Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 40 / Wednesday, March 1, 2006 / Notices

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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 40 / Wednesday, March 1, 2006 / Notices

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Comment Date: 5 p.m. Eastern Time

on Wednesday, March 1, 2006.

Any person desiring to intervene or to

protest in any of the above proceedings

must file in accordance with Rules 211

and 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211

and § 385.214) on or before 5 p.m.

Eastern time on the specified comment

date. It is not necessary to separately

intervene again in a subdocket related to

a compliance filing if you have

previously intervened in the same

docket. Protests will be considered by

the Commission in determining the

appropriate action to be taken, but will

not serve to make protestants parties to

the proceeding. Anyone filing a motion

to intervene or protest must serve a copy

of that document on the Applicant. In

reference to filings initiating a new

proceeding, interventions or protests

submitted on or before the comment

deadline need not be served on persons

other than the Applicant.

The Commission encourages

electronic submission of protests and

interventions in lieu of paper, using the

FERC Online links at http://

www.ferc.gov. To facilitate electronic

service, persons with Internet access

who will eFile a document and/or be

listed as a contact for an intervenor

must create and validate an

eRegistration account using the

eRegistration link. Select the eFiling

link to log on and submit the

intervention or protests.

Persons unable to file electronically

should submit an original and 14 copies

of the intervention or protest to the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First St., NE., Washington DC

20426.

The filings in the above proceedings

are accessible in the Commission’s

eLibrary system by clicking on the

appropriate link in the above list. They

are also available for review in the

Commission’s Public Reference Room in

Washington, DC. There is an

eSubscription link on the Web site that

enables subscribers to receive e-mail

notification when a document is added

to a subscribed dockets(s). For

assistance with any FERC Online

service, please e-mail

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. or call

(866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call

(202) 502–8659.

Magalie R. Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. E6–2862 Filed 2–28–06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

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Summary of the Proposed Project

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. PF06–7–000]

Northern Natural Gas Company; Notice

of Intent To Prepare an Environmental

Assessment for the Proposed Northern

Lights Project, Request for Comments

on Environmental Issues and Notice of

Scoping Meetings

February 23, 2006.

The staff of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC or

Commission) will prepare an

environmental assessment (EA) that will

discuss the environmental impacts of

Northern Natural Gas Company’s

(Northern) planned Northern Lights

Expansion Project located in Iowa and

Minnesota. This notice announces the

opening of the scoping process we will

use to gather input from the public and

interested agencies on the project. Your

input will help the Commission staff

determine which issues need to be

evaluated in the EA. Please note that the

scoping period will close on March 24,

2006.

Comments may be submitted in

written form or presented verbally at the

public meetings detailed below. Further

details on how to submit written

comments are provided in the public

participation section of this notice. In

lieu of sending written comments, you

are invited to attend the public scoping

meetings that are scheduled as follows:

Tuesday, March 14, 2006, 7 p.m.—

Riverwood Inn and Conference

Center, Sunset Room, 10990 95th

Street NE., Monticello, MN 55362,

763–441–6833.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006, 7 p.m.—

Farmington Middle School East,

Multi-Purpose Room, 4100 208 Street

West, Farmington, MN 55024, 651–

460–1600.

Thursday, March 16, 2006, 7 p.m.—Best

Western Holiday Lodge, 2023 7th

Avenue North, Clear Lake, IA 50428,

641–357–5253.

This notice is being sent to affected

landowners; Federal, state, and local

government representatives and

agencies; environmental and public

interest groups; Native American tribes;

other interested parties in this

proceeding; and local libraries and

newspapers. We encourage government

representatives to notify their

constituents of this planned project and

encourage them to comment on their

areas of concern.

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Northern proposes to expand its

natural gas transmission system to

provide incremental firm service of

350,000–400,000 dekatherms in

Northern’s market area. More

specifically, Northern seeks authority to

construct the following facilities in

various counties in Iowa and Minnesota:

• Construct approximately 18.8 miles

of 36-inch-diameter pipeline extension

in Hancock, Worth, and Winnebago

counties, Iowa (Ventura/Owatonna E–

Line);

• Abandon and remove

approximately 15.0 miles of 16-inchdiameter pipeline in Hancock, Worth,

and Winnebago counties, Iowa (J–Line);

• Construct approximately 10.0 miles

of 30-inch-diameter pipeline extension

in Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota

(Owatonna/Faribault D–Line);

• Construct approximately 29.2 miles

of 24-inch-diameter pipeline extension

in Dakota and Rice counties, Minnesota

(Faribault/Farmington E–Line);

• Construct approximately 4.3 miles

of 4-inch-diameter pipeline loop in

Anoka County, Minnesota (Elk River/

Ham Lake Line);

• Construct approximately 7.6 miles

of 24-inch-diameter pipeline loop in

Dakota County, Minnesota (Rosemount

Loop);

• Construct approximately 1.8 miles

of 6-inch-diameter pipeline loop in

Sherburne County, Minnesota (St.

