Swan Lake-Lake Tyee Intertie Transmission Line

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Forest Service

Swan Lake-Lake Tyee Intertie Transmission Line

AGENCY: Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement.

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SUMMARY: Ketchikan Public Utilities proposes to build and operate a 115

kV electric transmission line in Southeast Alaska between the

switchyard of the Swan Lake Hydroelectric Station on Revillagigedo

Island and the switchyard at the Lake Tyee Hydroelectric Station the

Alaska mainland. The proposed new line would be a single-circuit 115 kV

line having three conductors and no shield wire. The proposed action

would intertie the electrical systems of Ketchikan Public Utilities,

Petersburg Municipal Power and Light, and Wrangell Municipal Light and

Power. [[Page 2075]]

The proposed intertie would lie within a corridor identified during

an earlier feasibility study as the ``preferred site'' of the

transmission line. The corridor is approximately 57 miles long and one

mile wide and lies almost entirely on National Forest System land

(Tongass National Forest) administered by the U.S. Forest Service. The

corridor follows lower elevations to minimize visual impacts, avoid

steep and unstable areas, and avoid extreme weather conditions. A 200-

foot-wide right-of-way would be cleared for the transmission line. The

line would require long aerial crossings at Eagle Bay, Bell Arm, the

Behm Canal, and Shrimp Bay with span lengths of approximately 2,000,

1,200, 4,000, and 2,000 feet, respectively. There are variations of

portions of the preferred route in the vicinity of Orchard Lake, Behm

Canal, and Eagle Lake and River.

DATES: Comments concerning the scope of this project should be received

by March 7, 1995. Public scoping meetings are scheduled during this

comment period in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, and Juneau. The

location and time of the meetings will be announced in the local media.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments and suggestions concerning the scope

of this project to Linn W. Shipley, Acting District Ranger, Tongass

National Forest, Ketchikan Ranger District, Attn: Swan Lake-Lake Tyee

EIS, 3031 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Questions about the proposal and the EIS should be directed to Becky

Cross, EIS Liaison, Tongass National Forest, Ketchikan Ranger District,

3031 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska 99901, Telephone (907) 225-2148.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Possible variations to the basic

transmission line intertie include construction and use of an access

road to serve the majority of the line from Eagle Bay to Carroll Inlet.

The access road would not connect with any existing road and would not

provide access between the project area and Ketchikan or another urban

area. In addition to construction access, the road is intended to

provide maintenance access to the transmission line. To the extent

feasible, some portions of the road would follow the transmission line

right-of-way for direct access to clearing and construction operations.

The assumed road specifications are: a maximum grade of about 10

percent; a curve radius of about 100 feet; a shotrock surface about 14

feet wide and 24 to 30 inches deep; corrugated metal pipe culverts or

small bridges to cross permanent and intermittently flowing stream

channels; and incorporation of any nearby logging roads or other

vehicular trails into the access road where feasible.

An alternative to aerial crossings of large water bodies is use of

submarine crossings of Bell Arm, the Behm Canal, and Shrimp Bay. The

aerial conductors would connect to a terminal station or structure on

the shore near the water body and continue as self-contained fluid-

filled or dielectric cables underwater to the opposite shore, where

they would pass through a terminal station to continue as aerial

conductors.

To meet Ketchikan's energy needs, other alternatives which may be

considered could include development of new power generation in the

Ketchikan area and electrical load conservation measures. Finally, a no

action alternative will be considered.

The EIS will be prepared under Council on Environmental Quality

(CEQ) regulations governing third party contracts. Ketchikan Public

Utilities, the project proponent, has contracted with Foster Wheeler

Environmental Corporation, an environmental consulting firm based in

Washington State, to conduct the field studies and environmental

analyses, direct public involvement activities, and prepare the EIS for

the project. The third party is the Forest Service, which will be the

lead agency and which also is the deciding and permitting agency for

the proposal. Linn Shipley, the Acting District Ranger of the Ketchikan

Ranger District, must decide whether to issue a Special Use Permit to

Ketchikan Public Utilities permitting the intertie to cross the Tongass

National Forest. Foster Wheeler Environmental will be responsible to

the Forest Service for preparing an EIS that meets NEPA regulations and

Forest Service procedures.

Public participation will be an integral component of the study

process and will be especially important at several junctures of the

analysis. The first is during the scoping process. The Forest Service

is seeking information, comments, and assistance from Federal, State,

and local agencies, individuals, and organizations that may be

interested in, or affected by, the proposed activities. The objectives

of the scoping process are to (1) identify the affected public and

agency concerns, and level of concern, (2) define the issues and

alternatives that will be examined in detail in the EIS, (3) eliminate

insignificant issues, and (4) identify analysis needs. In addition to

the scoping meetings mentioned above, written scoping comments are

being solicited through a scoping package that will be sent to those on

the project mailing list. For the Forest Service to best use the

scoping input, comments should be received within 60 days of the

publication of this Notice in the Federal Register . The following

preliminary issues have been identified:

1. Will construction-related air emissions affect the air quality

of the study area and Misty Fiords National Monument and Wilderness?

