[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 241 (Friday, December 16, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74801-74802]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-7428]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and 
Soliciting Additional Study Requests

December 12, 2005.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: Major license, 5 MW or less.
    b. Project No.: 12597-002.\1\
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    \1\ The applicant has split its Turnbull Drop Project No. 12539, 
for which it holds a preliminary permit, into the Lower Turnbull 
Drop Project No. 12597 and the Upper Turnbull Drop Project No. 
12598.
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    c. Date filed: November 28, 2005.
    d. Applicant: Birch Power Company.
    e. Name of Project: Lower Turnbull Drop Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Spring Valley Canal, in Teton County, Montana, 
about 4 miles west of Fairfield, Montana. The project would occupy in 
part lands of the United States administered by the Bureau of 
Reclamation.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Ted Sorenson, Sorenson Engineering, 5203 
South 11th East, Idaho Falls, ID 83404, (208) 522-8069.
    i. FERC Contact: Dianne Rodman, (202) 502-6077, 
[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. Cooperating

[[Page 74802]]

agencies should note the Commission's policy that agencies that 
cooperate in the preparation of the environmental document cannot also 
intervene. See, 94 FERC ] 61,076 (2001).
    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: January 27, 2006.
    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. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The proposed project would be built at the Spring Valley Canal's 
Lower Turnbull drop structure, which is a reinforced concrete structure 
2,332 feet long, with a total drop of 146.5 feet. The applicant 
proposes to construct: (1) A check structure, consisting of a spillway 
gate panel anchored to a ballast concrete structure spanning the full 
width of the canal floor between new concrete abutment walls; (2) an 
intake structure to divert flows from the left side of the canal; (3) 
84-inch-diameter, 2,340-feet-long steel or polyethylene penstock that 
would be completely buried; (4) a powerhouse containing two horizontal 
Francis turbines and one generator with a rated output of 5 MW; (5) a 
draft tube and tailrace discharging flows into the canal about 40 feet 
downstream of the drop structure's existing stilling basin; (6) a 0.8-
mile-long, 12.5-kilovolt (kV) transmission line; (7) a switchyard; and 
(8) a 1.7-mile-long, 69-kV transmission line extending from the 
switchyard to interconnect with an existing Sun River Electric 
Cooperative transmission line. The project would use flows as they are 
provided in accordance with the needs of the Greenfield Irrigation 
District, which operates the canal. The project would not impound water 
and would be operated strictly as a run-of-river plant. Average annual 
generation would be 13,350,000 kilowatt-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 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 email 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 
Montana State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), as required by 
Sec.  106, National Historic Preservation Act, and the regulations of 
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 36, CFR, at Sec.  800.4.
    q. Procedural schedule: We are currently reviewing the application 
for adequacy. This schedule allows 30 days for the correction of any 
deficiencies and the submittal of any additional information needed. If 
deficiencies and additional information needs require more time, the 
schedule will be revised accordingly.
    Issue Deficiency Letter, December 2005.
    Issue Acceptance Letter, January 2006.
    Issue Scoping Document for comments, January 2006.
    Notice of application is ready for environmental analysis, February 
2006.
    Notice of the availability of the EA, June 2006.
    Ready for Commission's decision on the application, July 2006.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E5-7428 Filed 12-15-05; 8:45 am]
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