Department of Energy April 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) NEPA regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and DOE's NEPA implementing procedures (10 CFR Part 1021), to assess the potential environmental impacts of providing financial assistance for the construction and operation of a project proposed by Leucadia Energy, LLC (Leucadia). DOE selected this project for an award of financial assistance through a competitive process under the Industrial Carbon Capture and Sequestration (ICCS) Program. The Lake Charles Carbon Capture and Sequestration Project (Lake Charles CCS Project) would demonstrate: (1) advanced technologies that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at the Lake Charles Cogeneration Gasification Project (the LCC Gasification Project) to be located on the west bank of the Calcasieu River in southern Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana; and (2) permanent storage of a portion of the CO2 injected as part of existing enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations in the Hastings oil field south of Houston, Texas. During the DOE demonstration phase of the project, approximately 4 million tons per year of CO2 from two Acid Gas Removal (AGR) units would be captured, compressed and transported through a new pipeline connecting to Denbury Onshore, LLC's (Denbury's) existing Green Pipeline. The Green Pipeline is designed to transport approximately 800 million standard cubic feet of CO2 per day (about 17 million tons per year) and currently transports CO2 from natural sources to existing EOR operations along the Gulf Coast. A comprehensive research monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA) program would be implemented on a portion of the existing CO2 EOR operations at the Hastings field to confirm permanent storage of about one million tons per year during the demonstration period. The EIS will inform DOE's decision on whether to provide financial assistance to Leucadia for the Lake Charles CCS Project. DOE proposes to provide Leucadia with up to $261.4 million of cost-shared financial assistance. The financial assistance would apply to the planning, designing, permitting, equipment procurement, construction, startup, and demonstration of the CCS technology and MVA program. DOE's contribution of $261.4 million would constitute about 60 percent of the estimated total development and capital cost of the CCS project, which is estimated to be $435.6 million (2010 dollars). The project will further the objective of the ICCS Program by demonstrating advanced technologies that integrate CO2 capture at industrial sources and monitor the sequestration of CO2 in underground formations. DOE is issuing this Notice of Intent (NOI) to: (1) Inform the public about DOE's proposed action and Leucadia's proposed project; (2) announce the public scoping meeting; (3) solicit comments for DOE's consideration regarding the scope and content of the EIS; (4) provide notice that the proposed project may involve impacts to floodplains and wetlands; and (5) invite those agencies with jurisdiction by law or special expertise to participate as cooperating agencies in the preparation of this EIS. DOE does not have regulatory jurisdiction over the Lake Charles CCS Project or its connected action, the LCC Gasification Project. DOE's decisions are limited to whether and under what circumstances it would provide financial assistance to the project. As part of the EIS process, DOE will consult with interested Native American Tribes and Federal, state, regional and local agencies.

This notice announces an open meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (the Commission). The Commission was organized pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) (the Act). This notice is provided in accordance with the Act.

The Western Area Power Administration (Western), a Federal power marketing agency of the Department of Energy (DOE), will apply the Energy Planning and Management Program (Program) Power Marketing Initiative (PMI), as modified in this notice, to the Boulder Canyon Project (BCP), as proposed in a Federal Register notice (FRN) published on November 20, 2009. As a result, Western will extend a major percentage of the marketable capacity and energy to existing BCP customers. The remaining marketable resource shall form a resource pool that shall be marketed by Western to eligible customers by means of a public process. Western has determined that all BCP electric service contracts resulting from this effort shall have a term of thirty (30) years commencing October 1, 2017. Western is also making new proposals relative to the BCP remarketing effort including marketable capacity and energy, a resource pool percentage, and excess energy provisions, as described in this notice. Western is accepting public comments on these proposals. All comments previously submitted in response to Western's November 20, 2009, notice will be considered in this process and are not required to be resubmitted.

Under section 215(d)(2) of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approves regional Reliability Standard TOP-007-WECC-1 (System Operating Limits) developed by the Western Electric Coordinating Council (WECC) and submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. The primary purpose of this regional Reliability Standard is to ensure that actual flows and associated scheduled flows on major WECC transfer paths do not exceed system operating limits for more than 30 minutes. The Commission also approves the retirement of WECC regional Reliability Standard TOP-STD-007-0, which is replaced by the regional Reliability Standard approved in this Final Rule. The Commission also directs WECC to modify the associated violation risk factors and violation severity levels.