[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 77 (Thursday, April 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19766-19767]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10040]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meeting and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

April 16, 1999.
    Take notice that 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.: 2060-005.
    c. Date filed: January 28, 1999.
    d. Applicant: Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation.
    e. Name of Project: Carry Falls Project.
    f. Location: On the Raquette River, at river mile 68 from the 
confluence with the St. Lawrence River, in the town of Colton, St. 
Lawrence County, New York. The project would not utilize federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 USC Secs. 791(a)-
825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Jerry L. Sabattis, P.E., Licensing 
Coordinator, Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, 300 Erie Boulevard West, 
Syracuse, New York 13202, (315) 428-5561.
    i. FERC Contact: Charles T. Raabe, [email protected], 202-
219-2811.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: June 11, 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 Procedure 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.
    1. Description of the Project: The project consists of the 
following existing facilities: (1) an 826-foot-long dam consisting of: 
(a) a 568-foot-long and 76-foot-high concrete gravity spillway with a 
crest elevation of 1,386 feet; and (b) a 258-foot-long and 63-foot-high 
concrete gated non-overflow spillway with two 14.5-foot by 27-foot 
Taintor regulating gates, two 10-foot-square low-level

[[Page 19767]]

sluice gates, and an intake structure with two 15-foot-square openings 
for future power installation; (2) five earth dikes totaling 2,500 feet 
in length, with lengths varying from 320 feet to 1,015 feet, maximum 
heights varying from 12 feet to 31 feet, each with a crest width of 12 
feet at elevation 1,392 feet; (3) a 7-mile-long reservoir having a 
3,000-acre surface area and a 107,478-acre-foot usable storage capacity 
at normal pool elevation 1,385 feet USGS; and (4) appurtenant 
facilities. The project has no installed generating capacity.
    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, 
D.C. 20246, or by calling (202) 208-1371. This application may be 
viewed on the web at 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 a multiple 
project Environment Assessment (EA) for the proposed relicensing of the 
Carry Falls Project, Upper Raquette River Project (FERC No. 2084), 
Middle Raquette River Project (FERC No. 2320), and Lower Raquette River 
Project (FERC No. 2330), in accordance with the National Environmental 
Policy Act of 1969. The EA will consider both site-specific and 
cumulative environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to the 
proposed actions.

Scoping Meetings

    The Commission will hold one combined agency and public scoping 
meeting to help us identify the scope of issues to be addressed in the 
EA. All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited 
to attend the meeting, and to assist the staff in identifying the scope 
of the environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. The 
meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 11, 1999, beginning at 7:00 p.m. 
in the Barben Room B, Cheel Center, Clarkson University, in the town of 
Potsdam, New York.
    To help focus discussions, we will distribute a Scoping Document 
(SD1) outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the EA to parties 
on the Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will be 
available at the scoping meeting.

Site Visit

    The applicant and the Commission staff will conduct a project site 
visit on Tuesday, May 11, 1999. We will meet in the parking lot to the 
tailrace fishing platform at the South Colton development of the Upper 
Raquette River Project at 9:30 a.m. If you would like to attend, please 
call Jack Kuhn, Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, at (315) 428-5042, no 
later than May 4, 1999.

Objectives

    At the scoping meeting, 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.
    The meeting will be recorded by a stenographer and will become part 
of the formal record of the Commission's proceeding on the project. 
Individuals presenting statements at the meeting will be asked to sign 
in before the meeting starts and to identify themselves clearly for the 
record.
    Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental 
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meeting 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. 99-10040 Filed 4-21-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M