[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 114 (Thursday, June 13, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 40717]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-14921]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 516]


South Carolina Electric and Gas Company; Notice of Revised 
Schedule for Preparation of an Environmental Assessment

June 7, 2002.
    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is requiring 
the seismic remediation of the Saluda Dam, part of the Saluda 
Hydroelectric Project (FERC No. 516). The Saluda Dam impounds the 
48,000-acre Lake Murray and is located in Richland, Lexington, 
Newberry, and Saluda counties, South Carolina. Remediation of the dam 
is being required to ensure public safety, pursuant to Paragraph 
12.4(b)(2)(iv) of the Commission's Regulations, and will necessitate a 
temporary partial drawdown of Lake Murray. The drawdown will lower the 
reservoir approximately 5-13 feet below its normal operating level, 
which varies seasonally, for approximately 20 months.
    On April 16, 2002, the Commission issued public notice of its 
intent to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Saluda Dam 
Remediation Project, which will be used by the Commission to identify 
project impacts and to identify measures that may help mitigate the 
impacts caused by the project. That notice also provided notice of our 
scheduled scoping meetings and our intent to issue a scoping document.
    On May 3, 2002, the Commission issued Scoping Document 1, which 
provided Commission staff's preliminary determination of the resource 
issues to be considered in our environmental analysis and provided our 
proposed schedule for preparation of the EA. Scoping meetings were held 
on May 17 in Columbia, South Carolina and our proposed EA preparation 
schedule was further discussed.
    Following consultations with involved regulatory agencies, it has 
become apparent that in order to prevent delays in the start of the 
remediation work, it is now necessary to revise the schedule for 
preparation of the EA. The revised schedule is as follows.

Scoping Comments Due; June 17, 2002
Draft EA Issued; June 28, 2002
DEA Comments Due; July 15, 2002
Final EA Issued; July 22, 2002

    Implementation of the revised schedule should ensure that public 
safety is adequately protected by allowing dam remediation work to 
proceed without delay. To provide as much opportunity as possible for 
comment on the Draft EA under the revised schedule, we will post the 
Draft EA on the Commission's Web site (http://www.ferc.gov) on June 28, 
2002, in addition to distributing the Draft EA to the mailing list. We 
will also post on the Web site locations in the project vicinity where 
copies of the Draft EA will be available.
    The Commission's receipt of U.S. mail is still being impacted by 
the events of September 11, 2001. To ensure that comments are received 
in a timely manner, commentors are urged to send them by alternate 
means. Comments 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 (http://www.ferc.gov) under the ``e-Filing'' 
link.
    Please direct any questions concerning the foregoing to John M. 
Mudre at (202) 219-1208.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-14921 Filed 6-12-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P