[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 168 (Wednesday, August 31, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51773-51774]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-4736]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 12608-000]


Alternatives Unlimited, Inc.; Notice of Application Tendered for 
Filing With the Commission, Soliciting Additional Study Requests, and 
Establishing Procedural Schedule for Licensing and Deadline for 
Submission of Final Amendments

August 23, 2005.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: Exemption From Licensing.
    b. Project No.: P-12608-000.
    c. Date Filed: August 15, 2005.
    d. Applicant: Alternatives Unlimited, Inc.
    e. Name of Project: Alternatives Hydro Power Project
    f. Location: On the Mumford River in the Town of Northbridge, 
Worcester County, Massachusetts. The project does not utilize lands of 
the United States.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 
1978, 16 U.S.C. 2705, 2708.
    h. Applicant Contact: Kathleen D. Hervol, Beals and Thomas, Inc., 
Reservoir Corporate Center, 144 Turnpike Road (Road 9), Southborough, 
MA 01772-6232, (508) 366-0560.
    i. FERC Contact: Stefanie Harris, (202) 502-6653 or 
[email protected].
    j. Cooperating Agencies: We are asking Federal, State, and local 
agencies and Indian tribes with jurisdiction and/or special expertise 
with respect to

[[Page 51774]]

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: October 14, 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 
at (http://www.ferc.gov) under the ``eFiling'' link.
    m. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Description of Project: The Alternatives Hydro Power Project 
consists of: (1) The existing 127-foot-long by 15.5-foot-high Ring Shop 
Dam consisting of a concrete 9.5-foot-high spillway topped with 2.5-
foot-high flashboards, a waste gate, and two inlet structures located 
at the north and south ends of the spillway; (2) a 2-acre reservoir 
with a normal full pond elevation of 285.1 feet above mean sea level; 
(3) a restored 8-foot-wide head gated intake structure; (4) a new 23-
foot by 6-foot metal service platform (to be enclosed for a future 
powerhouse) located at the south side of the dam containing three 
generating units with a total installed capacity of 45 kilowatts; and 
(5) appurtenant facilities. The restored project would have an average 
annual generation of 340 megawatt-hours.
    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 three digits in the docket 
number field to access the document. For assistance, please contact 
FERC Online Support at [email protected] or toll free at (866) 
208-3676, or for TTY, contact (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.
    p. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the 
Massachusetts 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 rather than issue 
a draft and final EA. Comments, terms and conditions, recommendations, 
prescriptions, and reply comments, if any, will be addressed in an EA. 
Staff intents to give 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.

Issue Acceptance Letter or Deficiency Letter--October 2005
Issue Scoping Document--February 2006
Notice of application is ready for environmental analysis--April 
2006
Notice of the availability of the EA--October 2006
Ready for Commission's decision on the application--December 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.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E5-4736 Filed 8-30-05; 8:45 am]
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