[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 155 (Friday, August 12, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47193-47194]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4369]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission, 
and Establishing a Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and Deadline for 
Submission of Final Amendments

August 5, 2005.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric applications have been 
filed with the Commission and are available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Applications: New major licenses.
    b. Project Nos.: 2545-091 and 12606-000.
    c. Date Filed: July 28, 2005.
    d. Applicant: Avista Corporation.
    e. Name of Projects: (1) Spokane River Hydroelectric Project No. 
2545; and (2) Post Falls Hydroelectric Project No. 12606.
    The Spokane River Project, as currently licensed, consists of five 
developments, one of which is the Post Falls development. Avista has 
filed two applications to relicense the Spokane River Project. One 
application, docketed P-2545, is for four of the project's 
developments. The other application, docketed P-12606, is for the Post 
Falls development only. The separate docketing of these applications 
corresponds to the applicant's filings. It does not reflect any 
decision by the Commission as to whether the Post Falls development 
will be licensed separately. Commission staff intends to prepare one 
draft and one final environmental document that collectively analyzes 
Avista's proposals in both license applications.
    f. Location: Spokane River Hydroelectric Project No. 2545--Spokane 
River in portions of Spokane County, Steven County, and Lincoln County, 
Washington. The project does not occupy Federal lands.
    Post Falls Hydroelectric Project No. 12606--Spokane River and Coeur 
d'Alene Lake in portions of Kootenai County and Benewah County, Idaho. 
The project occupies Federal lands under the supervision of the U.S. 
Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Bureau of Land 
Management.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Bruce F. Howard, License Manager, Avista 
Corporation, 1411 East Mission, P.O. Box 3727, Spokane, Washington 
99220-3727; telephone: (509) 495-2941.
    i. FERC Contact: John S. Blair, at (202) 502-6092, 
[email protected].

[[Page 47194]]

    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 in item k below.
    k. Deadline for filing requests for cooperating agency status: 
September 27, 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.
    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.
    l. The applications are not ready for environmental analysis at 
this time.
    m. The Spokane River Hydroelectric Project consists of four 
hydroelectric developments with a total authorized capacity of 122.92 
megawatts (MW) as follows:
    (1) Upper Falls development is a run-of-river facility consisting 
of a 366-foot-long, 35.5-foot-high dam across the north channel of the 
Spokane River; a 70-foot-long, 30-foot-high intake structure across the 
south channel; an 800-acre-foot reservoir; a 350-foot-long, 18-foot-
diameter penstock; and a single-unit powerhouse with a generator 
nameplate capacity of 10 MW.
    (2) Monroe Street development is a run-of-river facility consisting 
of a 240-foot-long, 24-foot-high dam; a 30-acre-foot reservoir; a 332-
foot-long, 14-foot-diameter penstock; and an underground single-unit 
powerhouse with a generator nameplate capacity of 14.82 MW.
    (3) Nine Mile development is a run-of-river facility consisting of 
a 466-foot-long, 58-foot-high dam; a 4,600 acre-foot reservoir; a 120-
foot-long, 5 foot-diameter diversion tunnel; and a 4-unit powerhouse 
with a nameplate capacity of 26.4 MW.
    (4) Long Lake development is a storage-type facility consisting of 
a 593-foot-long, 213-foot-high main dam; a 247-foot-long, 108-foot-high 
cutoff dam; a 105,080-acre-foot reservoir; four 236-foot-long, 16-foot-
diameter penstocks; and a 4-unit powerhouse with a nameplate capacity 
of 71.7 MW.
    The Post Falls Hydroelectric Project consists of a 431-foot-long, 
31-foot-high dam across the north channel of the Spokane River; a 127-
foot-long, 25-foot-high dam across the south channel; a 215-foot-long, 
64-foot-high dam across the middle channel; six 56-foot-long, 11.25-
foot-diameter penstocks; and a 6-unit powerhouse integral to the middle 
channel dam with a generator nameplate capacity of 14.75 MW. The 
project impounds the upper 9 miles of the Spokane River between the 
three dams and the Coeur d'Alene Lake outlet and influences water 
levels in Coeur d'Alene Lake as well as portions of the St. Joe River, 
St. Maries River, and Coeur d'Alene River. Coeur d'Alene Lake and the 
affected Spokane River, St. Joe River, St. Maries River, and Coeur 
d'Alene River reaches provide a combined usable storage capacity of 
223,100 acre-feet.
    n. Copies of the applications are 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 appropriate 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. Copies are 
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 these or other pending projects. For assistance, 
contact FERC Online Support.
    o. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the 
Washington and Idaho State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs), as 
required by section 106 of the 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 applications will 
be processed according to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. 
Revisions to the schedule will be made as needed.

Issue Acceptance letter--October 2005;
Notice soliciting final terms and conditions--February 2006;
Notice of the availability of the draft EIS--September 2006;
Notice of the availability of the final EIS--March 2007;
Ready for Commission's decision on the application--July 2007.

    Final amendments to the applications 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. E5-4369 Filed 8-11-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P