[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 3, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10027-10028]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-448]


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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 Procedures for 
Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

February 25, 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.: 2692-032.
    c. Date Filed: February 20, 2004.
    d. Applicant: Duke Power.
    e. Name of Project: Nantahala Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Nantahala River and its tributaries, in Macon 
and Clay Counties, North Carolina. There are 41 acres of USFS managed 
land (Nantahala National Forest) within the Nantahala Project boundary.
    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 
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: April 20, 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 Nantahala Project operates 
in a peaking mode and consists of the following features: (1) A 1,042-
foot-long, 250-foot-tall earth and rockfill dam; (2) a spillway for the 
dam located at the east abutment; (3) a 1,605-acre reservoir, with a 
normal reservoir elevation of 3,012.2 feet National Geodetic Vertical 
Datum and a storage capacity of 38,336-acre-feet; (4) a reinforced 
concrete powerhouse containing one generating unit having an installed 
capacity of 42 megawatts (MW); (5) two diversions (Dicks Creek and 
Whiteoak Creek) that provide additional flow into the project; and (6) 
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-2692), 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 and Request Additional Information.  March 2004.
Issue Acceptance letter....................................  June 2004.
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments......................  July 2004.
Request Additional Information, if necessary...............  September 2004.
Notice of application is ready for environmental analysis..  October 2004.

[[Page 10028]]

 
Notice of the availability of the final EA.................  April 2005.
Ready for Commission's decision on the application.........  July 2005.
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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 final EA.................  July 2005.
Ready for Commission's decision on the application.........  September 2005.
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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. E4-448 Filed 3-2-04; 8:45 am]
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