[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 185 (Friday, September 24, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51751-51752]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24865]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visits and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

September 20, 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.: 2566-010.
    c. Date Filed: March 30, 1999.
    d. Applicant: Consumers Energy Company.
    e. Name of Project: Webber Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Grand River, in Ionia County, near the City of 
Portland, Michigan. The project would not utilize federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: David Battige, Consumers Energy Company, 
Hydro Operations, 330 Chestnut Street, Cadillac, MI 49601, (616) 779-
5506.
    i. FERC Contact: Tom Dean, [email protected], (202) 219-2778.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: November 22, 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 intervenors 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 the Project: The project consists of the 
following existing facilities: (1) a 32-foot-high, 1,200-foot-long dam 
comprising: (a) a 157-foot-long concrete powerhouse section, (b) a 313-
foot-long concrete spillway with 10 Taintor gates and one hydraulic 
flap gate, and (c) two earth embankment sections having a combined 
total length of 730 feet; (2) a 7-mile-long reservoir having a 660-acre 
surface area at a normal pool elevation of 684,4 feet USGS; (3) a 
powerhouse containing two generating units with a total installed 
capacity of 3,250 kW; and (4) other appurtenances.
    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, 
DC 20246, or by calling (202) 208-1371. The application may be viewed 
on the web at http://www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm (call

[[Page 51752]]

(202) 208-2222 for assistance). A copy is also available for inspection 
and reproduction at the address in item h above.
    The Commission intends to prepare a Multiple Project Environmental 
Assessment (MPEA) for the relicensing of the Webber Project and the 
licensing of the Portland Municipal Project No. 11616, in accordance 
with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The MPEA will 
consider both site-specific and cumulative environmental effects, if 
any, of the proposed action and reasonable alternatives, and will 
include an economic, financial, and engineering analysis.

Scoping Meetings

    The Commission will hold two scoping meetings, one in the daytime 
and one in the evening, to help us identify the scope of issues to be 
addressed in the MPEA. 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 environmental issues that should be 
addressed in the MPEA.
    The evening meeting will be on Wednesday, October 20, 1999, 
beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Portland High School auditorium, located 
at 1100 Ionia Road, Portland, Michigan. The morning meeting will be 
held on Thursday, October 21, 1999 beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the 
Lansing Center, Room 202, located at 333 East Michigan Avenue, Lansing, 
Michigan.
    To help focus discussions, we will distribute a Scoping Document 
(SD1) outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the MPEA to 
parties on the Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will 
be available at the scoping meetings.

Site Visit

    The applicant and the Commission staff will conduct project site 
visits on Wednesday, October 20, 1999, starting at 10:00 a.m. We will 
meet at the parking lot next to the Portland Dam powerhouse and fish 
ladder off Lyons Road. If you plan to attend the site visit, please 
call David Battige, Consumers Energy Company, at (616) 779- 5506, no 
later than October 13, 1999.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the MPEA; 
(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 MPEA, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the MPEA; and (5) identify those issues that 
require a detailed analysis, as well as those issues that do not 
require a detailed analysis.
    The meetings 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 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 MPEA.
David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-24865 Filed 9-23-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M