Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs; Finding of No Significant Impact: Express Pipeline To Cross the U.S.-Canadian Border From Alberta to Montana

DEPARTMENT OF STATE

[Public Notice 2442]

Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs; Finding of No

Significant Impact: Express Pipeline To Cross the U.S.-Canadian Border

From Alberta to Montana

AGENCY: Department of State.

ACTION: Notice of a finding of no significant impact with regard to an

application to construct, connect, operate and maintain a pipeline to

transport petroleum across the Canada-U.S. border.

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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Express Pipeline Partnership has applied for

a Presidential Permit to authorize construction, connection, operation

and maintenance of a crude oil pipeline that would originate at a

terminal near Hardisty, Alberta, Canada and cross the international

boundary near Simpson, Montana.

Express Pipeline, Inc (Express), an affiliate of Alberta Energy

Company Ltd., and TransCanada PipeLines Limited, proposes to construct,

operate, and maintain a 24 inch pipeline from Wild Horse (located on

the border between Montana and Canada) to Casper, Wyoming.

The pipeline would transport crude oil from the production fields

in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Kansas,

Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee via the

existing pipelines downstream of Casper. Initially, the pipeline would

be capable of transporting 172,000 barrels of crude oil per day between

Hardisty and Casper. With additional pump stations, the capacity could

ultimately increase to 280,000 b/d.

Summary

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

(NEPA), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 4321 et seq., the Council on Environmental

Quality Regulations for Implementing the Procedural Provisions of NEPA,

40 CFR 1500-1508, and the State Department Regulations for

Implementation of NEPA, 22 CFR Part 161, the Department of State has

prepared an Environmental Assessment of the proposed Express Pipeline

permit. In our Environmental Assessment (EA), the State Department

proposes to incorporate by reference a final Environmental Impact

Statement prepared by the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land

Management for the proposed pipeline in February 1996. The State

Department's EA also includes supplemental information requested by the

Department to review the additional reasonably foreseeable cumulative

impacts from the connection of Express to the existing Platte pipeline

or other pipelines, and in particular, any anticipated construction or

modifications as a result of the acquisitions and/or connection of such

pipelines.

The Department of State is charged with the issuance of

Presidential Permits authorizing construction of such international

pipelines under Executive Order 11423 (1968), as amended by Executive

Order 12847 (1993). Several federal agencies cooperated in preparation

of the Environmental Assessment, reviewing and commenting on the

analysis and conclusions presented therein.

Interested parties were invited to comment on the proposed

application in a Federal Register Notice number 2416, in the Federal

Register Vol. 61, 37787, July 19, 1996.

Based on the final environmental assessment, which incorporated the

final Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the U.S. Department of

Interior, supplemental information on the cumulative impact of the

proposed pipeline and comments received from interested agencies and

responses to those comments, the Department of State has concluded that

issuance of a Presidential Permit authorizing construction of the

proposed pipeline (as described in the permittee's application of May

3, 1996) will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human

environment within the United States. Therefore, in accordance with

CEQ's NEPA regulations, 40 CFR 1501.4 and 1508.13 and with State

Department Regulations, 22 CFR 161.8(c), an environmental impact

statement will not be prepared.

[[Page 49004]]

Factors Considered

The environmental assessment carefully considered a wide variety of

factors including, but not limited to: the physical environment,

consisting of geology, soils, hydrology, air quality and noise; the

biological environment including vegetation, wildlife, fisheries, and

threatened, endangered, or sensitive species; the social environments

consisting of land-use, recreation, visual resources, and cultural

resources. The environmental assessment also considered the project

purpose, alternatives, environmental consequences, cumulative impacts

and other related information.

Environmental Justice

In addition to the analysis conducted in accordance with NEPA, the

Department of State addressed environmental justice considerations

pursuant to Executive Order 12898 of February 11, 1994 (``Federal

Actions to address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and

Low-Income Populations''). Based on its examination of environmental

justice considerations, the Department has determined that the proposed

pipeline will not have disproportionately high and adverse human health

or environmental effects on minority and low-income populations. The

analysis supporting this determination can be obtained from the State

Department Office of International Energy and Commodities Policy, 202-

647-2887.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE PIPELINE PERMIT APPLICATION, CONTACT:

Susan Phillips, Office of International Energy and Commodities Policy,

Room 3529, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC, 20520, (202) 647-

2887.

Dated: August 29, 1996.

Herbert Yarvin,

Director, International Energy and Commodities Policy.

[FR Doc. 96-23938 Filed 9-16-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4710-07-M