Industries 
Environmental Impact Statements (EISs)
Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Smith Mountain Pumped
Storage Project (Project No. 2210-169)
Issued: August 7, 2009
Commission Staff prepared a final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the relicensing of Appalachian Power Company’s (Appalachian Power) existing 636-megawatt Smith Mountain Pumped Storage Project (Smith Mountain Project). The developments analyzed in the document are located in the counties of Bedford, Campbell, Franklin, and Pittsylvania counties in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Appalachian Power used the Integrated Licensing Process and filed the license application for the Smith Mountain Project on March 27, 2008. Appalachian Power proposes no new capacity. However, Appalachian Power, as part of its application, filed a series of resource management plans that it requests be incorporated in a new license for the project. The proposed management plans cover a range of resources, including (a) erosion and sedimentation, (b) water management (i.e., lake levels, stream flows, and droughts) and water quality, (c) the federally endangered Roanoke logperch, (d) habitat and aquatic vegetation management in the lakes, (e) recreation, (f) navigation aids and debris management, and (g) cultural resources and historic properties.
Commission staff evaluated the proposed plans and recommendations of others in a draft EIS. A public meeting was held on April 30, 2009, in Rocky Mount, Virginia. All comments, verbal or written, were addressed in a final EIS.
In the final EIS, Commission staff recommended the staff alternative, which consisted of the proposed action, with some recommended modifications to the proposed management plans.
