Notice of Availability of the Sutter Power Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Western Area Power Administration

Notice of Availability of the Sutter Power Project Draft

Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Western Area Power Administration, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of Availability and Notice of Public Hearings.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with Section 102(2) of the National

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4332, the Western

Area Power Administration (Western) announces that the Sutter Power

Project (SPP) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is available

for public review and comment. Calpine Corporation (Calpine) has

submitted an application to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for

the development, construction, and operation of the SPP, a 500-megawatt

(MW) gas fueled, combined cycle, electric generating facility located

north of Sacramento, California. This project would involve the

construction of additional transmission facilities, as well as new

natural gas pipelines. Calpine has approached Western concerning an

interconnection with Western's Keswick-Elverta and Olinda-Elverta

double-circuit 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission lines.

Western and CEC are ``joint lead agencies'' for purposes of

satisfying the requirements of NEPA and the California Environmental

Quality Act (CEQA), respectively. Western and CEC prepared this joint

Draft EIS/Final Staff Assessment (FSA) to satisfy the requirements of

both agencies, and will hold joint public hearings to receive formal

comments on the Draft EIS/FSA according to the schedule below. Western

and CEC will accept written and oral comments during the public review

period.

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DATES: Written comments on the draft EIS/FSA should be sent to the

Environmental Project Manager or CEC Project Manager by December 14,

1998, at the addresses provided below. Those wishing to make oral

comments may do so at the scheduled public hearings. Western and CEC

will respond to all comments, both written and oral, in Western's final

EIS and CEC's Presiding Member Proposed Decision. The hearings will be

held at the Veteran's Memorial Community Building, 425 Circle Drive,

Yuba City, CA, on November 2, 10, 12, and 16, 1998. Each hearing will

begin at 9:00 a.m., with the exception of an additional hearing to be

held on November 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the same location.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the Draft EIS/FSA may be directed to the

following persons. For Western, address comments to: Ms. Loreen

McMahon, Environmental Project Manager, Sierra Nevada Customer Service

Region, Western Area Power Administration, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom,

CA 95630-4710, telephone (916) 353-4460, E-mail: [email protected]. For

CEC, address comments to Paul Richins, Project Manager, Energy

Facilities Siting and Environmental Protection Division, California

Energy Commission, 1516 Ninth Street, MS-15, Sacramento, CA 95814,

Telephone: (916) 654-4074, E-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, to submit

written comments, or to request a copy or summary of the Draft EIS,

please call or write Western's Sierra Nevada Customer Service Regional

Office or CEC at the addresses shown above. Additional information on

the project and the CEC may be found on CEC's website at

www.energy.ca.gov/sitingcases/sutterpower/index.html.

For general information on DOE's NEPA review process, please

contact Ms. Carol Borgstrom, Director, NEPA Policy and Assistance, EH-

42, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW.,

Washington, D.C. 20585, telephone (202) 586-4600 or (800) 472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Calpine proposes to construct SPP in Sutter

County, California, on a portion of a 77-acre parcel of land owned by

Calpine, that also houses its Greenleaf 1 cogeneration plant. Yuba

City, California, is approximately 7 miles to the northeast; Oswald,

California, is approximately 3.5 miles to the east; and Sacramento,

California, is approximately 36 miles to the southeast of the proposed

project site. The land surrounding the project area is farmland used to

grow rice, walnuts, almonds, and other orchard crops. The SPP project

would consist of a nominal 500 MW net electrical output natural gas-

fired, combined cycle generating facility, a 230-kV switching station,

and a new 230-kV transmission line to connect with Western's Keswick-

Elverta and Olinda-Elverta double-circuit 230-kV transmission lines at

some point south and west of the plant. A new 12-mile natural gas

pipeline would be constructed to provide fuel for the project. Potable

water and cooling water would be provided by an on site well system

that will be developed as part of the project. Sanitary waste will be

treated on-site. The treated and other waste water generated in the

operation of the plant would be discharged to an existing surface

drainage system.

SPP would be a ``merchant plant'; it would sell power on a short

and midterm basis to customers, and on the spot market. Power purchases

by customers would be voluntary, and all economic costs will be borne

by Calpine. Calpine approached Western regarding an interconnection for

the power produced by SPP. This interconnection would require Western

to make facility additions to its existing system to incorporate

additional power from new generation.

CEC, a regulatory agency of the State of California, has the

statutory authority to license thermal powerplants of 50 MW or greater.

