[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 31 (Tuesday, February 17, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7473-7474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-277]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2686-032]


Duke Power; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the 
Commission, Soliciting Additional Study Requests, and Establishing 
Procedures for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final 
Amendments

February 9, 2004.
    Take notice that 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.: 2686-032.
    c. Date Filed: January 26, 2004.
    d. Applicant: Duke Power--Nantahala Area.
    e. Name of Project: West Fork Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the West Fork of the Tuckasegee River, in Jackson 
County, North Carolina. The project does not affect Federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: John C. Wishon, Nantahala Area Relicensing 
Project Manager, Duke Power, 301 NP&L Loop, Franklin, NC 28734, (828) 
369-4604, energy.com">jcwishon@duke-energy.com.
    i. FERC Contact: Carolyn Holsopple at (202) 502-6407, or 
[email protected].
    j. Cooperating Agencies: We are asking Federal, State, local, and 
tribal agencies 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 l 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 adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the

[[Page 7474]]

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 from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of 
the request on the applicant.
    l. Deadline for Filing Additional Study Requests and Requests for 
Cooperating Agency Status: 60 days from the filing date shown in 
paragraph (c), or March 26, 2004.
    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 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.
    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. Status: This application is not ready for environmental analysis 
at this time.
    n. Description of Project: The existing West Fork Project operates 
in a peaking mode and is comprised of two developments: Thorpe and 
Tuckasegee. The Thorpe development consists of the following features: 
(1) A 900-foot-long, 150-foot-tall rockfill dam (Glenville Dam), with a 
410-foot-long, 122-foot-tall earth and rockfill saddle dam located 
approximately 500 feet from the main dam left abutment; (2) a spillway 
for Glenville Dam located at the right abutment; (3) a 1,462-acre 
reservoir, with a normal reservoir elevation of 3,491.8 feet National 
Geodetic Vertical Datum and a storage capacity of 72,000-acre-feet; (4) 
a concrete and brick powerhouse containing one generating unit having 
an installed capacity of 15.5 megawatts (MW); and (5) appurtenant 
facilities.
    The Tuckasegee development consists of the following features: (1) 
A 254-foot-long, 61-foot-high concrete arch dam (Tuckasegee Dam), with 
24 steel flashboards; (2) a 233.5-foot-long spillway; (3) a 7.9-acre 
reservoir, with a normal reservoir elevation of 2,778.75 feet National 
Geodetic Vertical Datum and a storage capacity of 35-acre-feet; (4) a 
concrete powerhouse containing one generating unit having an installed 
capacity of 2.6 MW; and (5) appurtenant facilities.
    o. 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 (P-2686), 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/esubscribenow.htm to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    p. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the North 
Carolina 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 if the Commission determines it 
necessary to do so:

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                Action                           Tentative date
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Issue Deficiency Letter...............  March 2004.
Issue Acceptance letter...............  June 2004.
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments.  July 2004.
Request Additional Information........  September 2004.
Notice of application is ready for      October 2004.
 environmental analysis.
Notice of the availability of the       April 2005.
 final EA.
Ready for Commission's decision on the  July 2005.
 application.
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    Unless substantial comments are received in response to the EA, 
staff intends to prepare a single EA in this case. If substantial 
comments are received in response to the EA, a final EA will be 
prepared with the following modifications to the schedule.

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                Action                           Tentative date
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Notice of the availability of the       July 2005.
 final EA.
Ready for Commission's decision on the  September 2005.
 application.
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    Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of this notice.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E4-277 Filed 2-13-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P