[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 249 (Thursday, December 28, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78184-78185]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-22212]



[[Page 78184]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No.: P-2301-022]


PPL Montana; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing with the 
Commission and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Licensing and 
Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

December 19, 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.: P-2301-022.
    c. Date Filed: December 15, 2006.
    d. Applicant: PPL Montana.
    e. Name of Project: Mystic Lake Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The existing project is located on West Rosebud Creek 
in Stillwater and Carbon Counties, Montana. The project occupies about 
674 acres of federal lands in the Custard National Forest managed by 
the U.S. Forest Service.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Jon Jourdonnais, PPL Montana, 45 Basin Creek 
Road, Butte, MT 59701; Telephone (406) 533-3443; email 
[email protected]. Additional information on this project is 
available on the applicant's web site: http://www.mysticlakeproject.com.
    i. FERC Contact: Steve Hocking, Telephone (202) 502-8753; email 
[email protected] Additional information on Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydroelectric projects is available on 
FERC's web site: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower.asp.
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. Project Description: The existing project consists of the 
following: (1) a 368-foot-long, 45-foot-high, concrete arch dam/
spillway; (2) 42-inch high timber flashboards on top of the arch 
spillway; (3) a 145-foot-long, 15-foot-high concrete core and earthfill 
dike with 1-foot-high flashboards; (4) Mystic Lake with a storage 
capacity of 47,000 acre-feet and a surface area of 446.7 acres at its 
normal maximum surface elevation of 7,673.5 feet above msl; (5) a 33-
foot-long, 7-foot-high, by 9-foot-wide concrete intake structure at the 
left abutment of the dike; (6) a conduit from the intake structure to 
the powerhouse consisting of a 1,005-foot-long rock tunnel, a 9,012-
foot-long, 57-inch steel pipeline with an inverted siphon near the mid-
point of the pipeline, a surge tank, and a 2,566-foot-long by 42 to 48-
inch diameter steel penstock; (7) a 60-foot-wide by 85-foot-long 
concrete powerhouse with two turbine-generator units with a total 
installed capacity of 11.25 megawatts; (8) two concrete tunnels that 
extend from the powerhouse into West Rosebud Creek; (9) a re-regulation 
dam about 1.5 miles downstream from the Mystic Lake powerhouse 
consisting of a 19-foot-high, 420-foot-long earthfill dike with a 
concrete spillway with flashboards; (10) West Rosebud Lake with a 
storage capacity of 470 acre-feet and a surface area of 49 acres at its 
normal maximum surface elevation of 6,397.4 feet above msl; (11) two 
5.3-mile-long, 50-kilovolt transmission lines; (12) a 9,363-foot-long 
distribution line from the powerhouse to the arch dam and a 2,068-foot-
long distribution line from the powerhouse to the surge tank; (13) an 
operator village adjacent to the powerhouse with four homes and three 
maintenance buildings; and (14) appurtenant facilities.
    PPL Montana currently operates the project in both base load and 
peaking modes depending on water availability, electric demands, and 
existing license constraints. Typically, from mid-May to mid-August, 
inflows exceed the project's hydraulic capacity and the project is 
operated as a base load plant, continuously generating at maximum 
capacity. During this time, flows above the project's hydraulic 
capacity are captured in Mystic Lake which is gradually raised about 15 
to 20 feet per month until it exceeds the project's current minimum 
recreation elevation of 7,663.5 feet msl. In most years, Mystic Lake is 
maintained about ten feet higher than the minimum recreation elevation 
during July and August.
    After Labor Day, PPL Montana begins to slowly draft Mystic Lake, 
reducing its elevation by an average of 8 to 9 feet per month, until 
the lake is at or near its lowest elevation of 6,512.0 feet msl by the 
end of March. Drafting the lake permits PPL Montana to release more 
water into West Rosebud Creek than otherwise would be available from 
inflows from August through March. During the fall and early winter, 
PPL Montana employs limited peaking to maximize generation during high 
use periods, generally from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. In general, flow 
changes caused by peaking do not extend further than the project's re-
regulation dam which creates West Rosebud Lake located about one mile 
downstream of the powerhouse.
    l. 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 (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.
    m. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    n. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule 
may be made as appropriate.

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                 Milestone                           Target date
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Notice of Acceptance/ Notice of Ready for   January 12, 2007\1\
 Environmental Analysis.
Filing of interventions, recommendations,   March 13, 2007
 preliminary terms and conditions, and
 fishway prescriptions.
Reply comments due........................  April 27, 2007
FERC issues single EA (without a draft)...  July 11, 2007
Comments on EA due........................  August 10, 2007
Filing of modified terms and conditions...  October 9, 2007
Ready for Commission decision.............  November 15, 2007
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[[Page 78185]]

    o. 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. E6-22212 Filed 12-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P