Finding of No Significant Impact Final Environmental Assessment John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant Modernization Project U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Pacific Northwest Region Grand Coulee Power Office Grand Coulee, Washington March 2012 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR The Department of the Interior protects and manages the Nation’s natural resources and cultural heritage; provides scientific and other information about those resources; and honors its trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities. BUREAU OF RECLAMATION The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. Finding of No Significant Impact Final Environmental Assessment John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant Modernization Project U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Pacific Northwest Region Grand Coulee Power Office Grand Coulee, Washington March 2012 This page intentionally left blank FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant Modernization Project U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Grand Coulee Power Office PN FONSI 12-01 Introduction The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has prepared this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) to comply with the Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This document briefly describes the proposed action, the alternatives considered, the scoping process, Reclamation’s consultation and coordination activities, and Reclamation’s finding. The Final Environmental Assessment (EA) fully documents the analyses. Background The Bureau of Reclamation announces its environmental findings on the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant (JKPGP) Modernization Project. The purpose of the JKPGP Modernization Project is to replace and upgrade existing components of the plant that are exhibiting substantial age-related wear and to increase JKPGP’s operational reliability and flexibility. Reclamation is proposing to overhaul and modernize the JKPGP’s six pumps and six pump-generating units at Grand Coulee Dam. Many of the plant’s principal components are being operated far beyond their intended service life or are being operated below their original design capacity due to physical limitations. In particular, the twelve units that comprise the JKPGP show problems stemming from wear and design that require more frequent maintenance, more challenging repairs, and longer down times. Also, the existing direct coupling of the six JKPGP pump units to individual generating units in the Grand Coulee left powerhouse has created constraints and limitations on system flexibility, including a rigid and unwieldy start/stop sequence for the pumps. As a result, these and other components contribute to growing safety related concerns at the plant, increase the plant operational costs, create limitations on day-to-day plant operations, and impose risks to sustained long-term operation of the plant. These issues threaten Reclamation’s contractual obligations to provide on-demand delivery of irrigation water and accommodate pumped storage at Banks Lake for balancing reserves and electrical load shaping. PN FONSI 12-01 1 Alternatives Considered The EA analyzed three alternatives for the JKPGP Modernization Project: Alternative A – No Action; Alternative B – JKPGP Modernization; and Alternative C – JKPGP Modernization and Left Powerhouse Decoupling. NEPA regulations require the action agency to consider a No Action alternative for comparative analysis purposes. Alternative B is the preferred alternative. Alternative A – No Action Under the No Action Alternative, Reclamation would continue operating the JKPGP’s six pumps and six pump-generating units under the existing maintenance program. Operations to deliver irrigation water, generate electricity, and support balancing power reserves would continue according to existing protocols. Reclamation would continue maintenance and operation of the JKPGP pumps (P1 – P6) and pump-generating units (P/G7 – P/G12) in accordance with current agreements with irrigators and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The existing maintenance schedule would be followed with allowances for emergency repairs or replacements. Maintenance and repair costs, production outages, and time needed to obtain replacement parts would continue to increase based on the aging technology and the scarcity of the replacement parts. Alternative B – Preferred Alternative, JKPGP Modernization Under Alternative B, Reclamation would overhaul and modernize the twelve JKPGP pump and pump-generating units. The overhaul would include work on the unit controls, transformers, circuit breakers, and the fire protection equipment. The main portion of the overhaul work would be completed within the confines of the JKPGP. The modernization program would include inspecting and refurbishing or replacing components, depending on need. Other repairs may need to be performed on the generating units, but due to lack of access to the units, all items in need of repair cannot be fully anticipated. The objective is to repair and restore these machines to ensure reliable operation for an additional 30 years. The modernization is estimated to be completed in 10 to 15 years and will be conducted so as not to interfere with irrigation deliveries. Reclamation proposes to use 1.65 acres near the southwest corner of the Industrial Area as a contractor laydown area for the modernization project. Alternative B includes all actions necessary to fully upgrade the JKPGP. Within this alternative, any number of less comprehensive phased repairs or modernization upgrades could be undertaken. While Reclamation may not ultimately choose to take all these proposed actions to upgrade JKPGP, by analyzing the environmental effects of all the 2 PN FONSI 12-01 actions together, Reclamation discloses the full potential consequences of any combination of actions that may be chosen. The proposed modernization and upgrade work would improve the JKPGP’s flexibility to provide water for irrigation to the Columbia Basin Project (CBP) and to support load shaping and balancing reserves. These proposed improvements and upgrades will not change the essential operation of Banks Lake according to existing protocols for irrigation, load shaping, and balancing reserves; however, they may enable more rapid transitions and/or more frequent incremental changes in daily reservoir levels while the overall reservoir levels remain within established operating norms. Alternative C – JKPGP Modernization and Left Powerhouse Decoupling Under Alternative C, Reclamation would modernize the JKPGP pump and pump-generating units as described in Alternative B. Along with the modernization work, the six pump units would be decoupled from the Grand Coulee left powerhouse and would be tied directly to the transmission grid. The modernization is estimated to be completed in 10 to 15 years and will be conducted so as not to interfere with irrigation deliveries. Currently, the pump units (P1 - P6) are connected to the left powerhouse generating units G1, G2, and G3 by an isolated-phase bus that runs along the face of Grand Coulee Dam. The bus is deteriorating and demands on-going maintenance that can only be completed in the winter to avoid taking the pumps off-line during the critical irrigation season. The decoupling of the JKPGP from the left powerhouse would allow Reclamation to decommission the bus and alleviate these maintenance and related safety issues. Decoupling would require one additional transformer. Depending on the space requirements of the new and replacement equipment needed for the decoupling portion of the modernization project, it may be necessary to relocate the fire station that is presently located in JKPGP. The preferred new location of fire station is near the back entrance gate of the Industrial Area. There are two potential options for the new firehouse; one being a single story 100-foot by 100-foot building and the other being a two-story 50-foot by 100- foot building. PN FONSI 12-01 3 Environmental Consequences Hydrology Hydrological model results show that the proposed modernization of the JKPGP would not significantly change Banks Lake reservoir elevations. Under the preferred alternative: Banks Lake elevations, throughout the year, would remain within the existing typical operating range of elevation 1565 feet to elevation 1570 feet. Irrigation deliveries to the CBP would be unaffected. The summer draft to elevation 1565 feet for flow augmentation would be unaffected. There could be some increase in daily fluctuations in lake elevations, but daily changes in elevations would be within several inches of what currently occurs. Water Quality Under the preferred alternative, no water quality impacts are anticipated because of the Reclamation plan to overhaul the JKPGP. Current operation schedules dictate that Banks Lake elevation change is limited to a 2.5- to 5-foot change. It has been suggested that increased shoreline erosion may occur outside of the 2.5- to 5-foot operating window, but none of the alternatives propose increasing the operating window beyond the 5-foot margin. The project will not result in the addition or change in other pollutants of concern, concentrations, or expression such