[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 95 (Wednesday, May 17, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28681-28682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7491]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2206-030]


Carolina Power & Light Company; 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

May 10, 2006.
    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.: 2206-030.
    c. Date Filed: April 26, 2006.
    d. Applicant: Carolina Power & Light Company (d/b/a Progress Energy 
Carolinas, Inc.)
    e. Name of Project: Yadkin-Pee Dee River Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The existing project is located on the Yadkin and Pee 
Dee Rivers in Montgomery, Stanly, Anson, and Richmond Counties, North 
Carolina. The project does not affect Federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: E. Michael Williams, Senior Vice President 
Power Operations, Progress Energy, 410 S. Wilmington Street PEB 13, 
Raleigh, North Carolina 27062; Telephone (919) 546-6640.
    i. FERC Contact: Stephen Bowler, (202) 502-6861; or 
[email protected] or Lee Emery, (202) 502-8379; 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 such requests 
described in item 1 below. Cooperating 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: June 26, 2006.
    m. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The Project Description: The existing Yadkin-Pee Dee Project 
consists of the Tillery Development on the Yadkin River and the Blewett 
Falls Development on the Pee Dee River. The project has a combined 
installed capacity of 108.6 MW and an average annual generation of 326 
million kilowatt-hours.
    The Tillery Development includes the following constructed 
facilities: (1) A 1,200-foot-long earthen embankment and 1,550-foot-
long, concrete gravity structure including a 758-foot-long, 62-foot-
high spillway; (2) eighteen, 34-foot-wide by 24-foot-high radial 
spillway gates; (3) a 14-foot-wide bottom-drop trash sluice gate; (4) a 
5,697-acre reservoir, with a normal pool elevation of 277.3 feet NAVD 
88 (North American Vertical Datum of 1988) and a usable storage 
capacity of 84,150 acre-feet; (5) a concrete, indoor-outdoor 
powerhouse, integral to the dam, containing three Francis turbines and 
one fixed-blade propeller turbine directly connected to generators with 
a total installed capacity of 84 MW; (6) a small Francis turbine 
powering a ``house generator'' with an installed capacity of 360 kW; 
and (7) appurtenant facilities.
    The Blewett Falls Development includes the following constructed 
facilities: (1) A 1,700-foot-long earthen embankment and 1,468-foot-
long, concrete gravity structure including a spillway with abutments; 
(2) 4-foot-high, wooden flashboards; (3) a 2,866-acre reservoir, with a 
normal pool elevation of 177.2 feet NAVD 88 and a usable storage 
capacity of 30,893 acre-feet; (4) a powerhouse, integral to the dam, 
containing six pairs of identical S. Morgan Smith hydraulic turbines, 
each pair with its own penstock and headgate and directly connected to 
its own generator, for a total installed capacity of 24.6 MW; (5) a 
900-foot-long tailrace channel; and (6) appurtenant facilities.
    The Tillery Development is operated as a peaking facility. It is 
licensed for a 22 foot drawdown, but managed for drawdowns of not more 
than four feet under normal conditions and one foot from April 15 to 
May 15 to protect largemouth bass spawning. The Blewett Falls 
Development is operated as a re-regulating facility, smoothing out 
flows released from the upstream developments. Blewett Falls is 
licensed for a drawdown of 17 feet, but generally operates with 
drawdowns of two to four feet. The existing license requires the 
release of a continuous minimum flow of 40 cfs from the Tillery 
Development and 150 cfs from the Blewett Falls Development. By regional 
agreement, a 900 cfs daily flow release from the project is required as 
part of a drought management protocol.
    o. Locations of the Application: 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/esubscribenow.htm 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 North 
Carolina 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, at Sec.  800.4.
    q. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule 
may be made as appropriate.

[[Page 28682]]



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               Milestone                           Target Date
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Tendering Notice.......................  May 10, 2006.
Additional Study Requests &              June 26, 2006.
 Interventions.
Additional Information Requests (if      July 2006.
 necessary).
Issue Acceptance Letter................  October 2006.
Issue Scoping Document 1 for Comments..  November 2006.
Hold Scoping Meetings..................  January 2006.
Request Additional Information (if       February 2007.
 necessary).
Issue Scoping Document 2...............  March 2007.
Notice of Ready for Environmental        March 2007.
 Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary   May 2007.
 terms and conditions, and fishway
 prescriptions.
Commission issues Draft EA or EIS......  September 2007.
Comments on Draft EA or EIS & Modified   November 2007.
 Terms and Conditions.
Commission Issues Final EA or EIS......  March 2008.
Ready for Commission Decision on the     April 2008.
 Application.
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    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. E6-7491 Filed 5-16-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P