Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Floodplain and Wetlands Involvement for the Proposed Northwest Regional Power Facility

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Bonneville Power Administration

Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and

Floodplain and Wetlands Involvement for the Proposed Northwest Regional

Power Facility

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

(DOE).

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare a Joint Federal/State Environmental

Impact Statement (EIS) under section 102(2)(c) of the National

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321), and notice of

Floodplain and Wetlands Involvement.

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SUMMARY: BPA and the State of Washington Energy Facility Site

Evaluation Council (EFSEC) intend to prepare a joint Federal/State EIS

for the proposed Northwest Regional Power Facility (NRPF), an 838-

megawatt (MW) combustion turbine electric generating project to be

sited east of Creston, Washington. An application for site

certification and request for expedited processing was submitted to

EFSEC on December 13, 1993, by two independent power producers: CSW

Energy, Inc. (CSWE) and KVA Resources, Inc. (KVA). At the request of

the project applicants, BPA has completed system studies to determine

what transmission facilities would be required to integrate the 838 MW

of electricity into the Federal transmission system. At this time,

customers who would purchase the electricity generated by the project

have not been identified. BPA was subsequently requested by the

applicants to provide transmission integration and wheeling services

and to coordinate compliance with State and Federal environmental laws

through a joint NEPA/State of Washington Environmental Policy Act

(SEPA) process.

Because the project may cross various wetlands and a floodplain, in

accordance with 10 CFR part 1022, a floodplain and wetlands assessment

will be prepared as part of the EIS, and the proposed action would be

undertaken in a manner so as to avoid or minimize potential harm to or

within any affected floodplain and wetlands.

DATES: Interested and affected persons, including landowners, concerned

citizens, special interest groups, local governments, and community

groups, are invited to comment on the scope of the proposed EIS.

Scoping will be coordinated with the EFSEC siting process and will help

BPA, the State, and cooperating agencies identify environmental

resources and issues to be addressed in the draft EIS (DEIS). Three

BPA/EFSEC-sponsored scoping meetings will be held the week of May 9,

1994, at the following locations: May 10, 5-8 p.m., Creston School

Gymnasium, Creston, Washington; May 11, 5-8 p.m., Cavanaughf Inn at the

Park, Finch Room, Spokane Washington; May 12, 5-8 p.m., Washington

State Energy Office, 925 Plum Street, room 308, Olympia, Washington.

Meetings will be conducted as open houses, where project material will

be available for study. BPA and EFSEC staff will answer questions and

accept verbal and written comments. The time and place of scoping

meetings will also be announced in local newspapers and in a letter to

interested parties. Written comments may be sent to the BPA Public

Involvement Manager at the address below. Scoping ends May 27, 1994.

The DEIS is scheduled to be circulated for public review and

comment in December 1994. A public comment period, as well as at least

one public comment meeting, will be provided. Comments received on the

DEIS will be considered and responded to in the Final EIS (FEIS), which

is planned for release in early summer 1995.

EFSEC is currently evaluating the project application for a site

certificate. The applicants anticipate receiving a site certificate

from EFSEC in mid-to-late 1995 (after the release of the FEIS).

ADDRESSES: BPA invites comments and suggestions on the proposed scope

of the DEIS. Send comment letters, requests to be placed on the project

mailing list, and any requests for further information to the Public

Involvement Manager--ALP, P.O. Box 12999, Portland, Oregon 97212.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Stacy L. Mason, BPA Project

Environmental Coordinator, at (503) 230-5455, fax number (503) 230-

3984; or call BPA's Public Involvement Office at (503) 230-3478 in

Portland; call toll-free (800) 622-4519 outside of Portland and within

the western states region. Project information may also be obtained

from Mr. Allen Fiksdal, Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation

Council, P.O. Box 34172, Olympia, WA 98504-3172, or by phone at (206)

956-2000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: As identified in DOE's Regulations for

Compliance with NEPA (10 CFR part 1021), appendix D to subpart D,

``Classes of Actions that Normally Require EISs,'' this proposed

project is identified as category D6 ``Integrating transmission

facilities'' (that is, transmission system additions for integrating

major new sources of generation into a Power Marketing Administration's

main grid) and category D7 ``Establishment and Implementation of

contracts, policies, marketing plans, or allocation plans * * * that

involve (1) the addition of major (greater than 50 average megawatts)

new generation resources.''

Proposed Action

The NRPF applicants propose to build an 838-MW gas combustion

turbine generation plant on a 486-hectare (ha) [1200-acre (ac.)] site

located in Lincoln County, Washington, near the town of Creston,

Sections 2 and 11, Township 26 North, Range 34 East. The generation

plant would be located near BPA's Grand Coulee--Bell transmission line

corridor and would include a main equipment building housing gas- and

steam-turbine generating units; four auxiliary structures attached to

the main equipment building, each housing a steam generator and air

pollution control equipment as well as an emission stack about 40

meters (m) [125 feet (ft.)] high; administrative and maintenance

facilities and parking lot; two cooling tower structures (about 14 m by

60 m by 15 m) (45 ft. by 200 ft. by 50 ft.) tall; and several fenced

evaporation ponds totaling about 100 ha (250 ac.). A 500-kV substation

(about 90 m by 185 m) (300 ft. by 600 ft.) would be built on the site

next to the BPA transmission corridor.

