Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Notice of Scoping Meetings for the Proposed Columbia Wind Farm

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and

Notice of Scoping Meetings for the Proposed Columbia Wind Farm

AGENCY: Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Department of Energy

(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact statement

(EIS) under Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA), 42 U.S.C. et seq. and to conduct scoping meetings.

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SUMMARY: BPA and Klickitat County (the County) intend to jointly

prepare an EIS on the proposed Columbia Wind Farm in Klickitat County,

Washington sufficient to satisfy NEPA and the Washington State

Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). Conservation And Renewable Energy

System (CARES), a joint operating agency composed of eight Washington

Public Utility Districts, has proposed that BPA purchase the electrical

output from the Columbia Wind Farm, a wind energy demonstration project

(Project). CARES has submitted a Conditional Use Permit application to

the County to construct and operate the Project. The EIS will consider

all actions connected to the planning, development, and operation of

the Project by CARES, to the issuance by the County of a Conditional

Use Permit, and to the execution of a Power Purchase Agreement between

BPA and CARES. The EIS will also consider potentially significant

cumulative impacts that may result from this Project and from one or

two other wind development projects proposed in the same area of the

County.

DATES: BPA has established a 30-day scoping period (beginning with the

publication of this notice in the Federal Register) during which

affected landowners, concerned citizens, tribes, special interest

groups, local governments, and any other interested parties are invited

to comment on the scope of the EIS. Scoping will help BPA and the

County ensure that a full range of issues related to this proposal are

addressed in the EIS, and also will identify significant or potentially

significant impacts that may result from the proposed Project.

Scoping meetings will be held at the following locations and on the

following dates:

White Salmon, Washington, February 15, 7 p.m., Henkle

Middle School Library, 480 NW Loop Rd., White Salmon, WA.

Goldendale, Washington, February 16, 7 p.m., Public

Utility District No. 1 of Klickitat County, 1313 S. Columbus,

Goldendale, WA.

The scoping meetings will be conducted to include this Project and

the other wind development projects proposed for development on lands

near or adjacent to this Project. At the informal meetings, Project

developers will make a presentation on their projects, written

information will be available, and BPA and County staff will answer

questions and accept oral and written comments. The meetings will be

publicized by general announcement as well as by written invitation to

known interested parties. Written comments are invited as well, and

should be submitted by February 28, 1994 to the Public Involvement

Manager or the Klickitat County Planning Director at the addresses

below. Comments received after this date will be considered to the

extent practicable.

The Draft EIS (DEIS) will be circulated for review and comment, and

BPA and the County will hold a public comment meeting for the DEIS. BPA

or the County will consider and respond to comments received on the

DEIS in the final EIS.

ADDRESSES: BPA and the County invite comments and suggestions on the

proposed scope of the DEIS. Send comment letters, requests to be placed

on the project mailing list, and/or requests for more information to

the Public Involvement Manager, P.O. Box 12999, Portland, Oregon 97212

or to the Klickitat County Planning Director, 228 West Main, Rm. 150,

Goldendale, Washington 98620.

To have your name placed on the mailing list for this project, to

submit comment letter, or to receive a copy of the DEIS when it becomes

available, write to the Public Involvement Manager, Bonneville Power

Administration--ALP, Post Office Box 12999, Portland, Oregon 97212.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Kathy Fisher, EIS Manager, at (503) 230-4375 or, Francine

Havercroft, Klickitat County Planning Director, at (509) 773-5703. You

may also contact BPA's Public Involvement Office at (503) 230-3478, or

toll-free 1-800-622-4519. Information may also be obtained from Mr.

Thomas V. Wagenhoffer, Snake River Area Manager, 1520 Kelley Place,

Walla Walla, Washington 99362, (509) 527-6225.

FOR INFORMATION ON DOE NEPA PROCEDURES, OR THE STATUS OF A NEPA REVIEW

CONTACT: Carol M. Borgstrom, Director of NEPA Oversight, EH-25, U.S.

Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC

20585, (202) 586-4600 or 1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 1991 Northwest Power Plan, the

Northwest Power Planning Council set a goal of confirming additional

conservation and renewable energy resources in the region. Responding

to this goal, BPA made a commitment in the April 22, 1993, Record of

Decision (ROD) for the Resource Programs Final Environmental Impact

Statement to strive to expand the supply of renewable resources. The

ROD identified the Resource Supply Expansion Program (RSEP) as the

primary mechanism for confirming the supply, cost, and reliability of

renewable energy supplies. Through the RSEP, the Wind Energy Resource

Development Strategy for the Pacific Northwest was developed. A key

component of the strategy was to promote the commercial viability of

the wind resource in the Northwest through demonstration projects. In

response to the strategy, BPA issued a 50 MW Request for Proposals

(RFP) for a Wind Energy Demonstration Project(s) in September 1992. BPA

received 10 proposals, selecting the Columbia Wind Farm proposal and

one other, located in Carbon County, Wyoming for potential acquisition.