Cloud/Becker Line);

• Replace approximately 3.3 miles of

3-inch-diameter pipeline loop with 10inch-diameter pipeline in Sherburne

and Wright counties, Minnesota (Elk

River/St. Michael Line);

• Modifications at two existing

compressor stations in Dakota and Rice

counties, Minnesota;

• Construction of two town border

stations (TBS) in Dakota and Waseca

counties, Minnesota;

• Rebuild of an existing TBS in

Hennepin County, Minnesota; and

• Modifications at 19 existing TBS in

Anoka, Wright, Chisago, Washington,

Dakota, Stearns, and Carver counties,

Minnesota.

With the exception of five miles of

new greenfield pipeline, Northern

would install the pipeline looping and

extensions adjacent to existing

pipelines. Location maps depicting

Northern’s proposed facilities are

provided in Appendix 1.1

1 The appendices referenced in this notice are not

being printed in the Federal Register. Copies are

available on the Commission’s Web site (excluding

maps) at the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link or from the

Commission’s Public Reference Room or call (202)

502–8371. For instructions on connecting to

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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 40 / Wednesday, March 1, 2006 / Notices

Currently Identified Environmental

Issues

At this time no formal application has

been filed with the FERC. For this

project, the FERC staff has initiated its

NEPA review prior to receiving the

application. The purpose of our NEPA

Pre-Filing Process is to involve

interested stakeholders early in project

planning and to identify and resolve

issues before an application is filed with

the FERC.

We have already identified several

issues that we think deserve attention

based on a preliminary review of the

proposed facilities, environmental

information provided by Northern, and

comments gathered from concerned

citizens at Northern’s open houses. This

preliminary list of issues may be

changed based on your comments and

our analysis.

• Potential impacts on the

Mississippi, Vermillion, and Cannon

rivers;

• Potential impacts to Vermillion

River watershed;

• Potential impacts on wetlands;

• Safety concerns of the pipeline;

• Potential impacts on agricultural

land and prime farmland; and

• Potential impacts on historic

resources.

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The EA Process

The FERC will use the EA to consider

the environmental impact that could

result if it issues Northern a Certificate

of Public Convenience and Necessity.

This notice formally announces our

preparation of the EA and the beginning

of the process referred to as ‘‘scoping.’’

We 2 are soliciting input from the public

and interested agencies to help us focus

the analysis in the EA on the potentially

significant environmental issues related

to the proposed action.

Our independent analysis of the

issues will be included in an EA that

will be prepared for the project. Our

evaluation will also include reasonable

alternatives to the proposed project or

portions of the project, and we will

make recommendations on how to

lessen or avoid impacts on the various

resource areas of concern.

Depending on the comments received

during the scoping process, the EA may

be published and mailed to affected

landowners; Federal, state, and local

government representatives and

agencies; elected officials;

environmental and public interest

eLibrary refer to the end of this notice. Copies of

the appendices were sent to all those receiving this

notice in the mail.

2 ‘‘We,’’ ‘‘us,’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to the

environmental staff of the Office of Energy Projects.

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groups; Native American tribes; other

interested parties; local libraries and

newspapers; and the FERC’s official

service list for this proceeding. A 30-day

comment period will be allotted for

review if the EA is published. We will

consider all comments on the EA before

we make our recommendations to the

Commission.

We are currently coordinating with

other jurisdictional and resource

management agencies to identify their

issues and concerns. These agencies

include the U.S. Army Corps of

Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

Natural Resources Conservation Service,

Minnesota Department of Natural

Resources, Iowa Department of Natural

Resources, and the U.S. Department of

Transportation. By this notice, we are

asking these and other Federal, state,

and local agencies with jurisdiction

and/or special expertise with respect to

environmental issues to formally

cooperate with us in the preparation of

the EA. Agencies that would like to

request cooperating status should follow

the instructions for filing comments

provided below.

Public Participation

You can make a difference by

providing us with your specific

comments or concerns about the

proposals. Your comments should focus

on the potential environmental effects,

reasonable alternatives, and measures to

avoid or lessen environmental impact.

