[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 72 (Thursday, April 13, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19888-19889]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-9165]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

April 7, 2000.

    Take notice that the Commission intends to hold scoping meetings 
for the following hydroelectric application which has been filed with 
the Commission:
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: P-2056-016.
    c. Date filed: December 21, 1998.
    d. Applicant: Northern States Power Company.
    e. Name of Project: St. Anthony Falls Project.
    f. Location: On the Mississippi River, near Minneapolis and St. 
Paul, Hennepin County, Minnesota.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mark H. Holmberg, P.E., Northern States Power 
Company, 414 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55401, (612) 330-6568.
    i. FERC Contact: Any questions on this notice should be addressed 
to Monte TerHaar, E-mail address [email protected], or 
telephone (202) 219-2768.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: 30 days after date of 
scoping meeting. All documents (original and eight copies) should be 
filed with: June 9, 2000.
    All documents should be filed with David P. Boergers, Secretary 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426.
    Please include the project number (P-2056-016) on any comments, 
motions or protests filed.
    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 Project: The Project consists of the following 
existing facilities located across from the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers Upper Saint Anthony Lock: (1) Horseshoe Dam, 1 1,952-foot-
long concrete, timber, and rock structure topped with 1.6-foot-high 
wooden flashboards; (2) the main spillway, a concrete, timber and rock 
structure 425 feet wide and 150 feet-long; (3) a 340-foot-long roll 
dam; (4) a 358-acre reservoir with a normal pool water surface 
elevation of 799.2 feet NGVD, and a total storage capacity of 967 acre-
feet; (5) a concrete and masonry powerhouse, 133 feet long by 92 feet 
wide; (6) 5 turbines with a total installed capacity of 12,400 
kilowatts, and a maximum hydraulic capacity of 4,025 cfs, producing an 
average of 79,518 megawatthours annually; and (7) four 115-kilovolt 
primary transmission lines; and 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 20426, or by calling (202) 208-1371. The application may be viewed 
on the web at http://www.ferc.fed.us/online/rimns.htm or 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 E.A.
    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:

Daytime Meeting: Tuesday, May 9, 2000 at 1 p.m.
Evening Meeting: Tuesday, May 9, 2000 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Audtiorium--St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, Third Ave. SE & 
Mississippi River, Minneapolis, MN 55414, Phone: 612-647-4010.

    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 Tuesday, May 9, 2000 starting at 3:00 p.m. We will meet at the 
parking lot near the project powerhouse which is adjacent to the 
laboratory. Those who wish to attend the site visit should contact 
Lloyd Everhart of NSP at 715-839-2692 on or before May 5, 2000.

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 resource 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.

[[Page 19889]]

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 meeting 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 this issue to be addressed 
in the EA.

David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-9165 Filed 4-12-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M