[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 86 (Thursday, May 5, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23863-23864]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-2188]


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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 Procedural 
Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final 
Amendments

April 29, 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.: 2170-029.
    c. Date Filed: April 22, 2005.
    d. Applicant: Chugach Electric Association.
    e. Name of Project: Cooper Lake Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On Cooper Lake, approximately 4.8 river miles from the 
mouth of Cooper Creek in south central Alaska, 55 miles south of 
Anchorage.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Burke Wick, Chugach Electric Association, 
5601 Minnesota Drive, Anchorage, Alaska, 99519. (907) 762-4779.
    i. FERC Contact: David Turner (202) 502-6091 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: June 21, 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 require all intervenors 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 
intervenor 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 and requests for cooperating agency 
status 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.
    m. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The existing project consists of: (1) The Cooper Lake Dam, a 52-
foot-high

[[Page 23864]]

earth-and-rockfilled structure; (2) the 2,620-acre, 5-mile-long Cooper 
Lake Reservoir; (3) two vertical-shaft Francis turbines with a total 
capacity of 19.38 megawatts; (4) an intake structure located on Cooper 
Lake; (5) a tunnel and penstock extending 10,686 feet east from the 
intake to the powerhouse; a (6) 6.3-mile-long, 69-kV primary 
transmission line from the powerhouse to Quartz Creek Substation; and 
90.4-mile-long, 115-kV secondary transmission line from the Quartz 
Creek Substation to Anchorage.
    The proposed project includes all of the existing facilities 
described above, except the 90.4-mile-long, 115-kV transmission line, 
which are proposed for removal because they no longer serve as a 
primary project transmission line. A new dam would be constructed on 
Stetson Creek to divert water into Cooper Lake to provide flow releases 
for fish habitat improvements in Cooper Creek.
    o. A copy of the application is on file with the Commission and is 
available for public inspection. This filing 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 Text Telephone (TTY) call (202) 502-8659. A copy 
is also available for inspection and reproduction at the address in 
item h above.
    p. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the Alaska 
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.
    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 as appropriate. The Commission 
staff proposes to issue one Environmental Assessment (EA) rather than 
issuing a draft and final EA. Staff intends to allow at least 30 days 
for entities to comment on the EA, and will take into consideration all 
comments received on the EA before final action is taken on the license 
application. If any person or organization objects to the staff 
proposed alternative procedure, they should file comments as stipulated 
in item l above, briefly explaining the basis for their objection.

Issue Acceptance Letter--July 2005
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments--August 2005
Scoping Meeting--September 2005
Issue Scoping Document 2--November 2005
Notice of application is ready for environmental analysis--December 
2005
Notice of the availability of the EA--June 2006
Ready for Commission's decision on the application--November 2006

    Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice 
of ready for environmental analysis.

Linda Mitry,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E5-2188 Filed 5-4-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P