Application To Amend Electricity Export Authorization, Washington Water Power Company

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Fossil Energy

[Docket No. EA-101-A]

Application To Amend Electricity Export Authorization, Washington

Water Power Company

AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of Application.

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SUMMARY: Washington Water Power Company (WWP) has submitted a request

to amend its existing authorization to export electric energy to Canada

pursuant to section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act.

DATES: Comments, protests or requests to intervene must be submitted on

or before July 10, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments, protests or requests to intervene should be

addressed as follows: Office of Coal & Electricity (FE-52), Office of

Fuels Programs, Office of Fossil Energy, Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Xavier Puslowski (Program Office) 202-

586-4708 or Michael Skinker (Program Attorney) 202-586-6667.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Exports of electricity from the United

States to a foreign country are regulated and require authorization

under section 202(e) of the Federal Power Act (FPA).

WWP is currently authorized to export electric energy to Canada

pursuant to two separate export authorizations. On September 2, 1994,

the Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department of Energy (DOE)

issued an order in Docket EA-98 authorizing WWP and 21 other members of

the Western Systems Power Pool (WSPP) to export electric energy to

British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority (B.C. Hydro), and other future

Canadian members of the WSPP, under the terms and conditions of WSPP's

pooling agreement and service schedules approved by the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC). A condition of the WSPP agreement is that

all transactions among WSPP members must be no longer than one year in

duration and in accordance with one of four service schedules on file

with FERC. The facilities to be utilized for these exports are the

international transmission facilities owned and operated by the

Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), also a WSPP member. These

facilities consist of two 500-kilovolt (kV) lines located at Blaine,

Washington, one 230-kV line at Nelway, British Columbia, and one 230-kV

transmission line connecting to West Kootenay Power, Limited, at

Nelway, British Columbia. The construction and operation of these

international transmission facilities were previously authorized by

Presidential Permits PP-10, PP-46, and PP-36, respectively. Exports

under this order are authorized through September 2, 1996.

On October 17, 1994, FE issued an order in Docket EA-101

authorizing WWP to export through BPA's Nelway facilities (Presidential

Permit PP-36 1) up to 100 megawatts (MW) of firm capacity and

associated energy to West Kootenay Power, Limited, for only the months

of November, December, January, and February. This authorization

expires in February 1999.

\1\ In the electricity export authorization issued to Washington

Water Power on October 17, 1994, in FE Docket EA-101, Order EA-101,

the DOE misidentified the Presidential permit to be used to execute

the transfer of electric energy to West Kootenay Power, Limited. The

correct Presidential permit number is PP-36, not PP-46.

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On May 12, 1995, WWP applied to DOE to amend the export

authorization issued in Docket EA-101 by: (1) Increasing the authorized

export limit to 400 MW; (2) authorizing exports for all months of the

calendar year; (3) removing the expiration date of the export

authorization; and (4) adding the BPA facilities authorized by

Presidential Permits PP-10 and PP-46 to the list of facilities that WWP

may use for export.

WWP asserts that amending the export authorization will allow it to

more readily respond to the competitive changes taking place in the

electric utility industry and that the limits in the existing export

authorization create a significant barrier to meeting competitive

market opportunities. WWP is seeking an export authorization that will

allow it to negotiate contracts for transactions that occur during any

month over a period of years. Specifically WWP is requesting

authorization to enter into multiple contracts in order to export not

more than 400 megawatts of electricity to Canada annually.

Procedural Matters

Any person desiring to be heard or to protest this application

should file a petition to intervene or protest at the address provided

above in accordance with Secs. 385.211 or 385.214 of the Rules of

Practice and Procedures (18 CFR 385.211, 385.214).

Any such petitions and protests should be filed with DOE on or

before the date listed above. Additional copies of such petitions to

intervene or protests also should be filed directly with: Charles M.

Goligoski, Power Resource Analyst, Washington Water Power, East 1411

Mission, P.O. Box 3727, Spokane, Washington 99220-3727.

Pursuant to 18 CFR 385.211, protests and comments will be

considered by the DOE in determining the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make protestants parties to the

proceeding. Any person wishing to become a part must file a petition to

intervene under 18 CFR 385.214. Section 385.214 requires that a

petition to intervene must state, to the extent known, the position

taken by the petitioner and the petitioners interest in sufficient

factual detail to demonstrate either that the petitioner has a right to

participate because it is a State Commission; that it has or represents

an interest which may be directly affected by the outcome of the

proceeding, including any interest as a consumer, customer, competitor,

or a security holder of a party to the proceeding; or that the

petitioner's participation is in the public interest.

A final decision will be made on this application after the DOE

determines whether the proposed action would impair the sufficiency of

electric supply within the United States or would impede or tend to

impede the coordination in the public interest of facilities as

required by Section 202(e) of FPA.

Before an export authorization may be issued, the environmental

impacts of the proposed DOE action (i.e., granting the export

authorization, with any conditions and limitations, or denying it) must

be evaluated pursuant to the National Environment Policy Act of 1969

(NEPA).

Copies of this application will be made available, upon request,

for public [[Page 30533]] inspection and copying at the address

provided above.

Issued in Washington, DC, June 2, 1995.

Anthony J. Como,

Director, Office of Coal & Electricity, Office of Fuels Programs,

Fossil Energy.

[FR Doc. 95-14205 Filed 6-8-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450-01-P