2. Will right-of-way clearing and road construction affect karst

and cave resources?

3. Will activities associated with right-of-way clearing and road

construction degrade fish habitat?

4. What are the possibilities for changing steam flow and creating

barriers to fish migration?

5. What will be the effect of clearing wetland and riparian areas

for the right-of-way and of encroachment and modification of

floodplains and estuarine areas?

6. What are the implications of the proposed action on timber

production and sensitive and rare plant species?

7. What are the potential effects of right-of-way clearing on

windthrow?

8. How will the right-of-way clearing affect wildlife habitat,

biodiversity, Habitat Conservation Areas, and rare and endangered

species?

9. Will wildlife species used for subsistence harvest be affected

by the transmission line and access road? If so, how? Will this affect

subsistence lifestyles?

10. To what degree will the transmission line and access road

affect the visual quality of key viewing areas, particularly at Orchard

Lake and Eagle Lake, which have been mentioned as potential additions

to the Wild and Scenic Rivers system?

11. To what degree will the transmission line and access road

change the quality and type of recreation opportunities?

12. What are the economic implications for the cities of Wrangell

and Petersburg?

Based on the results of scoping and agency consultation,

alternatives to the proposed action, including a ``no action''

alternative, will be developed for the Draft Environmental Impact

Statement (DEIS).

A series of five public workshops will be held upon completion of

the Preliminary Draft EIS. These workshops will be informal sessions

designed to explain to the public the study process and preliminary

findings, answer questions, and highlight any problems that might need

resolving before issuing the DEIS. Their location, date, and time will

be announced in the local media. [[Page 2076]]

The DEIS is projected to be filed with the Environmental Protection

Agency in February 1996. Public comment on the DEIS will be solicited

for a minimum of 45 days from the date the Notice of Availability

appears in the Federal Register. Subsistence hearings, as required by

Section 8 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, are

planned during this 45-day comment period.

The Forest Service believes, at this early stage, it is important

to give reviewers notice of several court rulings related to public

participation in the environmental review process. First, reviewers of

DEIS's must structure their participation in the environmental review

of the proposal so that it is meaningful and alerts an agency to the

reviewer's position and contentions. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp.

v. NRDC, 435 U.S. 519 553 (1978). Also, environmental objections that

could be raised at the DEIS stage but that are not raised until after

completion of the final EIS may be waived or dismissed by the courts.

City of Angoon v. Hodel, 803 F.2d 1016, 1022 (9th Cir. 1986) and

Wisconsin Heritages, Inc. v. Harris, 490 F. Suppl. 1334, 1338 (E.D.

Wis. 1980). Because of these court rulings, it is very important that

those interested in this proposed action participate by the close of

the 45-day comment period so that substantive comments and objections

are made available to the Forest Service at a time when it can

meaningfully consider them and respond to them in the final EIS.

To assist the Forest Service in identifying and considering issues

and concerns on the proposed action, comments on the DEIS should be as

specific as possible. It is also helpful if comments refer to specific

pages or chapters of the draft statement. Comments may also address the

adequacy of the DEIS or the merits of the alternatives formulated and

discussed in the statement. Reviewers may wish to refer to the Council

on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing the procedural

provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act at 40 CFR 1503.3 in

addressing these points.

Issuance of the Final Environmental Impact Statement is projected

in November 1996. The responsible official for the decision is Linn

Shipley, Acting District Ranger, Tongass National Forest, Ketchikan

Ranger District, 3031 Tongass Avenue, Ketchikan, AK 99901.

Permits

Permits required for construction of the transmission line may

include the following:

Federal

U.S. Forest Service

Special use permit

Permit for surveying the right-of-way

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Approval of the discharge of dredged or fill materials

into waters of the United States under Section 404 of the Clean Water

Act

Approval of the construction of structures or work in

navigable waters of the United States under Section 10 of the Rivers

and Harbors Act of 1899.

U.S. Federal Aviation Administration

Notice of proposed construction

State

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation

Certificate of Reasonable Assurance regarding discharge of

dredged or fill materials into waters of the United States

Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit for the

exhaust of any fossil-fuel-burning equipment used during construction

Open-burn permit for waste burning

Solid waste disposal permit

Alaska Department of Fish and Game

Habitat Protection Permits when streams are to be crossed

and when other wildlife habitats are affected

Title 16 Fish Habitat permit for disturbing anadromous

fish streams

Alaska Department of Natural Resources

Tideland lease for structures below mean high water line

Easement for crossing Alaska State uplands

Permit required if more than 500 gallons per day is

withdrawn from any stream

Permits required for log transfers facilities

Dated: December 28, 1994.

David D. Rittenhouse,

Forest Supervisor.

[FR Doc. 95-280 Filed 1-5-95; 8:45 am]

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