The more specific your comments, the

more useful they will be. To ensure that

your comments are timely and properly

recorded, please mail your comments so

that they will be received in

Washington, DC on or before March 24,

2006 and carefully follow these

instructions:

• Send an original and two copies of

your letter to: Magalie R. Salas,

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First St., NE., Room

1A, Washington, DC 20426;

• Label one copy of the comments for

the attention of Gas Branch 3, DG2E;

and

• Reference Docket No. PF06–7–000

on the original and both copies.

Please note that the Commission

encourages electronic filing of

comments. See 18 Code of Federal

Regulations 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the

instructions on the Commission’s

Internet Web site at http://www.ferc.gov

under the ‘‘eFiling’’ link and the link to

the User’s Guide. Prepare your

submission in the same manner as you

would if filing on paper and save it to

a file on your hard drive. Before you can

file comments you will need to create an

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10495

account by clicking on ‘‘Login to File’’

and then ‘‘New User Account.’’ You will

be asked to select the type of filing you

are making. This filing is considered a

‘‘Comment on Filing’’.

When Northern submits its

application for authorization to

construct and operate the Northern

Lights Project, the Commission will

publish a Notice of Application in the

Federal Register and will establish a

deadline for interested persons to

intervene in the proceeding. Because the

Commission’s Pre-filing Process occurs

before an application to begin a

proceeding is officially filed, petitions

to intervene during this process are

premature and will not be accepted by

the Commission.

Environmental Mailing List

If you wish to remain on the

environmental mailing list, please

return the Mailing List Retention Form

included in Appendix 2. If you do not

return this form, you will be taken off

our mailing list.

Availability of Additional Information

Additional information about the

project is available from the

Commission’s Office of External Affairs

at 1–866–208 FERC (3372) or on the

FERC Internet Web site (http://

www.ferc.gov). Using the ‘‘eLibrary’’

link, select ‘‘General Search’’ from the

eLibrary menu, enter the selected date

range and ‘‘Docket Number’’ (i.e., PF06–

7–000), and follow the instructions.

Searches may also be done using the

phrase ‘‘Northern Lights’’ in the ‘‘Text

Search’’ field. For assistance with access

to eLibrary, the helpline can be reached

at 1–866–208–3676, TTY (202) 502–

8659, or at

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. The

eLibrary link on the FERC Internet Web

site also provides access to the texts of

formal documents issued by the

Commission, such as orders, notices,

and rule makings.

In addition, the FERC now offers a

free service called eSubscription that

allows you to keep track of all formal

issuances and submittals in specific

dockets. This can reduce the amount of

time you spend researching proceedings

by automatically providing you with

notification of these filings, document

summaries, and direct links to the

documents. To register for this service,

go to http://www.ferc.gov/

esubscribenow.htm.

Public meetings or site visits will be

posted on the Commission’s calendar

located at http://www.ferc.gov/

EventCalendar/EventsList.aspx along

with other related information. Finally,

Northern has established an Internet

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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 40 / Wednesday, March 1, 2006 / Notices

Web site for its project at http://www.

northernnaturalgas.com/

expansionprojects. The Web site

includes a project overview, contact

information, regulatory overview, and

construction procedures.

Magalie R. Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. E6–2876 Filed 2–28–06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice of Application Accepted for

Filing and Soliciting Motions To

Intervene, Protests, and Comments

wwhite on PROD1PC61 with NOTICES

February 22, 2006.

Take notice that the following

hydroelectric application has been filed

with the Commission and is available

for public inspection:

a. Type of Application: Preliminary

Permit.

b. Project No.: 12648–000.

c. Date filed: January 27, 2006.

d. Applicant: Gerard M. Lutticken.

e. Name of Project: Sugar Pine Creek

Project.

f. Location: The project would be

located on the Sugar Pine Creek, in El

Dorado County, California. The project

would be located upstream of the

licensed Upper American River Project

No. 2101. None of the proposed project

facilities affect this licensed project.

However the proposed project’s

transmission line may cross the project

boundary of Project No. 2101. The

project would use approximately 7 acres

of Federal land within the El Dorado

National Forest.

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power

Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)–825(r)

h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Gerard M.

Lutticken, 730 Bluegrass Drive,

Petaluma, CA 94954, Phone (707) 765–

9671.

i. FERC Contact: Robert Bell, (202)

502–6062.

j. Deadline for filing comments,

protests, and motions to intervene: 60

days from the issuance date of this

notice.

