[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 81 (Thursday, April 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22030-22031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-2011]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 199-205]


South Carolina Public Service Authority; Notice of Scoping 
Meetings and Site Visit and Technical Meeting and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

April 20, 2005.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric applications have been 
filed with the Commission and are available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 199-205
    c. Date filed: March 15, 2004.
    d. Applicant: South Carolina Public Service Authority.
    e. Name of Project: Santee Cooper.
    f. Location: On the Santee and Cooper Rivers, in Berkeley, Calhoun, 
Clarendon, Orangeburg, and Sumter Counties, South Carolina.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: John Dulude, South Carolina Public Service 
Authority, One Riverwood Plaza, P.O. Box 2946101, Moncks Corner, SC 
29461-2901, (843) 761.4046.
    i. FERC Contact: Ronald McKitrick, [email protected], (770) 
452.3778.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: June 20, 2005.
    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 project structures consist of the Santee Dam (also 
known as the Wilson Dam) on the Santee River, the Pinopolis Dam on the 
Cooper River, the Diversion Canal, the Santee Spillway Hydroelectric 
Station, and the Jefferies (formerly known as Pinopolis) Hydroelectric 
Station. The project includes an estimated 179,990 acres of land and 
water resources. The project has two major impoundments--Lake Marion 
and Lake Moultrie--that are connected by the Diversion Canal. Lake 
Marion is up to 40 miles long and has a normal pool elevation of 75.0 
feet. Lake Moultrie is about 10 miles long and has a normal pool 
elevation typically from 0.2 to 1.0 foot lower than Lake Marion. The 
two impoundments have a combined area of approximately 160,000 acres. 
The combined usable storage capacity of the two impoundments is 
approximately 529,000 acre-feet. The total installed capacity is 134.52 
MW. The SCPSA operates the Santee Spillway and Jefferies Stations and 
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) St. Stephen Station, which is 
not a part of the Commission-licensed Santee Cooper 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 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 assessment (EA) 
on the project in accordance with the National Environmental Policy 
Act. The EA 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 two public 
meetings. 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 EA. The times and 
locations of these meetings are as follows:

Agency Scoping Meeting

    Date: Thursday May 19, 2005.
    Time: 10 a.m.
    Place: Holiday Inn Express.
    Address: 505 R.C. Dennis Blvd., Moncks Corner, South Carolina.

Public Scoping Meetings

    Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2005.
    Time: 7:30 p.m.
    Place: Holiday Inn Express.
    Address: 505 R.C. Dennis Blvd., Moncks Corner, South Carolina.

    Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2005.
    Time: 7 p.m.
    Place: Clarendon County Hospital Center, Cypress Center for Health 
and Wellness.
    Address: 40 Hospital Street, Manning, South Carolina.
    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).

Site Visit

    The Applicant and FERC staff will conduct a project site visit 
beginning at 9 a.m. on May 17 and 18, 2005. All interested individuals, 
organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. All participants 
should meet at the Jefferies Hydroelectric Station at 9 a.m. on May 17, 
2005 and at Wilson Landing near the Santee Dam spillway at 9 a.m. on 
May 18, 2005. All participants are responsible for their own 
transportation to the site. Anyone with questions about the site visit 
should contact Mr. John Dulude of SCPSA at (843) 761-4046.

Technical Conference

    Commission staff will hold a technical conference to discuss the 
issue

[[Page 22031]]

of fish passage, entrainment, and outmigration survival related to 
operation of the Santee Cooper Project. This conference will be held at 
the Holiday Inn Express in Moncks Corner, South Carolina at 2 p.m. on 
May 19, 2005. All interested parties are invited to attend. The meeting 
will not be recorded by a stenographer, but the Commission staff will 
prepare notes on the meeting for inclusion in the public record.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (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 EA, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the EA; 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 EA.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E5-2011 Filed 4-27-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P