[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 27 (Thursday, February 10, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 7100]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-550]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2100-052]


California Department of Water Resources; Notice of Application 
and Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment Tendered for Filing 
With the Commission, and Establishing Procedural Schedule for 
Relicensing and Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

February 3, 2005.
    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.: 2100-52.
    c. Date Filed: January 26, 2005.
    d. Applicant: California Department of Water Resources.
    e. Name of Project: Oroville Facilities.
    f. Location: On the Feather River near Oroville, California. The 
project affects Federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Henry M. ``Rick'' Ramirez, Program Manager, 
Oroville Facilities Relicensing Program, California Department of Water 
Resources, 1416 9th Street, Sacramento, California 95814. Phone: 916-
657-4963. E-mail: [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: James Fargo at (202) 502-6211, 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 k below. Agencies granted cooperating status will be precluded 
from being an intervenor in this proceeding consistent with the 
Commission's regulations.
    k. Deadline for Requests for Cooperating Agency Status: 60 days 
from the date of this notice.
    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. Comments may be filed 
electronically via the Internet in lieu of paper; 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 and process. The 
Commission strongly encourages electronic filing.
    l. Status: This application has not been accepted for filing. We 
are not soliciting motions to intervene, protests, or final terms and 
conditions at this time.
    m. Description of Project: The Oroville Facilities are located on 
the Feather River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Butte 
County, California. Oroville Dam is located 5 miles east of the City of 
Oroville and about 130 miles northeast of San Francisco. The Oroville 
Facilities are part of the State Water Project (SWP), a water storage 
and delivery system of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants, and pumping 
plants. One of the two main purposes of the SWP is to store and 
distribute water to supplement the needs of urban and agricultural 
water users in Northern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San 
Joaquin Valley Central Coast, and Southern California. The Oroville 
Facilities are also operated for flood management, power generation, 
water quality improvement in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta), 
recreation, and fish and wildlife enhancement.
    The existing facilities encompass 41,100 acres and include Oroville 
Dam, Lake Oroville, three power plants (Hyatt Pumping-Generating Plant, 
Thermalito Diversion Dam Powerplant, and Thermalito Pumping-Generating 
Plant), Thermalito Diversion Dam, the Feather River Fish Hatchery and 
Fish Barrier Dam, Thermalito Power Canal, the Oroville Wildlife Area, 
Thermalito Forebay, Thermalito Forebay Dam, Thermalito Afterbay, 
Thermalito Afterbay Dam, and transmission lines, as well as a number of 
recreational facilities.
    Oroville Dam, along with two small saddle dams, impounds Lake 
Oroville, a 3.5 million acre-foot capacity storage reservoir with a 
surface area of 15,810 acres at its normal maximum operating level. The 
hydroelectric units at the Oroville Facilities have a combined licensed 
generating capacity of approximately 762 MW.
    n. 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-2100), 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 e-mail of new filings and 
issuances related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, 
contact FERC Online Support.
    o. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the 
California State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), as required by 
section 106, National Historic Preservation Act, and the regulations of 
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 36 CFR 800.4.
    p. 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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                 Milestone                         Tentative  date
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Issue Acceptance/Deficiency Letter and       Apr. 2005.
 request Additional Information, if needed.
Notice asking for final terms and            Aug. 2005.
 conditions.
Notice of the availability of the draft EIS  Apr. 2006.
Notice of the availability of the final EIS  Oct. 2006.
Ready for Commission's decision on the       Jan. 2007.
 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 the notice 
soliciting final terms and conditions.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E5-550 Filed 2-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P