[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 23, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78781-78782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30399]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 12569-001]


Public Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County; Notice of 
Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping Comments

December 16, 2008.
    a. Type of Filings: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 12569-001.
    c. Date Filed: August 22, 2008.
    d. Submitted By: Public Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County 
(Okanogan PUD).
    e. Name of Project: Enloe Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Similkameen River, near the Town of Oroville, 
Okanogan County, Washington. The project occupies about 35.47 acres of 
federal lands under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Bureau of Land 
Management.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: 18 CFR Part 5 of the Commission's 
Regulations.
    h. Applicant Contact: John R. Grubich, General Manager, Public 
Utility District No. 1 of Okanogan County, P.O. Box 912, Okanogan, 
Washington 98840, (509) 422-8485.
    i. FERC Contact: Dianne Rodman, 888 First Street, NE., Room 63-11, 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6105, [email protected].
    Kim A. Nguyen, 888 First Street, NE., Room 6B-02, Washington, DC 
20426, (202) 502-6077. [email protected].

    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: February 16, 2009.
    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.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all 
interveners 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 intervener 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.
    Scoping comments 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.
    k. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The Enloe Project would consist of: (1) An existing 315-foot-
long and 54-foot-high concrete gravity arch dam with an integrated 276-
foot-long central overflow spillway with 5-foot-high flashboards; (2) 
an existing 76.6-acre reservoir (narrow channel of the Similkameen 
River) with a storage capacity of 775 acre-feet at 1049.3 feet mean sea 
level; (3) a 190-foot-long intake canal on the east abutment of the dam 
diverting flows into the penstock intake structure; (4) a 35-foot-long 
by 30-foot-wide penstock intake structure; (5) two above-ground 8.5-
foot-diameter steel penstocks carrying flows from the intake to the 
powerhouse; (6) a powerhouse containing two vertical Kaplan turbine/
generator units with a total installed capacity of 9.0 megawatts; (7) a 
180-foot-long tailrace channel that would convey flows from the 
powerhouse to the Similkameen River, downstream of the Similkameen 
Falls; (8) a new substation adjacent to the powerhouse; (9) a new 100-
foot-long, 13.2-kilovolt primary transmission line from the substation 
connecting to an existing distribution line; (10) new and upgraded 
access roads, and (11) appurtenant facilities.
    m. Copies of the License Application (LA) and Scoping Document 1 
(SD1) are available for review at the Commission in the Public 
Reference Room or may be viewed on the Commission's Web site (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.
    Register online at http://ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm to be notified 
via e-mail of new filings and issuances related to these or other 
pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.
    n. With this notice, we are soliciting comments on SD1. All 
comments on SD1 should be sent to the address above in paragraph j. In 
addition, all comments on the LA and SD1, study requests, requests for 
cooperating agency status, and all communications to Commission staff 
related to the merits of the potential applications (original and eight 
copies) must be filed with the

[[Page 78782]]

Commission at the following address: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426. All filings with the Commission relevant to the 
Enloe Hydroelectric Project must include on the first page, the project 
name and number (P-12569-001), and bear the heading, as appropriate, 
``Comments on Scoping Document 1.''
    Comments on SD1 and other permissible forms of communications with 
the Commission 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.
    o. At this time, Commission staff intends to prepare a single 
Environmental Assessment for the project, in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act.
    p. Scoping Meetings
    We will hold two scoping meetings for each project at the times and 
places noted below. The daytime meetings will focus on resource agency, 
Indian tribes, and non-governmental organization concerns, while the 
evening meetings are primarily for receiving input from the public. We 
invite all interested individuals, organizations, Indian tribes, and 
agencies to attend one or all of the meetings, and to assist staff in 
identifying particular study needs, as well as the scope of 
environmental issues to be addressed in the environmental document. The 
times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Evening Scoping Meeting

When: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 7-9 p.m.
Where: The Depot, 1210 Ironwood Street, Oroville, WA 98844.

Daytime Scoping Meeting

When: Thursday, January 15, 2009, 2-4 p.m.
Where: The Depot, 1210 Ironwood Street, Oroville, WA 98844.

    SD1, which outlines the subject areas to be addressed in the 
environmental document, has been mailed to the individuals and entities 
on the Commission's mailing list. Copies of SD1 will be available at 
the scoping meetings, or may be viewed on the Web at http://www.ferc.gov, using the ``eLibrary'' link. Follow the directions for 
accessing information in paragraph m. Depending on the extent of 
comments received, a Scoping Document 2 (SD2) may or may not be issued.

Site Visits

    Okanogan PUD and Commission staff will visit the site of the 
proposed project on Thursday, January 15, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. 
To attend the site visit, participants should meet at 9 a.m. at The 
Depot, 1210 Ironwood Street, Oroville, Washington. Access to the site 
will require 4-wheel drive vehicles only. Anyone needing a ride to the 
site or with questions about the site visit should contact Nick 
Christoph, (509) 422-8472, E-mail: [email protected]; or Dan Boettger, 
(509) 422-8425, [email protected], at the Okanogan PUD.

Scoping Meeting Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, staff will: (1) Present the proposed list 
of issues to be addressed in the EA; (2) review and discuss existing 
conditions and resource agency management objectives; (3) review and 
discuss existing information and identify preliminary information and 
study needs; (4) review and discuss the process plan and schedule for 
pre-filing activity that incorporates the time frames provided for in 
Part 5 of the Commission's regulations and, to the extent possible, 
maximizes coordination of federal, state, and tribal permitting and 
certification processes; and (5) discuss requests by any federal or 
state agency or Indian tribe acting as a cooperating agency for 
development of an environmental document.
    Meeting participants should come prepared to discuss their issues 
and/or concerns. Please review the LA the scoping meetings. Directions 
on how to obtain a copy of the LA and SD1 are included in item m of 
this notice.

Scoping Meeting Procedures

    The scoping meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and will 
become part of the formal Commission records for the projects.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-30399 Filed 12-22-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P