[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 7, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 16959]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-8524]



[[Page 16959]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

April 1, 1999.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: Major New License.
    b. Project No.: P-2661-012.
    c. Date filed: September 24, 1998.
    d. Applicant: Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
    e. Name of Project: Hat Creek Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On Hat Creek in Shasta County, California. About 6.57 
acres of the project occupy lands of the U.S. Forest Service, Shasta 
National Forest.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Terry Morford, Manager, Hydro Generation, 
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, P.O. Box 770000, N11C, San Francisco, 
California 94177, (415) 973-4603.
    i. FERC Contact: David Turner, [email protected], (202) 219-
2844.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: June 7, 1999:
    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.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedures require all 
intervenors filing documents with the Commission to serve a copy of 
that document on each person whose name appears on the 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 Project: The run-of-river project consists of two 
developments: Hat Creek No. 1 and Hat Creek No. 2.
    Hat Creek No. 1 consists of: (1) A 12-foot-high, 231-foot-long 
concrete buttress overflow diversion dam impounding a 13-acre reservoir 
at a water surface elevation of 3,188 feet (referred to as Cassel 
Pond); (2) a 2,270-foot-long, 9-foot-deep, 30-foot-wide canal with a 
hydraulic capacity of about 600 cfs; (3) a 14-foot-high, 750-foot-long 
shotcreted earthfill forebay with an overflow spillway, having a 
surface area of about 2 acres; (4) a 1,600-foot-long, riveted steel 
penstock that varies in inside diameter from 12 feet at the intake to 7 
feet-six inches at the powerhouse; (5) a 43 foot by 56.5 foot 
reinforced concrete powerhouse containing a Francis/Vertical shaft 
turbine with a generating capacity of 10,000 kilowatt (kW).
    Hat Creek No. 2 consists of: (1) Crystal Lake, a natural lake with 
a surface area of 115 acres at a water surface elevation of 2,980 feet: 
(2) a 29-foot-high, 120-foot-long concrete gravity overflow diversion 
dam impounding an 89-acre reservoir at a water surface elevation of 
2,975 feet (referred to as Baum Lake); (3) a 4,520 foot-long, 7-foot-
deep, 18-foot-wide reinforced concrete flume, with a hydraulic capacity 
of 600 cfs; (4) a 414-foot-long riveted steel penstock with an inside 
diameter varying from 14 feet at the intake to 7 feet-six inches at the 
powerhouse; and (5) a 43 foot by 56.5 foot reinforced concrete 
powerhouse containing a Francis/Vertical shaft turbine with a 
generating capacity of 10,000 kW.
    m. Locations of 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, D.C. 20426, 
or by calling (202) 208-1371. This filing may be viewed on http://
www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm (call 202-208-2222 for assistance). A 
copy is also available for inspection and reproduction at the address 
in item h above.
    n. Scoping Process: The Commission intends to prepare an 
Environmental Assessment (EA) on the project in accordance 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 scoping meetings, one in the daytime and 
one in the evening, to help us identify the scope of issues to be 
addressed in the EA.
    The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency concerns, 
while the evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input. 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 Meeting

Wednesday May 5, 1999, 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m., Burney Senior 
Center, 20635 Roff Way, Burney, California 96013

Daytime Meeting

Thursday, May 6, 1999, 9 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., Redding Senior Center, 
2290 Benton Drive, Redding, California 96003-2152

    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 meetings.

Site Visit

    The applicant and Commission staff will conduct a project site 
visit on Wednesday, May 5, 1999. We will meet at the Hat Creek No. 1 
powerhouse parking lot at 9 a.m.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (2) 
solicit from the meeting participants all available information, 
especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage 
statements from experts and the public on issues that should be 
analyzed in the EA, including viewpoints 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 the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed 
in the EA.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-8524 Filed 4-6-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M