Environmental statements; availability, etc.: Tacoma, WA,

[Federal Register: April 17, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 74)]

[Notices]

[Page 19247]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr17ap98-33]

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2016, WA]

City of Tacoma, Washington; Notice of Scoping Meeting Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 for an Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment and a Site Visit

April 13, 1998.

The Commission's regulations allow applicants to prepare their own Environmental Assessment (EA) for hydropower projects and file it with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) along with their license application as part of the applicant-prepared EA (APEA) process.\1\ On February 24, 1998, the Commission approved the use of the APEA process in the preparation of license application for Tacoma Public Utilities' (Tacoma) Cowlitz Hydroelectric Project, No. 2016.

\1\ 81 FERC para. 61,103 (1997).

Tacoma will hold three public meetings, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, to identify the scope of environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. At the scoping meetings, Tacoma will: (1) Summarize the environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (2) outline any resources they believe would not require a detailed analysis; (3) identify reasonable alternatives to be addressed in the EA; (4) solicit from the meeting participants all available information, especially quantitative data, on the resources at issue; and (5) encourage statements from experts and the public on issues that should be analyzed in the EA.

Although Tacoma's intent is to prepare an EA, there is the possibility that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be required. Nevertheless, this meeting will satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, irrespective of whether an EA or EIS is issued by the Commission.

Scoping Meetings

The times and locations of the scoping meeting are:

Agency Scoping Meeting

May 5, 1998--1:00 pm to 4:00 pm, US Fish and Wildlife Service Office, 510 Desmond Drive, Sawyer Hall, Lacey, WA Public Scoping Meetings

May 6, 1998--7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Lewis County, Courthouse Annex, 345 W. Main St., Room 1, Chehalis, WA

May 7, 1998--7:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Mossyrock High School Gymnasium, Mossyrock, WA

All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited and encouraged to attend any or all of the meetings to assist in identifying and clarifying the scope of environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA.

To help focus discussions, Tacoma prepared and distributed a scoping document on April 3, 1998. Copies of the Scoping Document can be obtained by calling Joan Nichol, Harza Engineering Company, at (425) 602-4000. Copies of the document will also be available at the scoping meetings.

Site Visit

Tocoma has also scheduled a site visit to the Cowlitz River Project on Thursday, May 7, 1998, if sufficient interest exists. Those wishing to attend the site visit must notify Toby Freeman, Tacoma City Light at (253) 502-8862 by April 24, 1998. Also contact Toby for information on the meeting time and place.

Meeting Procedures

The meetings will be conducted according to the procedures used at Commission scoping meetings. Because this meeting will be a NEPA scoping meeting under the APEA process, the Commission does not intend to conduct a NEPA scoping meeting after the application and draft EA are filedwith the Commission. Instead, Commission staff will attend the meetings on May 5, 6, and 7, 1998.

All the scoping meetings will be recorded by a stenographer or tape recorder, and will become part of the formal record of the proceedings for this project.

Those who choose not to speak during the scoping meetings may instead submit written comments on the project. Written comments should be mailed to: Joan Nichol, Harza Engineering Company, 2353 130th Avenue N.E., Bellevue, WA 98005, by June 8, 1998. All correspondence should show the following caption on the first page: Scoping Comments, Cowlitz River Hydroelectric Project (2016).

For further information please contact Joan Nichol at (425) 602- 4000 or David Turner of the Commission at (202) 219-2844. Linwood A. Watson, Jr., Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98-10192Filed4-16-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-M

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