[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 84 (Thursday, May 1, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23300-23301]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-10769]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2105-089]


Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, 
Scoping Meetings and Site Visits, and Soliciting Scoping Comments

April 25, 2003.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with Commission and is available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 2105-089.
    c. Date filed: October 23, 2002.
    d. Applicant: Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E).
    e. Name of Project: Upper North Fork Feather River Project.
    f. Location: On the North Fork Feather River, in the vicinity of 
the community of Chester, Plumas County, California, T28N, R7E. The 
project occupies 1,500 acres of land administered by the Forest 
Supervisors of the Lassen and Plumas National Forests.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)--825(r).
    h. Applicant Contacts: Mr. Randal Livingston, Lead Director, Hydro 
Generation Department, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, P.O. Box 
770000 (N11C), San Francisco, CA, 94177, (415) 973-6950, and Ms. Janet 
Loduca, Attorney, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, P.O. Box 7442, San 
Francisco, CA, 94120-7442, (415) 973-0174.
    i. FERC Contact: John Mudre, (202) 502-8902 or [email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: June 20, 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 and Procedure require all 
interveners 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 intervener 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.
    Scoping comments may be filed electronically via the Internet in 
lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filings. 
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.
    k. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The existing Upper North Fork Feather River Project consists of 
three dams and reservoirs, five powerhouses, tunnels and penstocks 
connecting the reservoirs to the powerhouses, 230kV and 115kV 
transmission facilities, and various roads, recreation facilities, and 
administrative facilities. Project reservoirs include Lake Almanor 
(1,142,251 acre-feet), Butt Valley Reservoir (49,891 acre-feet), and 
Belden Forebay (2,477 acre-feet). Powerhouses include Butt Valley 
Powerhouse (41 MW), Caribou No. 1 Powerhouse (75 MW), Caribou No. 2 
Powerhouse (120 MW), Oak Flat Powerhouse (1.3 MW), and Belden 
Powerhouse (125 MW). The

[[Page 23301]]

Applicant proposes no new facilities, but proposes to add 33.73 acres 
of lands of the Plumas National Forest to the project because of 
historical and future project use of these lands.
    m. A copy of the application is available for review at the 
Commission in the Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the 
Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``FERRIS'' link. 
Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket 
number field to access the document. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support at [email protected] or toll-free at 1-866-208-
3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659. A copy is also available for 
inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.
    Register online at http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm to be 
notified via e-mail of new filings and issuances related to this or 
other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.
    n. Scoping Process: The Commission intends to prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project in accordance with 
the National Environmental Policy Act. The EIS will consider both site-
specific and cumulative environmental impacts and reasonable 
alternatives to the proposed action.

Scoping Meetings

    FERC staff will conduct one agency scoping meeting and one public 
meeting. The agency scoping meeting will focus on resource agency and 
non-governmental organization (NGO) concerns, while the public 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 EIS. The times and 
locations of these meetings are as follows:

Public Scoping Meeting

    Date: Tuesday May 20, 2003.
    Time: 7 p.m.
    Place: Veterans Memorial Hall.
    Address: 225 Gay Street, Chester, CA.

Agency Scoping Meeting

    Date: Wednesday May 21, 2003.
    Time: 10 a.m.
    Place: Pacific Gas and Electric Company Facility.
    Address: 460 Rio Lindo Road, Chico, CA.
    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to 
be addressed in the EIS were distributed to the parties on the 
Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 will be available at the 
scoping meeting or may be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov 
using the ``FERRIS'' link: enter the docket number excluding the last 
three digits in the docket number field to access the document. For 
assistance, contact FERC Online Support at [email protected] 
or toll-free at 1-866-208-3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659.

Site Visit

    The Applicant and FERC staff will conduct a project site visit 
beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Monday May 19, 2003, and continuing at 9:30 
a.m. on Tuesday May 20, 2003. All interested individuals, 
organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. All participants 
should meet at the parking area on the Lake Almanor Dam (also known as 
Canyon Dam) off Highway 89, just west of its intersection with Highway 
147. All participants are responsible for their own transportation to 
the site. Anyone with questions about the site visit should contact Mr. 
Tom Jereb of PG&E at 415-973-9320.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EIS. 
(2) solicit from the meeting participants all available information, 
especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage 
statements from experts and the public 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

    The meetings are recorded by a stenographer and become part of the 
formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project.
    Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental 
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meeting and to 
assist the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed 
in the EIS.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-10769 Filed 4-30-03; 8:45 am]
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