management and the 
Oregon Department of Energy are cooperating agencies. The Forest 
Service has identified the Department of Defense, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation as additional potential 
cooperating agencies.

Responsible Official

    The responsible official is Gary L. Larsen, Forest Supervisor, Mt. 
Hood National Forest.

Nature of Decision To Be Made

    The Forest Service will sign a Record of Decision in cooperation 
with the other Federal land management agencies once the environmental 
analysis has been completed. The decision will be whether or not to 
issue a Special Use Permit and Right-of-way Grant to construct, 
operate, and maintain the Cascade Crossing Transmission Line across 
Federal lands. The decision will be subject to appeal under Forest 
Service appeal procedures at 36 CFR 215.
    Authorization of this proposal may require amendments to one or 
more Forest Service or BLM land use plans. By this notice, the Forest 
Service is complying with the optional appeal procedures of plan 
amendments under transition procedures of 36 CFR 219.35(b)(2000) and 
BLM is complying with requirements in 43 CFR 1610.2(c) to notify the 
public of potential amendments to land use plans. If a Forest Plan 
Amendment or a Resource Management Plan Amendment is necessary, USFS 
and BLM will integrate the land use planning process with the NEPA 
analysis process for this project.
    The Energy Facility Siting Council (EFSC) has received notice from 
PGE that PGE intends to apply for a Site Certificate. Oregon Department 
of Energy (ODOE), as staff for EFSC, will analyze the application and 
will provide information to EFSC to determine whether the project meets 
the State standards required in order to issue a Site Certificate for 
the line to be constructed, operated, and maintained.

Scoping Process

    This notice of intent initiates the scoping process, which guides 
the development of the environmental impact statement. Five public 
scoping meetings will be held at the following locations, dates, and 
times:

[[Page 30366]]



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             Date and time                           Location
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Monday, June 21 4-7 p.m................  Maupin, South Wasco County High
                                          School, 699 4th St.
Wednesday, June 23 4-7 p.m.............  Oregon City, Oregon City High
                                          School, 19761 S. Beavercreek
                                          Rd.
Thursday, June 24 4-7 p.m..............  Salem, McKay High School, 2440
                                          Lancaster Dr., NE.
Tuesday, June 29 4-7 p.m...............  Mill City, Mill City Middle
                                          School, 450 SW. Evergreen
Thursday, July 1 4-7 p.m...............  Boardman, Port of Morrow
                                          County, 2 Marine Dr.
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    The scoping process will be conducted jointly with ODOE in order to 
reduce duplication with comparable State procedures.
    It is important that reviewers provide their comments at such times 
and in such manner that they are useful to the agency's preparation of 
the environmental impact statement. Therefore, comments should be 
provided prior to the close of the comment period and should clearly 
articulate the reviewer's concerns and contentions.

    Dated: May 17, 2010.
Gary L. Larsen,
Forest Supervisor.
[FR Doc. 2010-12920 Filed 5-28-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-11-M