The project will require approximately 19 million liters (5 million

gallons) of water per day for cooling purposes. KVA has applied for a

water right for taking of project water at the forebay of Little Falls

Dam on the Spokane River. A 76-centimeter (30-inch) water supply

pipeline would be built from a wellfield located about 137 m (450 ft.)

from Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (Section 1, Township 27 North, Range 34

East) to the facility. Two water pipeline routes are being considered:

one following Redwine Canyon [about 24 kilometers (km) or 15 miles

(mi.) long], and the other heading directly south cross-country to the

facility (about 16 km or 10 mi. long).

Natural gas would be used exclusively as the fuel for the project,

with no alternative or backup fuel supply. A 97-km (60-mi.) lateral

natural-gas pipeline would supply fuel for the project from the Pacific

Gas Transmission Company's (PGT) main transmission line east of

Spokane. The pipeline would be owned and operated by PGT. Routes for

the gas pipeline are not yet proposed.

BPA proposes to integrate the NRPF at the new substation on the

project site. The substation would be connected to a proposed 132-km

(82-mile) Grand Coulee-Bell 500-kV transmission line that would be

located in the existing BPA corridor and is being planned as the

Eastern Washington Main Grid Support project, presently under

environmental review. The Eastern Washington Main Grid Support project

would be constructed whether the NRPF is built or not, and is therefore

not addressed here, but in a separate EIS.

A new compensation station would be built next to BPA's existing

Grand Coulee-Hanford 500-kV line east of Coulee City, in Grant County.

Three potential compensation station sites have been identified; one on

either side of Road 36 NE, and one about 3 km (2 mi.) south of Road 36

NE. The station would be about 0.8 ha (2 ac.) and would be needed to

avoid overloads and generation curtailments. Landowners of the

potential sites are being contacted.

The applicants have not confirmed any specific markets for the

power that will be generated. They intend to obtain market commitments

after obtaining a site certificate. As a result, the anticipated

impacts of wheeling the power over the transmission system will be

addressed in a generic manner in this EIS. The EIS will be

supplemented, if necessary, by BPA when generation and operation

commitments are known. BPA would then be able to enter into wheeling

agreements.

In accordance with Council on Environmental Quality Regulations 40

CFR 1501.5 and 1501.6, BPA and EFSEC have agreed to serve as joint

Federal/State lead agencies on this project. The Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Bureau

of Reclamation may participate as cooperating agencies, if appropriate.

Negotiations for natural gas service have not been completed by the

project applicant; therefore, FERC's involvement as a cooperating

agency is not certain at this time. Coordination with state and local

permitting agencies will be handled by EFSEC through the State of

Washington facility siting process.

Alternatives

Alternatives identified at this time for possible evaluation in the

EIS are divided into five categories: (1) The proposed action; (2) no

action (the consequences of not providing integration and wheeling

services for the project); (3) alternative sites for the water supply

pipeline, gas pipeline, and transmission compensation station; (4)

alternative water sources; and (4) alternative plant operations and

power markets.

Identification of Environmental Issues

NEPA and its implementing regulations direct Federal agencies to

consider the environmental impacts of all connected actions, even when

such actions are proposed by others. Therefore, BPA and EFSEC intend to

define the scope of the EIS so that the impacts of both the

transmission elements and the generation plant and other support

facilities are addressed.

The following potential environmental issues have been identified

and will be discussed in the draft EIS: (1) Air quality impacts

(nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and volatile organic

compounds); (2) impacts on surface and ground water movement, quality,

and quantity; (3) esthetic impacts of facilities, including visual, and

noise impacts from plant operation; (4) land use impacts of siting and

operation; (5) impacts of using a non-renewable resource (gas) as fuel;

(6) socioeconomic impacts created by the influx of construction workers

in a sparsely populated area; (7) effects on fish and wildlife,

including threatened and endangered species; (8) effects of

construction and placement of facilities in floodplains and wetlands;

(9) impacts on range or agricultural lands; (10) potential impacts of

facilities on cultural resources; (11) concern about human exposure to

electric and magnetic fields, such as those produced by high-voltage

transmission lines; (12) impacts on recreational resources; and (13)

impacts of gas generation plant operations on the operation and

reliability of the Pacific Northwest transmission system.

Other issues identified through the scoping process will also be

examined in the draft EIS.

Floodplains and Wetlands

In Lincoln County, the Redwine Canyon water pipeline route crosses

the 100-year floodplain of the Redwine Canyon tributary of Welsh Creek

in Sections 20, 29, and 30, Township 27 North, Range 35 East.

Wetlands are found along the Redwine Canyon route in Sections 20,

29, and 30, Township 27 North, Range 35 East; Sections 25 and 36,

Township 27 North, Range 34 East; and within the NRPF property line in

Sections 2 and 11, Township 26 North, Range 34 East.

In accordance with DOE regulations for compliance with floodplain

and wetland environmental review requirements (10 CFR part 1022), a

floodplain and wetlands assessment will be prepared for this project.

The assessment and a floodplain statement of findings will be included

in the EIS, in accordance with NEPA. Maps and further information are

available from Ms. Stacy Mason, BPA Project Environmental Coordinator,

at the address shown above.

Issued in Portland, Oregon, on April 14, 1994.

Randall W. Hardy,

Chief Executive Officer, Bonneville Power Administration.

[FR Doc. 94-9813 Filed 4-21-94; 8:45 am]

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