To assure consistency with the Resource Programs ROD, BPA must

conduct project-specific NEPA review tiered to the Resource Programs

EIS prior to acquiring the output of any generating resource. BPA will

lead the NEPA analysis for the Columbia Wind Project. The Wyoming wind

demonstration proposal will undergo NEPA analysis with the Bureau of

Land Management as the lead agency and BPA as a cooperating agency.

A. Proposed Action

CARES, in conjunction with FloWind Corporation, proposes to

develop, construct, and operate a wind energy electric generating

facility in the Columbia Hills area southeast of Goldendale, Washington

and north of the Columbia River, outside of the Columbia River Gorge

National Scenic Area. CARES would be the Project owner and the BPA

required utility sponsor. As a contractor to CARES, FloWind would

assist in Project development and initial Project operations. Upon

completion, the Project would have an installed capacity of 25 MW of

electricity which is expected to produce approximately 7 average

megawatts of energy to be sold to BPA.

CARES has submitted a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application to

the County to develop the Project on approximately 395 hectares (975

acres) of private agricultural and scrub/shrub lands leased from

Columbia Aluminum Corporation. As initially proposed, the Project

development would involve the installation and operation of 91 wind

turbines mounted on tubular towers approximately 51 meters (140 feet)

in height. Each wind turbine would have a blade diameter of 26.2 meters

(86.0 feet). Total machine height to the top of the turbine blade would

be approximately 66 meters (183 feet).

Additional facilities in the Project would include a 3.7 meter (12

foot) wide main Project access road, engineered access roads to each

turbine, associated meteorological towers, underground power collection

and transmission lines, transformers, a wood pole line collecting power

from the ends of each turbine row and carrying that power to a

substation, and a transmission line from the Project substation to a

transmission line owned by the Klickitat Public Utility District #1 of

Klickitat County.

B. Process to Date

In order to reduce duplication between NEPA and comparable State

and local requirements, BPA and the County have agreed to jointly

prepare a single EIS for the Project sufficient to satisfy NEPA and the

Washington State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). The EIS will include

a Cumulative Impact Study (CIS) to analyze any potentially significant

cumulative impacts that may result from this Project and from one or

two other wind development projects proposed in the same area of the

County.

One other wind development project, known as the Washington

Windplant, will also undergo a joint NEPA/SEPA review by BPA and the

County. U.S. Windpower, Inc. (USW) plans to develop a 115 megawatt (MW)

wind energy facility (Project) in the east Columbia Hills area near

Goldendale, Washington. PacifiCorp, Puget Sound Power & Light Company

(Puget), and Portland General Electric (PGE) together are purchasing 50

MW of the Project and have each requested BPA to integrate and transmit

(wheel) their share of the electrical power generated from the proposed

Project with the Federal transmission system. The Washington Windplant

would involve the installation and operation of approximately 322 wind

turbines on approximately 4856 hectares (12,000 acres) of private lands

under easement to USW. Additional facilities would include

meteorological towers, power collection and transmission lines,

transformers, access roads, and a substation.

Another wind energy facility is proposed by Mariah Energy Group,

Inc. (Mariah). Mariah has submitted an incomplete CUP application to

the County to install 20 wind turbines on approximately 1.14 hectares

(2\3/4\ acres) of land owned by the developer. The site is located on

land previously used by DOE to test the MOD-2 wind turbines. The MOD-2

wind turbines were dismantled and removed from the site when the

testing was completed. The Mariah project will not undergo individual

NEPA analysis because no Federal involvement has been requested. The

County will conduct an appropriate level of SEPA review prior to

approving the CUP if Mariah submits a completed CUP application.

The CIS used in the Columbia Wind Farm EIS will also be used in the

Washington Windplant--EIS. This will ensure that the combined impacts

from the two proposed wind development projects are analyzed and

reasonable alternatives are considered in both EISs. Given the early

stage of the Mariah project, it is not yet known whether the CIS will

include that project as well. Although separate EISs will be prepared

for the CARES and USW projects, the County and BPA have agreed to hold

joint public scoping meetings to avoid duplication and confusion.

C. Alternatives Proposed for Consideration

Alternatives thus far identified for evaluation in the EIS are: (1)

The proposed action, and (2) no action (the consequences of not

developing the wind demonstration project). Other alternatives may be

identified through the scoping process.

D. Identification of Environmental Issues

BPA and the County plan to jointly prepare an EIS addressing the

proposed Columbia Wind Farm and the associated transmission facilities.

BPA and the County intend to scope the EIS so that all potential

impacts associated with the Columbia Wind Farm are addressed.

The principal potential issues identified thus far for

consideration in the DEIS are as follows:

(1) Impacts to resident and migratory bird populations from

operating wind turbines;

(2) Impacts to other wildlife and habitats;

(3) Impacts on cultural resources;

(4) Aesthetic and visual impacts;

(5) Sound impacts; and

(6) Land use impacts.

These, together with any additional issues identified through this

scoping process, may be examined in the EIS.

Issued in Portland, Oregon, on January 26, 1994.

Paul O. Crabtree, Jr.,

Policy Advisor.

[FR Doc. 94-2222 Filed 1-31-94; 8:45 am]

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