[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 234 (Friday, December 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78319-78320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26715]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 4451-024]
Green Mountain Power Corporation, City of Somersworth, New
Hampshire; Notice Soliciting Scoping Comments
Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
a. Type of Application: Subsequent Minor License.
b. Project No.: 4451-024.
c. Date Filed: April 30, 2020.
d. Submitted By: Green Mountain Power Corporation and the City of
Somersworth, New Hampshire.
e. Name of Project: Lower Great Falls Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: On the Salmon Falls River in Strafford County, New
Hampshire, and York County, Maine. No federal lands are occupied by the
project works or located within the project boundary.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: Mr. John Greenan, Green Mountain Power
Corporation, 1252 Post Road, Rutland, VT 05701; Phone at (802) 770-
2195, or email at john.greenan@greenmountainpower.com.
i. FERC Contact: Amanda Gill at (202) 502-6773; or email at
amanda.gill@ferc.gov.
j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: December 30, 2020.
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
scoping comments using the Commission's eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. Commenters can submit brief
comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the
eComment system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/QuickComment.aspx. You
must include your name and contact information at the end of your
comments. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper copy.
Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to:
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via
any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville,
Maryland 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and
docket number on the first page: Lower Great Falls Hydroelectric
Project (P-4451-024).
The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all
interveners filing documents with the Commission to serve a copy of
that document on each person on the official service list for the
project. Further, if an intervener files comments or documents with the
Commission relating to the merits of an issue that may affect the
responsibilities of a particular resource agency, they must also serve
a copy of the document on that resource agency.
k. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
l. The existing Lower Great Falls Hydroelectric Project consists
of: (1) A 297-foot-long, 32-foot-high stone masonry and concrete dam
that includes the following sections: (a) A 176-foot-long spillway
section with a crest elevation of 102.37 feet National Geodetic
Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) with 4-foot-high flashboards at an
elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD 29 at the top of the flashboards and a
5.25-foot-wide, 4-foot-high debris sluice gate; (b) a 50-foot-long left
abutment section with
[[Page 78320]]
two 8-foot-wide, 8-foot-high low-level outlet gates (only one of which
is operational), that control flow into two 7-foot-diameter, 40-foot-
long outlet pipes; and (c) a 71-foot-long right abutment section; (2) a
40-acre impoundment with a normal surface elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD
29; (3) a 40.5-foot-wide, 20-foot-high intake structure with four 5-
foot-wide, 10.5-foot-high steel frame gates and a trashrack with 2-inch
bar spacing; (4) an 8.5-foot-diameter, 120-foot-long left, steel
penstock that bifurcates into a 5.3-foot-diameter, 85-foot-long section
and a 7.6-foot-diameter, 85-foot-long section; (5) an 8.5-foot-
diameter, 140-foot-long right, steel penstock that bifurcates into a 7-
foot-diameter, 85-foot-long section and a 7.6-foot-diameter, 85-foot-
long section; (6) a 46-foot-long, 30-foot-wide concrete and brick
powerhouse with two 260-kilowatt (kW) F-type Francis turbine-generator
units and two 380-kW F-type Francis turbine-generator units, for a
total installed capacity of 1.28 MW; (7) a 55-foot-long, 30-foot-wide
tailrace; (8) a 260-foot-long underground transmission line that
delivers power to a 4.16-kilovolt distribution line; and (9)
appurtenant facilities. The project creates an approximately 250-foot-
long bypassed reach of the Salmon Falls River.
The project operates as a run-of-river (ROR) facility with no
storage or flood control capacity. The project impoundment is
maintained at a flashboard crest elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD. The
current license requires the project to maintain a continuous minimum
flow of 6.05 cubic feet per second (cfs) or inflow, whichever is less,
to the bypassed reach for the purpose of protecting and enhancing
aquatic resources in the Salmon Falls River. The average annual
generation production of the project was 3,916,825 kilowatt-hours from
2005 through 2018.
The applicant proposes to: (1) Continue operating the project in a
ROR mode; (2) provide a minimum flow of 30 cfs or inflow, whichever is
less, to the bypassed reach; (3) install an eel ramp for upstream eel
passage at the project; (4) implement targeted nighttime turbine
shutdowns to protect eels during downstream passage; (5) install a
downstream fish passage structure for eels and other fish species.
m. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an
opportunity to view and/or print the contents via the internet through
the Commission's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov) using the eLibrary
link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the
docket number field to access the document. At this time, the
Commission has suspended access to the Commission's Public Reference
Room, due to the proclamation declaring a National Emergency concerning
the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), issued by the President on
March 13, 2020. For assistance, contact FERC at
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or TYY,
(202) 502-8659.
n. You may also register online at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx to be notified via email of new filings and issuances
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC
Online Support.
o. Scoping Process.
Commission staff will prepare either an environmental assessment
(EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that describes and
evaluates the probable effects, if any, of the licensee's proposed
action and alternatives. The EA or EIS will consider environmental
impacts and reasonable alternatives to the proposed action. The
Commission's scoping process will help determine the required level of
analysis and satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, irrespective of
whether the Commission prepares an EA or an EIS. Due to restrictions on
mass gatherings related to COVID-19, we do not intend to conduct a
public scoping meeting and site visit in this case. Instead, we are
soliciting written comments and suggestions on the preliminary list of
issues and alternatives to be addressed in the NEPA document, as
described in scoping document 1 (SD1), issued November 30, 2020.
Copies of the SD1 outlining the subject areas to be addressed in
the NEPA document were distributed to the parties on the Commission's
mailing list and the applicant's distribution list. Copies of SD1 may
be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov using the eLibrary link.
Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket
number field to access the document. For assistance, call 1-866-208-
3676 or for TTY, (202) 502-8659.
Dated: November 30, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-26715 Filed 12-3-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P