Western Area Power Administration April 16, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Western Area Power Administration (Western), an agency of the Department of Energy (DOE), intends to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed interconnection of the Grande Prairie Wind Farm (Project) in Holt County, near the city of O'Neill, Nebraska. Grande Prairie Wind, LLC (Grande Prairie Wind), a majority- owned subsidiary of Midwest Wind Energy, LLC, has applied to Western to interconnect their proposed wind energy generation project to Western's power transmission system. Western's Federal action would be to execute an interconnection agreement with Grande Prairie Wind and make any necessary modifications to the transmission system to accommodate the interconnection at Grande Prairie Wind's expense. Western is issuing this notice to inform the public and interested parties about Western's intent to prepare an EIS, conduct a public scoping process, and invite the public to comment on the scope, proposed action, alternatives, and other issues to be addressed in the EIS. Construction activities proposed by Grande Prairie Wind may affect floodplains and wetlands, so this Notice of Intent (NOI) also serves as a notice of proposed floodplain or wetland action in accordance with DOE floodplain and wetland environmental review requirements.