[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 52 (Thursday, March 16, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14272-14273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-6455]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

March 10, 2000.
    Take notice the following hydroelectric application has been filed 
with the Commission and is available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: New Minor License.
    b. Project No.: P-2694-002.
    c. Date filed: September 27, 1999.
    d. Applicant: Nantahala Power and Light.
    e. Name of Project: Queens Creek Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On Queens Creek, near the town of Topton, in Macon 
County, North Carolina. The project would not utilize federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. Secs. 791(a)-
825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. John Wishon; Nantahala Power and Light; 
301 NP&L Loop Road; Franklin, NC 28734; (828) 369-4604.
    i. FERC Contact: Kevin Whalen (202) 219-2790, 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: May 12, 2000.
    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.
    l. Description of the Project: The project consists of the 
following existing facilities: (1) A 78-foot-high, 382-foot-long earth-
faced rock fill dam; (2) a 4-foot-wide by 4-foot-high horizontal intake 
structure, having a trashrack with 1.0-inch clear bar spacing; (3) a 
6,250-foot-long steel penstock leading to a concrete and steel 
powerhouse containing a single generating unit, having an installed 
capacity of 1,440 kilowatts; (4) a 37-acre impoundment that extends 
approximately 0.7 miles upstream; and (5) appurtenant facilities. The 
applicant estimates the total average annual generation would be 
approximately 5,000 megawatt hours.
    m. Location 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.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 with 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:

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              Daytime meeting                      Evening meeting
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Date: April 12, 2000......................  Date: April 12, 2000.
Time: 2:00 pm.............................  Time: 7:00 pm.
Place: NP&L Corporate Headquarters located  Place: NP&L Corporate
 at 301 NP&L Loop Road, Franklin, NC.        Headquarters located at 301
                                             NP&L Loop Road, Franklin,
                                             NC.
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    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 meeting.

Site Visit

    The applicant and Commission staff will conduct a project site 
visit on Wednesday, April 12, 2000. We will meet at 10:00 am at the 
NP&L sub-station located adjacent to the Queens Creek powerhouse. If 
you would like to attend, please call Mr. John Wishon, NP&L, at (828) 
369-4604, no later than April 10, 2000.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, 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 view points 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 meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and will become 
part of the formal record of the Commission

[[Page 14273]]

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 staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in 
the EA.

David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-6455 Filed 3-15-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M