[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 137 (Wednesday, July 16, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40864-40865]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-16211]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. P-503-048]


Idaho Power Company; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing 
With the Commission, Soliciting Additional Study Requests, and 
Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for 
Submission of Final Amendments

July 9, 2008.
    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-503-048.
    c. Date Filed: June 26, 2008.
    d. Applicant: Idaho Power Company.
    e. Name of Project: Swan Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The Swan Falls Hydroelectric Project is located on the 
Snake River at river mile (RM) 457.7 in Ada and Owyhee counties of 
southwestern Idaho and lies about 35 miles southwest of Boise. Access 
to the Swan Falls Project is by road from Kuna, located about 19 miles 
north of the project. The application states that the project occupies 
528.84 acres of lands of the United States within the Snake River Birds 
of Prey National Conservation Area, including 30.66 acres of federally 
administered lands set aside in the early 1900's for power production 
development.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Tom Saldin, Senior Vice President and 
General Counsel, Idaho Power Company, P.O. Box 70, Boise, Idaho 83707, 
(208) 388-2550.
    i. FERC Contact: Jim Puglisi (202) 502-6241 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 l 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: August 26, 2008.
    All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: 
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
    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. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The Swan Falls Project consists of: (1) A 1,218-foot-long 
concrete gravity and rock-fill dam composed of an abutment embankment, 
a spillway section, a center island, the old powerhouse section, the 
intermediate dam, and the new powerhouse; (2) a 12-mile-long, 1,525-
acre reservoir with a normal maximum water surface elevation of 2,314 
feet mean sea level (msl); (3) twelve equal-width, concrete spillways 
with a capacity of 105,112 cubic feet per second (cfs) at reservoir 
elevation 2,318 msl, divided into two sections (western and eastern)--
the western section, contiguous with the abutment embankment, is a 
gated, concrete ogee section with eight radial gates, and the eastern 
section, which is adjacent to the island, contains four radial gates; 
(4) two concrete flow channels (instead of penstocks); (5) two pit-bulb 
turbine generators with a nameplate rating of 25 megawatts; (6) a 
powerhouse completed in 1994; (7) a 1,400-foot-long, 120-foot-wide 
excavated tailrace channel; (8) a 33,600-kilovolt ampere main power 
transformer; (9) a 1.2-mile-long, 138-kilovolt transmission line; and 
(10) appurtenant equipment.
    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

[[Page 40865]]

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 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 Idaho 
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 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.

Issue Deficiency/Additional Information  September 2008
 Request Letter (if needed).
Issue Acceptance Letter................  November 2008.
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments..  December 2008.
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if needed)...  February 2009.
Notice of application ready for          April 2009.
 environmental analysis.
Notice of the availability of the draft  December 2009.
 EIS.
Notice of the availability of the final  March 2010.
 EIS.
 

    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.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-16211 Filed 7-15-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P