[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 210 (Thursday, October 30, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61806-61807]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E3-00139]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


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

October 23, 2003.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric applications have been 
filed with Commission and are available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 1971-079.
    c. Date Filed: July 21, 2003.
    d. Applicant: Idaho Power Company.
    e. Name of Project: Hells Canyon Hydropower Project.
    f. Location: On the Snake River in Washington and Adams Counties, 
Idaho; and Wallowa and Baker Counties, Oregon. About 5,270 acres of 
Federal lands administered by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 
Management (Payette and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests and Hells 
Canyon National Recreational Area) are included within the project 
boundary.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Robert W. Stahman, Vice President, 
Secretary, and General Counsel, Idaho Power Company, P.O. Box 70, 
Boise, Idaho 83707.
    i. FERC Contact: Alan Mitchnick, (202) 502-6074; 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: December 22, 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 Hells Canyon Project consists of three 
developments: Brownlee Development consists of a 395-foot-high earth 
and rockfill dam, a 14,621-acre impoundment, and a powerhouse with five 
generating units producing 585.4 megawatts (MW); Oxbow Development 
consists of a 209-foot-high earth and rockfill dam, a 1,150-acre 
impoundment, and a powerhouse with four generating units producing 460 
MW; and Hells Canyon Development consists of a 320-foot-high concrete 
gravity dam, a 2,412-acre impoundment, and a powerhouse with three 
generating units producing 391.5 MW. Idaho Power also operates four 
fish hatcheries and four adult fish traps. Idaho Power proposes to 
exclude 3,800 acres of Federal lands surrounding the project reservoirs 
and 11 of 12 existing transmission lines from the project.
    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 ``eLibrary'' 
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.
    You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email 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 three public 
meetings. The agency scoping meeting will focus on resource agency and 
non-governmental organization (NGO) concerns, while the public scoping 
meetings are primarily for public input. All interested individuals, 
organizations, and agencies are invited to attend one or all 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:

Agency Scoping Meeting

    When: Tuesday, November 18, 2003, starting at 9:30 a.m.
    Where: Boise Centre on the Grove, 850 Front Street, Boise, Idaho.

Public Scoping Meetings

Idaho Meetings

    When: Tuesday, November 18, 2003, from 7 p.m. until about 9 p.m.
    Where: Boise Centre on the Grove, 850 Front Street, Boise, Idaho.
    When: Thursday, November 20, 2003, from 7 p.m. until about 9 p.m.
    Where: Washington County Senior Center, 115 E. Main Street, Weiser, 
Idaho.

 Oregon Meeting

    When: Wednesday, November 19, 2003, from 7 p.m. until about 9 p.m.
    Where: Lions Club Community Hall, Halfway, Oregon.
    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 ``eLibrary'' link (see item m above).

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

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defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in the EIS.

Magalie R. Salas,
 Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E3-00139 Filed 10-29-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P