[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 34 (Thursday, February 20, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8294-8295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-4120]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Application Tendered for Filing with the Commission, 
Soliciting Additional Study Requests, and Establishing Procedural 
Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final 
Amendments

February 13, 2003.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric subsequent license 
application has been filed with the Commission and is available for 
public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: New License for a Major Water Power 
Project.
    b. Project No.: P-2181-014.
    c. Date filed: February 10, 2003.
    d. Applicant: Northern States Power Company (d/b/a Xcel Energy).
    e. Name of Project: Menomonie Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Red Cedar River, City of Menomonie, Dunn 
County, Wisconsin. This project would not use federal lands and there 
are no federal lands within the project's boundary.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)--825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. William Zawacki, Director, Hydro Plants, 
or Ms. Kristina Bourget, Esq., Northern States Power Company (d/b/a 
Xcel Energy), 1414 West Hamilton Avenue, PO Box 8, Eau Claire, 
Wisconsin 54702-0008, 715-836-1136 or 715-839-1305, respectively, or 
Mr. William J. Madden, Jr., Esq., Winston and Strawn, 1400 L Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20005-3502, 202-371-5715.
    i. FERC Contact: John Ramer, [email protected] (202) 502-8969.
    j. Cooperating Agencies: We are asking Federal, state, and local 
agencies and Indian tribes with jurisdiction and/or special expertise 
with respect to environmental issues to cooperate with us in the 
preparation of the environmental document. Agencies who would like to 
request cooperating status should follow the instructions for filing 
comments described in item k below.
    k. Pursuant to Section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's 
regulations, if any resource agency, Indian tribe, or person believes 
that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to 
form an factual basis for complete analysis of the application on its 
merit, the resource agency, Indian tribe, or person must file a request 
for a study with the Commission not later than 60 days after the 
application filing( i.e., by April 10, 2003.) and serve a copy of the 
request on the applicant.
    l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for 
cooperating agency status: April 10, 2003.
    All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: 
Magalie R. Salas, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
    The Commission's rules of practice require all intervenors filing 
documents with the Commission to serve a copy of that document on each 
person 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.
    Additional study requests may be filed electronically via the 
Internet in lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages 
electronic filing.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. After logging into the e-Filing system, select ``Comment 
on Filing'' from the Filing Type Selection screen and continue with the 
filing process.''
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The Menomonie Hydroelectric Project 
consists of the following existing facilities: (1) A 624-foot-long by 
about 40-foot-high dam, topped with five, 40-foot-wide by 19-foot-high 
and one, 9-foot-high by 25-foot-wide, steel Tainter gates and with a 
total dam discharge capacity of 62,000 cubic feet per second(cfs); (2) 
a 1,405-acre reservoir (Lake Menomin) with a gross storage capacity of 
about 15,000-acre feet; (3) a 72-foot-long by about 50-foot-wide by 40-
foot-high powerhouse containing two, vertical-shaft Kaplan turbine-
generators with a combined total maximum hydraulic capacity of 2,700 
cfs and with a total installed generating capacity of about 5.4 
megawatts (MW) and producing a total of 23,358,292 kilowatt-hours (kWh) 
annually; (4) a substation containing a 69 kilovolt (kV) bus from which 
power flows to serve the applicant's interconnected electrical system 
or to a 12.5 kv local distribution system; along with (5) appurtenant 
facilities, such as, govenors and electric switchgear. The dam and 
existing project facilities are owned by Northern States Power Company 
(d/b/a Xcel Energy).
    o. A copy of the application is on file with the Commission and is 
available for public inspection. This filing may also be viewed on the 
web at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``FERRIS'' link--select ``Docket 
'' and follow the instructions. For assistance, please contact 
FERC Online Support at [email protected] or toll free at (866) 
208-3676 or for TYY, contact (202) 502-8659. A copy is also available 
for inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.
    p. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the 
Wisconsin State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), as required by 
Sec.  106, National Historic Preservation Act, and the regulations of 
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 36 CFR 800.4.
    q. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will 
be processed according to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. 
Revisions to the schedule will be made as appropriate. The Commission 
staff proposes to issue one environmental assessment rather than issue 
a draft and final EA. Comments, terms and conditions, recommendations, 
prescriptions, and reply comments, if any, will be addressed in an EA 
issued in the spring of 2004.
    Issue Acceptance or Deficiency Letter--June 2003.
    Issue Scoping Document--July 2003.

[[Page 8295]]

    Notice that application is ready for environmental analysis--
October 2003.
    Notice of the availability of the EA--March 2004.
    Ready for Commission decision on the application--May 2004.
    Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice 
of ready for environmental analysis.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-4120 Filed 2-19-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P