CEC's review process ensures that needed energy facilities are

authorized in an expeditious, safe, and environmentally acceptable

manner. CEC prepares all environmental documentation by following CEQA,

and maintains a staff of experts in more than 20 environmental and

engineering disciplines to perform balanced, independent evaluations of

complex projects. CEC has prepared this document in compliance with

California Public Resources Code (Cal. Pub. Res. Secs. 25500, et seq.);

CEQA (Cal. Pub. Res. Secs. 21000, et seq.) and its guidelines found at

California Code of Regulations (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 14 Secs. 15000, et

seq.); and the regulations of CEC (Cal. Code Regs. tit. 20

Secs. 1742.5, 1743, and 1744). The CEC process mirrors that of the

Federal process; CEC's FSA document is equivalent to the Draft EIS.

Western, a power marketing agency of the U.S. Department of Energy

(DOE), is responsible for the transmission and marketing of electric

power in 15 western States through an extensive, complex, and

integrated high-voltage power transmission system. Western has prepared

this document in compliance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the

Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing NEPA (40

CFR Parts 1500-1508), and the DOE regulations for compliance with NEPA

(10 CFR Part 1021).

Because CEC has licensing responsibilities as well as

responsibilities under CEQA, Western agreed to be a joint lead agency

with CEC and to utilize CEC's expertise in siting issues. The review

process was initiated when Calpine filed an Application for

Certification (AFC) with CEC on December 15, 1997. On January 21, 1998,

CEC accepted the AFC as complete which began CEC's 1-year review

process. On February 13, 1998, Western published a Notice of Intent to

Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in the Federal Register (63

FR 7412-7413). A scoping meeting was held in Yuba City, California, on

March 3, 1998. Additional public workshops that addressed various

issues of concern were held on March 25, March 31, June 3, July 14,

August 4, August 6, and August 12, 1998.

CEC maintains a mailing list of those interested in SPP. All

persons and groups on that mailing list have been notified of the

availability of the Draft EIS/FSA. A distribution has been made to

various libraries and other repositories in the project area, as well

as those agencies and persons that have already requested a copy.

Copies of the Draft EIS/FSA are available for public review at the

Sierra Nevada Customer Service Regional Office, Western Area Power

Administration, 114 Parkshore Drive, Folsom, California; or at the

Corporate Services Office, Western Area Power Administration, 1627 Cole

Boulevard, Building 18, Golden, Colorado. This information is also

available at the DOE Reading Room at the following address: U.S.

Department of Energy Reading Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000

Independence Avenue SW., Washington, D.C. CEC maintains copies for

review at the Energy Commission Library, 1516 9th Street, Sacramento,

California. Copies for review are also available at the Sutter County

Community Service Department, 1160 Civic Center Boulevard, Yuba City,

California, and at the Main Branch of the Sutter County Library, 705

Forbs Avenue, Yuba City, California.

During this time, Western and CEC have coordinated closely with

other Federal, State, and local agencies such as the U.S. Fish and

Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the California

State Department of Water Resources, the California State Department of

Fish and Game, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, the

California Public Utilities

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Commission, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and several local

authorities.

The results of these meetings have allowed Western and CEC to

identify areas of concern raised by the public and other agencies. The

visual and noise impacts of the plant and the new transmission line

were a major concern of the people who live in the immediate area of

the plant site. Other more general issues concerned water resources--

the impact to nearby wells by a potential draw-down by SPP; water

quality impacts to downstream users and fisheries; the use of surface

ditches by the project; and potential impacts caused by localized

flooding. Other concerns raised include air quality impacts, land use

issues, impacts to agricultural operations, and the need for rezoning

the site.

The Draft EIS/FSA presents analyses of the no action (no project)

alternative, as well as four siting alternatives to the proposed site.

These alternate sites were compared to the unmitigated impacts of the

SPP proposed location. The potential impacts to each sensitive issue

(water, air, natural resources, cultural resources, visual, noise,

etc.) were analyzed and discussed in some detail in the Draft EIS/FSA.

However, each of these alternate sites were found to have environmental

problems. Alternatives to the proposed project, as well as individual

mitigation measures, are proposed and applied where impacts approach a

threshold of significance. Environmentally preferred options are

detailed for each issue.

CEC will hold hearings on Calpine's proposal. These are held as

evidentiary hearings with two commissioners present. All witnesses are

sworn in and present information to the Commissioners. Each technical

area will be discussed in this manner, so that the length of the

hearing process depends on the amount of testimony that needs to be

taken for each technical area. Following each portion of the hearing

process, the public may comment on the evidence presented. A full

transcript will be available following the hearings.

A decision on the proposed action will be made after considering

comments on the Draft EIS/FSA, both written and those presented at the

hearings announced above. The final EIS will present the full analysis

of these comments and project alternatives that are proposed in the

Draft EIS/FSA and present the final alternative that will be the

subject of Western's and CEC's decisions on SPP.

Dated: October 20, 1998.

Michael S. Hacskaylo,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 98-29803 Filed 11-5-98; 8:45 am]

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