[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 211 (Tuesday, November 1, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75897-75898]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26272]


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

TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY


Environmental Impact Statement for Shawnee Fossil Plant Coal 
Combustion Residual Management

AGENCY: Tennessee Valley Authority.

ACTION: Notice of intent.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) intends to prepare an 
environmental impact statement (EIS) to address the potential 
environmental effects associated with ceasing operations at the special 
waste landfill and Ash Pond 2 and constructing, operating, and 
maintaining a new dry coal combustion residual (CCR) landfill at the 
Shawnee Fossil Plant (SHF) located near Paducah, Kentucky in McCracken 
County. The purpose of the proposed project is to foster TVA's 
compliance with present and future regulatory requirements related to 
CCR production and management, including the requirements of EPA's CCR 
Rule and Effluent Limitations Guidelines Rule.
    In the environmental review, TVA will evaluate the potential 
environmental impacts of closure of the special waste landfill and Ash 
Pond 2 as well as the construction, operation, and maintenance of an 
onsite dry CCR landfill or disposal of CCR in an existing offsite 
permitted landfill. TVA will develop and evaluate various alternatives, 
including the No Action Alternative, in the EIS. 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, emailed or submitted online no later than 
December 1, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to Ashley Pilakowski, NEPA 
Compliance Specialist, 400 West Summit Hill Dr., WT 11D, Knoxville, TN 
37902-1499. Comments may also be submitted online at: www.tva.gov/nepa.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Pilakowski, 865-632-2256.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice of intent is provided in 
accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality's regulations (40 
CFR parts 1500-1508) and TVA's procedures implementing the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

TVA Power System and CCR Management

    TVA is a corporate agency of the United States that provides 
electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 
more than 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA 
receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues 
from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its 
revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation 
and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local 
power companies and state and local governments with economic 
development and job creation.
    Historically, TVA has managed its CCRs in wet impoundments or dry 
landfills. Currently, SHF consumes an

[[Page 75898]]

average of 3,880,165 tons of coal per year, generates approximately 8 
billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year (enough to supply 540,000 
homes), and produces approximately 256,000 tons of CCR a year which are 
managed in an existing special waste landfill and a pond (Ash Pond 2).
    In July 2009, the TVA Board of Directors passed a resolution for 
staff to review TVA practices for storing CCRs at its generating 
facilities, including SHF, which resulted in a recommendation to 
convert the wet ash management system at SHF to a dry storage system. 
On April 17, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
published the final Disposal of CCRs from Electric Utilities rule.
    In June of 2016, TVA issued a Final Programmatic Environmental 
Impact Statement (PEIS) that analyzed methods for closing impoundments 
that hold CCR materials at TVA fossil plants and identified specific 
screening and evaluation factors to help frame its evaluation of 
closures at additional facilities. A Record of Decision was released in 
July of 2016 that would allow future environmental reviews of CCR 
impoundment closures to tier from the PEIS.
    This EIS is intended to tier from the 2016 PEIS to evaluate the 
closure alternatives for the existing CCR Ash Pond 2 impoundment and 
additionally analyze the impacts of the closure of the existing special 
waste landfill, and construction, operation, and maintenance of a new 
on-site special waste landfill to accommodate future dry CCR disposal 
actions. This project supports TVA's goal to eliminate all wet CCR 
storage at SHF.

Alternatives

    In addition to a No Action Alternative, this EIS will address 
alternatives that have reasonable prospects of providing a solution to 
the management and disposal of dry CCRs generated at SHF. TVA has 
determined that either the construction of a new CCR storage area or 
hauling CCR to an existing permitted landfill are the most reasonable 
alternatives to address the need for additional dry CCR disposal. TVA 
will consider closure alternatives for Ash Pond 2 in accordance with 
and consistent with TVA's PEIS and EPA's CCR Rule. TVA will also 
consider closure alternatives for the existing special waste landfill 
in accordance with EPA's CCR Rule.
    No decision has been made about CCR management at SHF beyond the 
current operations and available onsite capacity. TVA is preparing this 
EIS to inform decision makers, other agencies and the public about the 
potential for environmental impacts associated with the decision on how 
to manage CCR generated at SHF.

Proposed Issues To Be Considered

    This EIS will contain descriptions of the existing environmental 
and socioeconomic resources within the area that could be affected by 
the closure of the special waste landfill and Ash Pond 2 and by the 
construction, operation and maintenance of a new dry CCR landfill or 
disposal of CCR at an offsite landfill. Evaluation of potential 
environmental impacts to these resources will include, but not be 
limited to, the potential impacts on water quality, aquatic and 
terrestrial ecology, threatened and endangered species, wetlands, land 
use, historic and archaeological resources, solid and hazardous waste, 
safety, socioeconomic resources and environmental justice. 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

    TVA is interested in an open process and wants to hear from the 
community, interested agencies and special interest groups about the 
scope of issues they would like to see addressed in this EIS.
    The public is invited to submit comments on the scope of this EIS 
no later than the date identified in the ``Dates'' section of this 
notice. Federal, state and local agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps 
of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kentucky Department of 
Environmental Protection, and the Kentucky State Historic Preservation 
Officer also are invited to provide comments. After consideration of 
scoping comments, TVA will post a summary of them and identify the 
issues and alternatives to be addressed in the EIS and the study's 
schedule.
    The Draft EIS will be made available for public comment. In making 
its final decision, TVA will consider the analyses in this EIS and 
substantive comments that it receives. A final decision on proceeding 
with pond closure, existing landfill closure, and construction, 
operation, and maintenance of a new landfill will depend on a number of 
factors. These include requirements of the CCR Rule, the results of the 
EIS, engineering and risk evaluations, and financial considerations.
    TVA anticipates holding a community meeting near the plant after 
releasing the Draft EIS. Meeting details will be posted on TVA's Web 
site. TVA expects to release the Draft EIS in summer of 2017.

M. Susan Smelley,
Director, Environmental Permitting and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2016-26272 Filed 10-31-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE P