[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 217 (Thursday, November 7, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57669-57670]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28605]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Project No. 11566-001-ME]


Consolidated Hydro Maine, Inc.; Notice of Site Visit and Scoping 
Meeting Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

November 1, 1996.
    On August 19, 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) issued a letter accepting the Consolidated Hydro Maine, 
Inc.'s application for initial license for the Damariscotta Mills Hydro 
Project, located on the Damariscotta River in Lincoln County, Maine. 
Initially, the site visit and scoping meetings were scheduled for 
October 22 and 23. However, these meetings were cancelled due to 
inclement weather.
    The purpose of this notice is to reschedule the site visit and 
scoping meetings and to: (1) Advise all parties as to the proposed 
scope of the staff's environmental analysis, including cumulative 
effects, and to seek additional information pertinent to this analysis; 
and (2) advise all parties of their opportunity for comment.

Scoping Process

    The Commission's scoping objectives are to:
     identify significant environmental issues;
     determine the depth of analysis appropriate to each issue;
     identify the resource issues not requiring detailed 
analysis; and
     identify reasonable project alternatives.
    The purpose of the scoping process is to identify significant 
issues related to the proposed action and to determine what issues 
should be addressed in the environmental document to be prepared 
pursuant to the national Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The 
document entitled ``Scoping Document I'' (SDI) will be circulated 
shortly to enable appropriate federal, state, and local resource 
agencies, developers, Indian tribes, nongovernmental organizations 
(NGO's), and other interested parties to effectively participate in and 
contribute to the scoping process. SDI provides a brief description of 
the proposed action, project alternatives, the geographic and temporal 
scope of a cumulative effects analysis, and a list of preliminary 
issues identified by staff.

Project Site Visit

    The applicant and the Commission staff will conduct a site visit of 
the Damariscotta Mills Hydro Project on November 18, 1996, at 1:00 p.m. 
They will meet at the project powerhouse, located on Rt. 215 in 
Newcastle. All interested individuals, NGO's and agencies are invited 
to attend. All participants are responsible for their own 
transportation and should bring a hard hat. For more details, 
interested parties should contact Kevin Webb, the applicant contact, at 
(508) 681-1900 (ext. 1225), prior to the site visit date.

Scoping Meetings

    The Commission staff will conduct two scoping meetings. All 
interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to 
attend and assist the staff in identifying the scope of

[[Page 57670]]

environmental issues that should be analyzed in the NEPA document.
    The agency scoping meeting will be held on November 18, 1996, from 
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m, at the Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection, 
Room LW-4, Ray Building-AMHI Complex, Hospital Street (Rt. 9), Augusta, 
ME 04333. For more details, interested parties should contact Dana 
Murch, Maine DEP, at (207) 287-3901, prior to the meeting date.
    The public scoping meeting will be held on November 18, 1996, from 
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Central High School, 194 Center St., 
Nobleboro, Maine 04555.
    The Commission will decide, based on the application, and agency 
and public comments at the scoping session, whether licensing the 
Damariscotta Mills Project constitutes a major federal action 
significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. 
Irrespective of the Commission's determination to prepare an 
environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement for the 
Damariscotta Mills Project, the Commission staff will not hold 
additional scoping meetings other than those scheduled, as listed 
above.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the Commission staff will: (1) Summarize 
the environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the 
NEPA document; (2) solicit from the meeting participants all available 
information, especially quantified data, on the resources at issue, and 
(3) encourage statements from experts and the public on issues that 
should be analyzed in the NEPA document. Individuals, organizations, 
and agencies with environmental expertise and concerns are encouraged 
to attend the meetings and to assist the staff in defining and 
clarifying the issues to be addressed.

Meeting Procedures

    The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and become a part 
of the formal record of the Commission proceeding on the Damariscotta 
Mills Project. Individuals presenting statements at the meetings will 
be asked to identify themselves for the record.
    Concerned parties are encouraged to offer us verbal guidance during 
public meetings. Speaking time allowed for individuals will be 
determined before each meeting, based on the number of persons wishing 
to speak and the approximate amount of time available for the session, 
but all speakers will be provided at least 5 minutes to present their 
views.
    All those attending the meeting are urged to refrain from making 
any communications concerning the merits of the application to any 
member of the Commission staff outside of the established process for 
developing the record as stated in the record of the proceeding.
    Persons choosing not to speak but wishing to express an opinion, as 
well as speakers unable to summarize their positions within their 
allotted time, may submit written statements for inclusion in the 
public record no later than December 20, 1996.
    All filings should contain an original and 8 copies. Failure to 
file an original and 8 copies may result in appropriate staff not 
receiving the benefit of your comments in a timely manner. See 18 CFR 
4.34(h). In addition, commenters may submit a copy of their comments on 
a 3\1/2\-inch diskette formatted for MS-DOS based computers. In light 
of our ability to translate MS-DOS based materials, the text need only 
be submitted in the format and version that it was generated (i.e., MS 
Word, WordPerfect 5.1/5.2, ASCII, etc.). It is not necessary to 
reformat word processor generated text to ASCII. For Macintosh users, 
it would be helpful to save the documents in Macintosh word processor 
format and then write them to files on a diskette formatted for MS-DOS 
machines. All comments should be submitted to the Office of the 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, 
N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, and should clearly show the following 
captions on the first page: Damariscotta Mills Hydro Project, FERC No. 
11566.
    Further, interested persons are reminded of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedures, requiring parties or interceders (as 
defined in 18 CFR 385.2010) to file documents on each person whose name 
is on the official service list for this proceeding. See 18 CFR 
4.34(b).
    The Commission staff will consider all written comments and may 
issue a Scoping Document II (SDII). SDII will include a revised list of 
issues, based on the scoping sessions.
    For further information regarding the scoping process, please 
contact Rich Takacs, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of 
Hydropower Licensing, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20426 at 
(202) 219-2840, or Ed Lee at (202) 219-2809.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-28605 Filed 11-6-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M