The Commission’s Rules of Practice

and Procedure require all intervenors

filing documents with the Commission

to serve a copy of that document on

each person in the official service list

for the project. Further, if an intervenor

files comments or documents with the

Commission relating to the merits of an

issue that may affect the responsibilities

of a particular resource agency, they

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must also serve a copy of the document

on that resource agency.

k. Description of Project: The

proposed project would consist of: (1) A

proposed 50-foot-long, 6-foot-high

concrete masonry gravity diversion

structure, (2) a proposed impoundment

have a surface area of 1 acre with

negligible storage and a normal water

surface elevation at 4,040 feet mean sea

level, (3) a proposed 2,500-foot-long, 12inch-diameter steel penstock, (4) a

proposed powerhouse containing one

generating unit with an installed

capacity of 750 kilowatts, (5) a proposed

3,000-foot-long, 13.8 kilovolt

transmission line, and (6) appurtenant

facilities. The project would have an

annual generation of 1.72 gigawatt

hours, which would be sold to a local

utility.

l. Locations of Applications: A copy of

the application is available for

inspection and reproduction at the

Commission in the Public Reference

Room, located at 888 First Street NE.,

Room 2A, Washington DC 20426, or by

calling (202) 502–8371. This filing may

also be viewed on the Commission’s

Web site at http://www.ferc.gov using

the ‘‘eLibrary’’ link. Enter the docket

number excluding the last three digits in

the docket number field to access the

document. For assistance, call toll-free

1–866–208–3676 or e-mail

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. For TTY,

call (202) 502–8659. A copy is also

available for inspection and

reproduction at the address in item h.

above.

m. Individuals desiring to be included

on the Commission’s mailing list should

so indicate by writing to the Secretary

of the Commission.

n. Competing Preliminary Permit—

Anyone desiring to file a competing

application for preliminary permit for a

proposed project must submit the

competing application itself, or a notice

of intent to file such an application, to

the Commission on or before the

specified comment date for the

particular application (see 18 CFR 4.36).

Submission of a timely notice of intent

allows an interested person to file the

competing preliminary permit

application no later than 30 days after

the specified comment date for the

particular application. A competing

preliminary permit application must

conform with 18 CFR 4.30(b) and 4.36.

o. Competing Development

Application—Any qualified

development applicant desiring to file a

competing development application

must submit to the Commission, on or

before a specified comment date for the

particular application, either a

competing development application or a

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notice of intent to file such an

application. Submission of a timely

notice of intent to file a development

application allows an interested person

to file the competing application no

later than 120 days after the specified

comment date for the particular

application. A competing license

application must conform with 18 CFR

4.30(b) and 4.36.

p. Notice of Intent—A notice of intent

must specify the exact name, business

address, and telephone number of the

prospective applicant, and must include

an unequivocal statement of intent to

submit, if such an application may be

filed, either a preliminary permit

application or a development

application (specify which type of

application). A notice of intent must be

served on the applicant(s) named in this

public notice.

q. Proposed Scope of Studies Under

Permit—A preliminary permit, if issued,

does not authorize construction. The

term of the proposed preliminary permit

would be 36 months. The work

proposed under the preliminary permit

would include economic analysis,

preparation of preliminary engineering

plans, and a study of environmental

impacts. Based on the results of these

studies, the Applicant would decide

whether to proceed with the preparation

of a development application to

construct and operate the project.

r. Comments, Protests, or Motions to

Intervene—Anyone may submit

comments, a protest, or a motion to

intervene in accordance with the

requirements of Rules of Practice and

Procedure, 18 CFR 385.210, .211, .214.

In determining the appropriate action to

take, the Commission will consider all

protests or other comments filed, but

only those who file a motion to

intervene in accordance with the

Commission’s Rules may become a

party to the proceeding. Any comments,

protests, or motions to intervene must

be received on or before the specified

comment date for the particular

application.

Comments, protests and interventions

may be filed electronically via the

Internet in lieu of paper. See 18 CFR

385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions

on the Commission’s web site under ‘‘efiling’’ link. The Commission strongly

encourages electronic filing.

s. Filing and Service of Responsive

Documents—Any filings must bear in

all capital letters the title

‘‘COMMENTS’’, ‘‘COMPETING

APPLICATION’’,

‘‘RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TERMS

AND CONDITIONS’’, ‘‘PROTEST’’, OR

‘‘MOTION TO INTERVENE’’, as

applicable, and the Project Number of

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