[Federal Register: February 18, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 32)]
[Notices]               
[Page 8078]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18fe99-54]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Alaska Project Nos. 11597 and 11599]

 
Ketchikan Public Utilities (Whitman Lake and Connell Lake 
Hydroelectric Projects); Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visits and 
Soliciting Scoping Comments

February 11, 1999.
    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) regulations 
allow applicants to prepare their own Environmental Assessment (EA) for 
hydropower projects and file it with the Commission along with their 
license application as part of the applicant-prepared EA (APEA) 
process. Ketchikan Public Utilities (KPU) received approval from the 
Commission to prepare an EA for the proposed Whitman and Connell Lakes 
Hydroelectric Projects, No. 11597 and No. 11599, respectively.
    KPU will hold three scoping 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, KPU 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.

Scoping Meetings

    The times and locations of the three scoping meetings are:

Agency Scoping Meetings

March 3, 1999
    Whitman Lake, 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM, Ted Ferry Civic Center, 888 
Venetia Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska
March 3, 1999
    Connell Lake, 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, Ted Ferry Civic Center, 888 
Venetia Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska

Public Scoping Meeting

March 3, 1999
    Whitman and Connell Lakes, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM, Ted Ferry Civic 
Center, 888 Venetia Avenue, Ketchikan, Alaska

    All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited 
and encouraged to attend either or both meetings to assist in 
identifying and clarifying the scope of environmental issues that 
should be analyzed in the EA.
    To help focus discussions at the meetings, KPU prepared and 
distributed an Initial Stage Consultation Document (ISCD) and a Scoping 
Document in January 1999. Copies of the ISCD and the Scoping Document 
can be obtain by calling Mr. Don Thompson of Wescorp, KPU's agent at 
(206) 275-1000. Copies of both documents will also be available at all 
scoping meetings.

Site Visit

    For those who intend to participate in scoping, KPU will also 
conduct site visits to the proposed Whitman Lake and Connell Lake 
projects on Thursday, March 4, 1999, if sufficient interest exists. 
Those attending the site visit should arrange their own transportation 
and meet at Connell Lake dam at 9:00 A.M. We will continue to Ward Cove 
and the Whitman Lake hatchery by vehicle. From Whitman Creek, those who 
wish may hike the 0.5 miles up the hatchery water supply pipe to 
Whitman dam. Hikers may need to sign a waiver of liability. Because of 
the remoteness and difficult access to the Whitman dam site, those 
attending the site visit should be physically fit and must wear 
appropriate clothing and footgear. Participants must provide their own 
sack lunches. Those wishing to visit the project sites should notify 
Mr. Don Thompson at (206) 275-1000, no later than Feb 28, 1999.

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 will not conduct 
a NEPA scoping meeting after the application and draft EA are filed 
with the Commission.
    Both 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 must 
be submitted by May 3, 1999, and should be mailed to: Mr. Don Thompson, 
Wescorp, 3035 Island Crest Way, Suite 200, Mercer Island, Washington 
98040. All correspondence should show one of the following captions on 
the first page:

Scoping Comments, Whitman Lake Hydroelectric Project, Project No. 
11597, Alaska, or
Scoping Comments, Connell Lake Hydroelectric Project, Project No. 
11599, Alaska.

    For further information please contact Don Thompson at (206) 275-
1000, or E-mail thompson@wescorp.net, or Carter Kruse of the Commission 
at (202) 219-3023, or E-mail carter.kruse@ferc.fed.us.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-3899 Filed 2-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M