[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 231 (Monday, December 4, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Page 57240]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-26052]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

[OE Docket No. PP-441]


Application for Presidential Permit; Clean Power Northeast 
Development Inc.

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

ACTION: Notice of Application.

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SUMMARY: Clean Power Northeast Development Inc. (CPNE) 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 or motions to intervene must be submitted on or before 
January 3, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments or motions to intervene should be addressed as 
follows: 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: Christopher Lawrence (Program Office) 
at 202-586-5260 or via electronic mail at 
[email protected]; Rishi Garg (Program Attorney) at 202-
586-0258.

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 September 28, 2017, CPNE filed an application with the Office of 
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability of the Department of Energy 
(DOE) for a Presidential permit for the Atlantic Link Project (Atlantic 
Link). CPNE is an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of Emera Inc. CPNE 
is a development company headquartered and operating in Boston, 
Massachusetts. Emera Inc., headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
Canada, is an energy company operating in the United States, Canada, 
and four Caribbean countries.
    CNPE proposes to construct, operate, maintain and connect a subsea, 
1000 megawatt, high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission cable 
system to deliver electricity from Atlantic Canada to Massachusetts. 
The final transmission cable system route is anticipated to be located 
within rights-of-way (ROW) selected from two current route 
alternatives, and would connect Coleson Cove, New Brunswick, Canada to 
Plymouth, Massachusetts for a total length of approximately 375 miles, 
depending on which route alternative is selected. Over 99 percent of 
the route would be subsea. A majority of the total transmission cable 
system route would be located in United States federal waters; however, 
short sections of the route would traverse Massachusetts state waters 
for a total of approximately 20 to 34 miles, depending on which route 
alternative is selected. The total length of the submarine transmission 
cable system route in U.S. federal waters (i.e., areas exclusive of 
Massachusetts state waters) would be approximately 230 miles depending 
on which route is selected.
    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), 
61 FR 21,540 (May 10, 1996), as amended.
    Procedural Matters: Any person may comment on this application by 
filing such comment at the address provided above. Any person seeking 
to become a party to this proceeding must file a motion to intervene at 
the address provided above in accordance with Rule 214 of FERC's Rules 
of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.214). Two copies of each comment 
or motion to intervene should be filed with DOE on or before the date 
listed above.
    Additional copies of such motions to intervene also should be filed 
directly with: Dan Muldoon, P. Eng, President, Clean Power Northeast 
Development Inc., 101 Federal Street Suite 1101, Boston, MA 02110, 
[email protected] AND Gerald Weseen, Vice President, Clean Power 
Northeast Development Inc., 101 Federal Street Suite 1101, Boston, MA 
02110, [email protected].
    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 may consider the environmental impacts of the 
proposed project pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969, 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 deem 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://energy.gov/oe/services/electricity-policy-coordination-and-implementation/international-electricity-regulatio-2.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on November 28, 2017.
Christopher A. Lawrence,
Electricity Policy Analyst, National Electricity Delivery Division, 
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.
[FR Doc. 2017-26052 Filed 12-1-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P