[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 15 (Monday, January 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4147-4148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-1222]


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TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Putnam-Cumberland, TN--Improve Power Supply

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: This notice is provided in accordance with the Council on 
Environmental Quality's regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) and the 
Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) procedures for implementing the 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). TVA will prepare an 
environmental assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement 
(EIS) to address the potential environmental effects of proposed 
electrical power supply improvements in the Putnam and Cumberland 
region of east-central Tennessee. The purpose of the proposed project 
is to ensure the reliable transmission of electric power to meet 
increasing power demands in the project area.
    In its environmental review, TVA will evaluate the potential 
environmental impacts of the construction, operation, and maintenance 
of proposed new and upgraded power transmission facilities. TVA will 
develop and evaluate various alternatives, including the No Action 
Alternative, in the environmental review. Public comments are invited 
concerning both the scope of the review and environmental issues that 
should be addressed.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments on the scope and environmental 
issues must be postmarked or e-mailed no later than February 22, 2011. 
If TVA decides to prepare an EIS, a notice of availability of the draft 
document will be published in the Federal Register, and announcements 
will be placed in local news media.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Anita Masters, NEPA 
Compliance Manager, Tennessee Valley Authority, 1101 Market Street (LP 
5U), Chattanooga, Tennessee 37402-2801. Comments may be e-mailed to 
[email protected] or entered online at http://www.tva.gov/environment/reports/putnam/index.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher A. Austin, Civil Engineer, 
Tennessee Valley Authority, 1101 Market Street (MR 4G), Chattanooga, 
Tennessee 37402-2801; telephone: 800-362-4355; e-mail: 
[email protected]. Project information is available online at http://www.tva.gov/power/projects/putnam_cumb/index.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    TVA is an agency and instrumentality of the United States, 
established by an act of Congress in 1933, to foster the social and 
economic welfare of the people of the Tennessee Valley region and to 
promote the proper use and conservation of the region's natural 
resources. One component of this mission is the generation, 
transmission, and sale of reliable and affordable electric energy. TVA 
provides electric power to most of Tennessee and to parts of Virginia, 
North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky. TVA 
transmits this power over approximately 16,000 miles of transmission 
lines.
    TVA supplies bulk electric power to Cumberland and Putnam counties 
and the immediately surrounding areas in east-central Tennessee through 
an existing network of 26 161-kilovolt (kV) substations and 28 161-kV 
transmission lines. Population in this area has grown at a rate of 
almost 1.8 percent per year since 2000. TVA studies indicate that 19 of 
these substations will not meet acceptable voltage criteria by 2016, 
and the remaining seven substations will be unable to meet criteria by 
2019. Five of the 161-kV transmission lines are expected to become 
overloaded by summer 2016, and 11 more lines are likely to be 
overloaded by summer 2019. Long-range studies indicate that either the 
provision of a 500-kV source or extensive upgrades to existing 161-kV 
facilities will be required in the Putnam County and Cumberland County 
area by 2016 to meet anticipated power loads.

Proposed Alternatives

    TVA has identified three potential alternatives to meet the 
identified power supply needs. The first involves upgrading existing 
transmission lines in the area. This would require replacing conductors 
(i.e., ``wires'') on approximately 54 miles of transmission lines and 
performing other upgrades (e.g., resagging and retensioning conductors 
and increasing structure heights) on about 115 miles of transmission 
lines. Extensive equipment upgrades would be required at 11 161-kV 
substations.
    The second potential alternative involves the construction and 
operation of a new 500-kV substation in western Cumberland County near 
the existing Campbell Junction 161-kV Substation. The new substation 
would require an area of 60 to 80 acres. Under this option, TVA would 
acquire a 300-foot-wide right-of-way, then construct, operate, and 
maintain two new parallel 500-kV transmission line connections from the 
new substation to the TVA Roane-Wilson 500-kV Transmission Line. The 
length of the new lines would likely be less than 2 miles. In addition, 
following acquisition of a 100-foot-wide right-of-way,TVA would 
construct, operate, and maintain two new 161-kV transmission line 
connections on a double-circuit line (i.e., a line consisting of two 
sets of conductors located on common structures) from the new 500-kV 
substation to the existing TVA Monterey-Peavine 161-kV Transmission 
Line. The new connections would likely be less than a mile long. New 
substation equipment would be installed in the Jamestown, Tennessee, 
area under this option.

[[Page 4148]]

    The third alternative involves construction of a new 500-kV 
substation in Putnam County southwest of Cookeville on a 60- to 80-acre 
site. As part of this alternative, TVA would acquire a 300-foot-wide 
right-of-way and construct, operate, and maintain two new parallel 500-
kV transmission lines from the proposed substation to the TVA Roane-
Wilson 500-kV Transmission Line. These new lines are expected to be 
less than 2 miles in length. TVA would also acquire right-of-way in 
order to construct, operate, and maintain four new 161-kV transmission 
line connections. Two of these would be a double-circuit line located 
on a 100-foot-wide right-of-way from the new 500-kV substation to the 
existing TVA Cordell Hull-West Cookeville 161-kV Transmission Line. The 
other two connections would also be a double-circuit line located on a 
100-foot-wide right-of-way from the new 500-kV substation to the 
Gallatin-West Cookeville 161-kV Transmission Line. About 7 to 10 miles 
of new right-of-way would be needed for these connections. 
Additionally, the West Cookeville-South Cookeville 161-kV Transmission 
Line would be upgraded. New equipment would be installed at the 
Jamestown 161-kV Substation in Fentress County, Tennessee, and at the 
Monterey 161-kV Substation in Putnam County under this alternative.
    New 500-kV transmission lines would likely utilize self-supporting, 
laced-steel towers, while new 161-kV lines would probably be mounted on 
single- and double-pole steel structures. Line construction would 
require removal of trees within the right-of-way as well as any other 
nearby tall trees that could endanger safe operation of the line. 
Construction of the 500-kV support structures would require the 
excavation of foundations for each of the tower legs. Cranes and other 
heavy equipment would be used to construct the towers and pull the 
electrical conductor into place. After construction, the disturbed 
areas would be revegetated, and the right-of-way would be maintained 
periodically to control the growth of tall vegetation.
    After the completion of scoping, TVA will begin detailed studies 
for siting the substation and routing the transmission lines using 
maps, aerial photography, and other relevant data. When the studies 
have progressed sufficiently, potentially affected landowners will be 
contacted directly, and additional field surveys will be conducted.
    The results of evaluating the potential environmental impacts and 
other important issues identified in the scoping process, as well as 
engineering and economic considerations, will be used by TVA in 
identifying a Preferred Alternative. At this time, the range of 
alternatives TVA has identified for detailed evaluation includes the No 
Action Alternative and the three potential Action Alternatives 
described above. As analyses proceed, one or more alternatives may be 
eliminated due to technical infeasibility, unacceptable environmental 
impacts, or unreasonably high economic costs. TVA expects to evaluate 
multiple sites for the new substation and various routing options for 
new transmission lines.

Proposed Issues To Be Addressed

    The EA or EIS will contain descriptions of the existing 
environmental and socioeconomic resources within the area that would be 
affected by construction, operation, and maintenance of the proposed 
substation, transmission lines, and associated upgrades. Evaluation of 
potential environmental impacts to these resources will include, but 
will not necessarily be limited to, the potential impacts on water 
quality, aquatic and terrestrial ecology, endangered and threatened 
species, wetlands, aesthetics and visual resources, land use, historic 
and archaeological resources, and socioeconomic resources. The need and 
purpose of the project will be described. The range of issues to be 
addressed in the environmental review will be determined, in part, from 
scoping comments. The preliminary identification of reasonable 
alternatives and environmental issues in this notice is not meant to be 
exhaustive or final.

Public and Agency Participation

    The EA or EIS is being prepared to inform decision makers and the 
public about the potential environmental effects of TVA's options for 
meeting anticipated electric power demands in central Tennessee. The 
draft EA or EIS is anticipated to be available in late 2011. Any 
changes to this schedule will be posted on the TVA Web site: http://www.tva.gov/power/projects/putnam_cumb/index.htm. The environmental 
review process will also serve to inform the public and the decision 
makers of the reasonable measures that would be implemented to minimize 
adverse impacts. Other Federal, State, and local agencies and 
governmental entities are invited to provide scoping comments. These 
agencies include, but are not limited to, the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tennessee Department of 
Environment and Conservation, and the Tennessee State Historic 
Preservation Officer.
    The public is invited to submit comments on the scope of the 
environmental review no later than the date given under the DATES 
section of this notice. TVA will conduct a public scoping meeting on 
January 20, 2011. This open house meeting will begin at 3 p.m. and end 
at 7 p.m. CST. The meeting will be held at the Willow Place Conference 
Center, Cascade Hall, located at 225 North Willow Avenue, Cookeville, 
Tennessee. At the meeting, TVA will present overviews of the proposed 
project and the environmental review process, answer questions, and 
solicit comments on the issues of interest to the public. The meeting 
will be publicized through notices in local newspapers, TVA press 
releases, on the TVA Web site at http://www.tva.gov/environment/reports/putnam/index.htm and in letters to local elected officials.

    Dated: January 13, 2011.
Anda A. Ray,
Senior Vice President, Environment and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2011-1222 Filed 1-21-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8120-08-P