[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 155 (Friday, August 10, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42213-42214]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-20064]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meetings and Soliciting Scoping Comments

August 6, 2001.
    Take notice 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.: P-2835-005.
    c. Date Filed: October 27, 2000.
    d. Applicant: New York State Electric & Gas Corporation (NYSEG).
    e. Name of Project: Rainbow Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Ausable River, near the Rainbow Falls in the 
townships of Ausable and Chesterfield in Clinton and Essex counties, 
New York. The project would not utilize federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contacts: Carol Howland, NYSEG, Corporate Drive--
Kirkwood Industrial Park, P. O. Box 5224, Binghamton, NY 13902-5224; 
(607) 762-8881.
    i. FERC Contact: Jarrad Kosa (202) 219-2831, or via e-mail at 
jarrad.kosa@ ferc.fed.us.
    j. Deadline for Filing Scoping Comments: December 2, 2001.
    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. Comments, protests, and 
interventions may be filed electronically via the Internet in lieu of 
paper. See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the 
Commission's web site under the ``e-Filing'' link.
    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

[[Page 42214]]

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 existing run-of-river Rainbow 
Falls Hydroelectric Project consists of the following facilities: (1) A 
19-acre reservoir having a gross storage capacity of 234 acre-feet at 
310 above mean sea level (msl); (2) a 19-foot-high by 435-foot-long 
concrete gravity dam having (i) 3-foot-high flashboards and (ii) a 
concrete 345-foot-long spillway between the dam abutments with an 
average height of 16 feet and an average width of 21 feet; (3) a 77-
foot-long by 22-foot to 49-foot-wide forebay intake structure, and (4) 
a 20-foot-long by 16-foot-wide sluiceway section containing a gate well 
located at the west end of the spillway section; (5) a 260-foot-long by 
25.5-foot-deep concrete power canal leading to (6) a stone rack house 
containing trash racks and rakes; (7) two 6-foot-in-diameter steel 
riveted penstocks extending 401 feet and 411 feet, respectively, from 
the rack house to (8) a 67-foot-long by 40-foot-wide reinforced 
concrete powerhouse, housing two 1,320-kW generating units for a total 
installed capacity of 2,640-kW; (9) a 200-foot-long, 2.3-kV 
transmission line; and (10) appurtenant facilities. The project has an 
annual average generation of 13,991,000 kWh. The purpose of the project 
is to produce electric power generation for distribution on the 
licensee's transmission and distribution facilities.
    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.gov using the ``RIMS'' link, select 
``Dockets'' and follow the instructions (call 202-208-2222 for 
assistance).
    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 two scoping meetings, one in the evening 
and one during the day, to help us identify the scope of issues to be 
addressed in the EA.
    The evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input and the 
daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency concerns. 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:

Evening Scoping Meeting

Date: November 1, 2001
Time: 7 to 9 p.m.
Place: Best Western, Plattsburgh, NY

Daytime Scoping Meeting

Date: November 2, 2001
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Place: Best Western, Western, Plattsburgh, NY

    Individuals needing directions to the scoping meetings should 
contact Ms. Carol Howland, NYSEG, at 607-762-8881.
    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 licensee and FERC staff will conduct a project site visit 
beginning at 1 p.m. on November 2, 2001. All interested individuals, 
organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. All participants 
should meet at the Rainbow Falls Hydropower Project parking lot on Mace 
Chasm Road, also known as Old State Road, in Ausable Chasm, NY. All 
participants are responsible for their own transportation to the site. 
Anyone with questions about the site visit should contact Ms. Carol 
Howland, NYSEG, at 607-762-8881.

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 quantitative 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.

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 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. 01-20064 Filed 8-9-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P