[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 108 (Thursday, June 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34432-34433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-12050]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 2816-050; Project No. 12766-007]
North Hartland, LLC; Green Mountain Power Corporation; Notice
Soliciting Scoping Comments
Take notice that the following hydroelectric applications have been
filed with Commission and are available for public inspection:
a. Type of Application: New Major License (2816-050), New License
for Transmission Line Project (12766-007).
b. Project Nos.: 2816-050 and 12766-007.
c. Dates filed: November 26, 2019 (P-2816-050), November 22, 2019
(P-12766-007).
d. Applicants: North Hartland, LLC (North Hartland) (P-2816-050),
Green Mountain Power Corporation (Green Mountain Power) (P-12766-007).
e. Names of Projects: North Hartland Hydroelectric Project (P-2816-
050), Clay Hill Road Line 66 Transmission Project (P-12766-007).
f. Location: The North Hartland Hydroelectric Project (North
Hartland Project) is located on the Ottauquechee River in Windsor
County, Vermont. The North Hartland Project occupies 20.8 acres of land
managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Clay Hill Road
Line 66 Transmission Project (Clay Hill Project) is located along Clay
Hill Road in Windsor County, Vermont. The Clay Hill Project does not
occupy any federal land.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contacts: Blackstone Hydroelectric Project--Andrew J.
Locke, President, Essex Hydro Associates, LLC, 55 Union Street, Boston,
MA 02108; Phone at (617) 367-0032, or email at [email protected].
Clay Hill Project--John Greenan, Green Mountain Power Corporation,
2152 Post Road, Rutland, VT 05701; Phone at (802) 770-2195, or email at
[email protected].
i. FERC Contact: Bill Connelly, (202) 502-8587 or
[email protected].
j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: June 28, 2020.
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
scoping comments using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. Commenters can submit brief
comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the
eComment system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp. You
must include your name and contact information at the end of your
comments. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at
[email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, please send a paper copy to:
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426. All filings must clearly identify the project
name and docket number on the first page: North Hartland Hydroelectric
Project (P-2816-050) and/or Clay Hill Road Line 66 Transmission Project
(P-12766-007).
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 applications are not ready for environmental analysis at
this time.
l. Project Descriptions:
North Hartland Project
The existing North Hartland Project consists of: (1) A steel-lined
intake structure in the Corps' North Hartland Dam that is equipped with
trashracks with 2-inch clear bar spacing; (2) a 470-foot-long, 12-foot-
diameter steel penstock that provides flow to a 4.0-megawatt (MW)
adjustable blade, vertical shaft turbine-generator unit located inside
of a 59-foot-long, 40-foot-wide concrete powerhouse; (3) a 12-foot-
diameter bypass conduit that branches off of the 12-foot-diameter
penstock about 100 feet before the powerhouse, and that empties into a
60-foot-long concrete-lined channel through a bypass control gate; (4)
a 30-inch-diameter steel penstock that branches off of the 12-foot-
diamater bypass conduit about 50 feet upstream of the bypass control
gate, and that provides flow to a 0.1375-MW fixed geometry, horizontal
pump turbine-generator unit located on a raised platform outside of the
southern wall of the powerhouse; (5) a 400-foot-long, 50 to 150-foot-
wide tailrace channel; (6) a transmission line that comprises an
approximately 600-foot-long, 12.5 kilovolt (kV) underground segment,
and a 4,000-foot-long, 12.5-kV overhead segment that connect the
generators to the Clay Hill Project; and (9) appurtenant facilities.
North Hartland proposes to release the following minimum and
maximum flows, respectively, to the downstream reach: (1) 60 and 700
cfs from October 1 through March 31; (2) 160 and 835 cfs from April 1
through April 31; (3) 160 and 550 cfs from May 1 through May 31; (4)
140 and 450 cfs from June 1 through June 30; and (5) 60 and 300 cfs
from July 1 through September 30.
Clay Hill Project
The existing Clay Hill Project consists of: (1) A 2.3-mile-long,
12.5-kV, three-phase electrical line mounted on top of Green Mountain
Power's regional distribution line (Line 66) along Clay Hill Road from
Pole 115 to 62x; and (2) appurtenant facilities. The project serves as
a primary transmission line for the North Hartland Project. Green
Mountain Power is not proposing any changes to project facilities or
operation.
m. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all
[[Page 34433]]
interested persons an opportunity to view and/or print the contents of
this notice, as well as other documents in the proceeding (e.g.,
license application) 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 (P-2816 or P-12766). 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 [email protected] or
call toll-free, (886) 208-3673 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
n. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp 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 intend to prepare a single
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the projects 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. At this time, we do not anticipate
holding on-site public or agency scoping meetings. Instead, we are
soliciting your comments and suggestions on the preliminary list of
issues and alternatives to be addressed in the EA, as described in
scoping document 1 (SD1), issued May 29, 2020.
Copies of the SD1 outlining the subject areas to be addressed in
the EA 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: May 29, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-12050 Filed 6-3-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P