ML021640258
| ML021640258 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Diablo Canyon  |
| Issue date: | 05/31/2002 |
| From: | Jereb T Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin |
| To: | Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, US Federal Judiciary, Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of California |
| References | |
| 01-30923 DM, 94-0742640 | |
| Download: ML021640258 (4) | |
Text
1 JAMES L. LOPES (No. 63678)
JANET A. NEXON (No. 104747) 2 JULIE B. LANDAU (No. 162038)
HOWARD, RICE, NEMEROVSKI, CANADY, 3
FALK & RABKIN A Professional Corporation 4
Three Embarcadero Center, 7th Floor San Francisco, California 94111-4065 5
Telephone:
415/434-1600 Facsimile:
415/217-5910 6
Attorneys for Debtor and Debtor in Possession 7
PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY 8
UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT 9
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 11 In re Case No. 01-30923 DM 12 PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC Chapter 11 Case 13 COMPANY, a California corporation, PIKE Date:
June 20, 2002 14 Debtor.
Time:
1:30 p.m.
I Place:
235 Pine Street, 22nd Floor 15 San Francisco, California Federal I.D. No. 94-0742640 16 17 18 DECLARATION OF THOMAS A. JEREB IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR AUTHORIZATION TO INCUR EXPENDITURES 19 RELATED TO THE FERC LICENSE APPLICATION FOR HAMILTON BRANCH HYDROELECTRIC FACILITY 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 DECLARATION OF THOMAS A. JEREB
1 I, Thomas A. Jereb, declare:
2
- 1.
I am the Senior Project Manager in the Power Generation Department for 3
Pacific Gas and Electric Company ("PG&E"), the debtor and debtor-in-possession in this 4
Chapter 11 case. I am the Project Manager for PG&E's preparation and filing of a re 5
licensing application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") for certain 6
PG&E hydroelectric facilities that are part of the Upper North Fork Feather River Project 7
("Feather River Project"). This declaration is submitted in support of PG&E's Motion for 8
Authorization to Incur Expenditures related to the FERC License Application for Hamilton 9
Branch Hydroelectric Facility (the "Motion"). Defined terms used herein shall have the 10 meanings set forth in the Motion. I make this declaration from personal knowledge, except 11 where otherwise noted, and if called as a witness, could and would testify competently to the 12 matters set forth herein.
HOWAf 13
- 2.
The Hamilton Branch Hydroelectric Facility ("Hamilton Branch") is OWAR 14 located in Plumas and Lassen Counties, California, in the same general area as the PG&E M41(
&RAMQN 15 hydroelectric facilities that are part of the Feather River Project. FERC has previously 16 advised PG&E that Hamilton Branch did not require aFERC license. However, PG&E has 17 agreed to apply for a license for Hamilton Branch pursuant to Section VI. D. 1. of the 18 Disclosure Statement. As part of my responsibilities as Project Manager for the Feather 19 River Project, I am responsible for fulfilling the commitment in the Disclosure Statement 20 regarding Hamilton Branch.
21
- 3.
The first and most immediate step in preparing the application for a FERC 22 license is to perform environmental studies and prepare environmental reports (collectively, 23 the "Environmental Studies") for Hamilton Branch. The Environmental Studies are required 24 as part of the FERC-mandated "Environmental Report" to be included as part of the license 25 application, and include the following study areas: (i) water use and quality; (ii) fish, wildlife 26 and botanical resources; (iii) historical and archeological resources; (iv) recreational 27 resources; and (v) land management and aesthetics. After the Environmental Studies are 28 completed, a draft of the license application, including the Environmental Report, must be DECLARATION OF THOMAS 1
made available to various resource agencies (state and federal) and Indian tribes for 2
comment during a 90-day review period. In addition, PG&E typically makes the draft 3
license application available to the public for comment during this same time period.
4 Depending on the comments received, the Environmental Report may need to be amended 5
before it is filed with FERC.
6
- 4.
PG&E intends to file its re-license application for the Feather River Project 7
with FERC by October 31, 2002. After the re-license application is filed and FERC has 8
reviewed it, FERC will establish a deadline for filing amendments to the application, 9
including an amendment related to Hamilton Branch. PG&E anticipates that the amendment 10 deadline may be set as early as June 1, 2003.
11
- 5.
PG&E has hired a number of consultants to prepare the environmental 12 studies and reports required for the Feather River Project, and would like to use these same HcM&.RD 13 consultants for the Environmental Studies required in connection with Hamilton Branch.
PIKE N'=WXC 14 These consultants and their areas of expertise are set forth below. As the project proceeds, it mLK A,*..Id C
15 may be necessary to retain additional consultants that are not identified here. However, the 16 budget set forth herein includes anticipated expenses for all consulting work that may be 17 required in connection with the Environmental Studies.
18 Consultant Firm Study Subject 19 Foster Wheeler Environmental Corp.
Land Use, Visual 20 EDAW Inc.
Recreation Confluence Research and Consulting Boating and Fishing 21 Resource Decisions Recreation Economics ECORP Consulting, Inc.
Aquatic 22 Garcia and Associates Amphibians and Rare Plants Spring Rivers Ecological Sciences Mollusk 23 Hydroacoustic Technology, Inc.
Fish Entrainment Thomas R. Payne & Assoc, Fisheries and Water Temperature 24 Entrix, Inc.
Geomorphology Wreco Sediments and Erosion 25 PAR Environmental Prehistoric and Historic Resources Albian Environmental Cultural Resources 26
- 6.
PG&E estimates that the total expenses for the Environmental Studies and 27 any related follow-up work will be approximately $1 million.
28 DECLARATION OF THOMAS 1
- 7.
Because the consultants described above are already under contract with 2
PG&E for similar work in connection with the Feather River Project, PG&E believes that 3
the overall costs of preparing an application for a FERC license for Hamilton Branch can be 4
minimized by amending the Feather River Project application to add Hamilton Branch, and 5
by using these same consultants.
6
- 8.
The work required to perform the Environmental Studies is season 7
dependent. Many of the studies must be commenced prior to the summer season or they risk 8
being delayed an entire year. If the Environmental Studies are not performed during the 9
summer of 2002, the delay could jeopardize Gen's ability to apply for a FERC license for 10 Hamilton Branch in a timely manner. Therefore, it is critical that this work begin now, in 11 advance of Plan confirmation.
12
- 9.
To the extent that subsequent events demonstrate that the Environmental 13 Studies will not be necessary, the work can be terminated immediately. PG&E's standard N
14 contractual provisions in place with the consultants listed above do not guarantee any future MN.(
&RtAN(IN 15 work or any minimum amount of revenue. PG&E also maintains the right to terminate the 16 contracts at any time without case, in which case PG&E is liable only for the work 17 performed to the date of termination plus costs reasonably incurred by the consultants in 18 terminating any work in progress.
19 I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the United States that the 20 foregoing is true and correct, and that this declaration was executed at San Francisco, 21 California on May 31, 2002.
22
_Z 7
23 THOMAS A. JR.EB 24 WD053002/I-1419905/998136/v1 25 26 27 28 DECLARATION OF THOMAS A. JEREB