FERC will issue Scoping Document 1 (SD-1) concurrently with the Notice of Commencement.
SD-1 outlines the issues that the environmental document will evaluate. It includes a short description of the project; No-Action Alternative (namely, renewal of the existing license without modification); Action Alternatives, such as a range of new or modified conditions in a new license; and yet other alternatives that FERC proposes to eliminate from further analysis. It will also categorize the project impacts to be analyzed. It will also list comprehensive plans relevant to the licensing decision.1
SD-1 also outlines a proposed process plan. It sets the date and location for a scoping meeting and site visit where OEP staff will take oral comments on the PAD and SD-1 it. It requests that participants also file written comments. Such written comments must include any information or study requests to supplement the existing information in the PAD. Finally, SD-1 establishes due dates for these comments.2
Within 30 days after the issuance of the Notice of Commencement and SD-1, OEP staff will host a scoping meeting in the project vicinity, including an actual site visit. This meeting is open to all interested participants. OEP staff are there to receive preliminary oral comments on: the environmental baseline and project impacts included in SD-1, adequacy of existing information in the PAD to analyze such impacts, and applicable management requirements for protection, mitigation, or enhancement of natural resources. They also will receive oral comments on the Process Plan, including provisions for inter-agency cooperation in the preparation of the environmental document.
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See 18 C.F.R. § 5.8(c).
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See id. See also 40 C.F.R. § 1501.7.
