[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 155 (Thursday, August 10, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48994-48995]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-20202]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meeting

August 4, 2000.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: A New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 2042-013.
    c. Date filed: January 21, 2000.
    d. Applicant: Public Utility District No. 1 of Pend Oreille County.
    e. Name of Project: Box Canyon Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Pend Oreille River, in Pend Oreille County, 
Washington and Bonner County, Idaho. About 709 acres within the project 
boundary are located on lands of the United States, including Kalispel 
Indian Reservation (493 acres), U.S. Forest Service Colville National 
Forest (182.93 acres), U.S. Department of Energy, Bonneville Power 
Administration (24.14 acres), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (2.45 
acres), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (5.29 acres), and U.S. Bureau of 
Land Management (1.44 acres).
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 USC 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Mark Cauchy, Public Utility District No. 
1 of Pend Oreille County, P.O. Box 190, Newport, WA 99156; (509) 447-
9331.
    i. FERC Contact: Mr. Timothy J. Welch, [email protected] or 
telephone (202) 219-2666.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments is September 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

[[Page 48995]]

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 Box Canyon Project is located in 
the northeast corner of Washington state in Pend Oreille County. The 
project dam is located at river mile 34.4 from the Pend Oreille River's 
confluence with the Columbia River. The site is 13 miles from the 
Canadian border, 14 miles from the Idaho border, and 90 miles north of 
the city of Spokane, WA. The existing Box Canyon Project consists of: 
(1) 46-foot-high, 160-foot-long reinforced concrete dam with integral 
spillway, (2) 217-foot-long, 35-foot-diameter diversion tunnel, (3) 
1,170-foot-long forebay channel, (4) auxiliary spillway, (5) powerhouse 
containing four generating units with a combined capacity of 72 MW, (6) 
8,850-acre reservoir at maximum operating pool elevation of 2030.6 
feet, and other associated facilities. PUD No. 1 operates the project 
in a run-of-river mode.
    PUD No. 1 proposes to upgrade all four turbines with new high 
efficiency, fish-friendly runners and to rewind the four generators to 
increase generating capacity to 90 MW. No new structures will be built 
and no construction in the river will be required. No operational 
changes will be needed although peak flow through each turbine will be 
increased from 6,850 cfs to 8,100 cfs which will ultimately result in 
an 8% increase in average annual energy output.
    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. This filing may be viewed on 
the web at http://www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm [or call (202) 208-
2222 for assistance]. A copy is also available for inspection and 
reproduction at the address in item h. above.

Scoping Process

    The Commission intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) for the proposed relicensing of the Box Canyon Hydroelectric 
Project (FERC No. 2042-013) The EIS will consider both site-specific 
and cumulative environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to the 
proposed action.

Scoping Meeting

    In addition to the two scoping meetings on August 14th and August 
16th identified in the July 14, 2000 Notice, a third meeting will be 
held at 9:00 am on August 17, 2000 in the Kalispel Tribal Council 
Chambers at 1981 North Le Clair St, Usk, WA. This meeting will focus on 
the concerns of the Kalispel Tribe to assist the staff in identifying 
the scope of the environmental issues that should be analyzed in the 
EIS.
    To facilitate discussions, a Scoping Document (SDI) outlining the 
subject areas to be addressed in the EIS, was previously distributed to 
parties on the Commission's mailing list.

Objectives

    At this meeting, the staff will: (1) Summarize the environmental 
issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EIS; (2) solicit from 
the participants all available information, especially quantifiable 
data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage statements from 
interested parties on issues that should be analyzed in the EIS, 
including viewpoints in opposition to, or in support of, the staff's 
preliminary views; (4) determine the resource issues to be addressed in 
the EIS; and (5) identify those issues that require a detailed 
analysis, as well as those issues that do not require a detailed 
analysis.

Procedures

    If you are interested in attending this meeting, please contact 
Leslie Smythe at (781) 444-3331 ext. 481 before August 15, 2000.

David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-20202 Filed 8-9-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M