[Federal Register: August 10, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 155)]
[Notices]
[Page 42213-42214]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10au01-63]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Notice of Scoping Meetings and Soliciting Scoping Comments
August 6, 2001.
Take notice the following hydroelectric application has been filed
with the Commission and is available for public inspection:
a. Type of Application: New Major License.
b. Project No.: P-2835-005.
c. Date Filed: October 27, 2000.
d. Applicant: New York State Electric & Gas Corporation (NYSEG).
e. Name of Project: Rainbow Falls Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: On the Ausable River, near the Rainbow Falls in the
townships of Ausable and Chesterfield in Clinton and Essex counties,
New York. The project would not utilize federal lands.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contacts: Carol Howland, NYSEG, Corporate Drive--
Kirkwood Industrial Park, P. O. Box 5224, Binghamton, NY 13902-5224;
(607) 762-8881.
i. FERC Contact: Jarrad Kosa (202) 219-2831, or via e-mail at
jarrad.kosa@ ferc.fed.us.
j. Deadline for Filing Scoping Comments: December 2, 2001.
All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with:
David P. Boergers, Secretary; Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; 888
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. Comments, protests, and
interventions may be filed electronically via the Internet in lieu of
paper. See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the
Commission's web site under the ``e-Filing'' link.
The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all
intervenors filing documents with the Commission to serve a copy of
that document on each person whose name appears on the
[[Page 42214]]
official service list for the project. Further, if an intervenor 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. Status of Environmental Analysis: This application is not ready
for environmental analysis at this time.
l. Description of the Project: The existing run-of-river Rainbow
Falls Hydroelectric Project consists of the following facilities: (1) A
19-acre reservoir having a gross storage capacity of 234 acre-feet at
310 above mean sea level (msl); (2) a 19-foot-high by 435-foot-long
concrete gravity dam having (i) 3-foot-high flashboards and (ii) a
concrete 345-foot-long spillway between the dam abutments with an
average height of 16 feet and an average width of 21 feet; (3) a 77-
foot-long by 22-foot to 49-foot-wide forebay intake structure, and (4)
a 20-foot-long by 16-foot-wide sluiceway section containing a gate well
located at the west end of the spillway section; (5) a 260-foot-long by
25.5-foot-deep concrete power canal leading to (6) a stone rack house
containing trash racks and rakes; (7) two 6-foot-in-diameter steel
riveted penstocks extending 401 feet and 411 feet, respectively, from
the rack house to (8) a 67-foot-long by 40-foot-wide reinforced
concrete powerhouse, housing two 1,320-kW generating units for a total
installed capacity of 2,640-kW; (9) a 200-foot-long, 2.3-kV
transmission line; and (10) appurtenant facilities. The project has an
annual average generation of 13,991,000 kWh. The purpose of the project
is to produce electric power generation for distribution on the
licensee's transmission and distribution facilities.
m. Locations of the Application: A copy of the application is
available for inspection and reproduction at the Commission's Public
Reference Room, located at 888 First Street, NE., Room 2A, Washington,
DC 20246, or by calling (202) 208-1371. The application may be viewed
on the web at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``RIMS'' link, select
``Dockets'' and follow the instructions (call 202-208-2222 for
assistance).
n. Scoping Process. The Commission intends to prepare an
Environmental Assessment (EA) on the project in accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act. The EA will consider both site-
specific and cumulative environmental impacts and reasonable
alternatives to the proposed action.
Scoping Meetings
The Commission will hold two scoping meetings, one in the evening
and one during the day, to help us identify the scope of issues to be
addressed in the EA.
The evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input and the
daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency concerns. All
interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to
attend one or both of the meetings, and to assist the staff in
identifying the scope of the environmental issues that should be
analyzed in the EA. The times and locations of these meetings are as
follows:
Evening Scoping Meeting
Date: November 1, 2001
Time: 7 to 9 p.m.
Place: Best Western, Plattsburgh, NY
Daytime Scoping Meeting
Date: November 2, 2001
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Place: Best Western, Western, Plattsburgh, NY
Individuals needing directions to the scoping meetings should
contact Ms. Carol Howland, NYSEG, at 607-762-8881.
To help focus discussions, we will distribute a Scoping Document
(SD1) outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the EA to the
parties on the Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will
be available at the scoping meeting.
Site Visit
The licensee and FERC staff will conduct a project site visit
beginning at 1 p.m. on November 2, 2001. All interested individuals,
organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. All participants
should meet at the Rainbow Falls Hydropower Project parking lot on Mace
Chasm Road, also known as Old State Road, in Ausable Chasm, NY. All
participants are responsible for their own transportation to the site.
Anyone with questions about the site visit should contact Ms. Carol
Howland, NYSEG, at 607-762-8881.
Objectives
At the scoping meetings, staff will: (1) Summarize the
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (2)
solicit from the meeting participants all available information,
especially quantitative data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage
statements from experts and the public on issues that should be
analyzed in the EA, including view points in opposition to, or in
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource
issues to be addressed in the EA; and (5) identify those issues that
require a detailed analysis, as well as those issues that do not
require a detailed analysis.
Procedures
The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and will become
part of the formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project.
Individuals presenting statements at the meetings will be asked to sign
in before the meeting starts and to clearly identify themselves for the
record.
Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to
assist staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in
the EA.
David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-20064 Filed 8-9-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P