[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 10 (Thursday, January 15, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2583-2584]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-752]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No.: 503-048]


Idaho Power Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental 
Impact Statement and Notice of Scoping Meetings and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

January 9, 2009.
    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.: 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, about 35 miles southwest of Boise. The project 
occupies 528.8 acres of lands of the United States within the Snake 
River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area.
    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: James Puglisi, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426; telephone 
(202) 502-6241 or by e-mail at [email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: March 13, 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 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 existing 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-mile-long, 138-kilovolt transmission line; 
and (10) appurtenant equipment.
    m. 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-filings/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.
    n. Scoping Process
    The Commission intends to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
(EIS) on the project in accordance with the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA). The EIS will consider both site-specific and 
cumulative environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to the 
proposed action. Our intent is for the planned scoping meetings to 
satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements.

Scoping Meetings

    Commission staff will conduct two scoping meetings. All interested 
individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to attend one or 
both of the meetings, and to assist the staff in identifying the scope 
of the environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EIS. The 
times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Daytime Scoping Meeting

    When: February 11, 2009, 9-11 a.m. (MST).
    Where: Doubletree Hotel--Boise Riverside, 2900 Chinden Blvd., 
Boise, Idaho.

Evening Scoping Meeting

    When: February 10, 2009, 7-9 p.m. (MST).
    Where: Doubletree Hotel--Boise Riverside, 2900 Chinden Blvd., 
Boise, Idaho.
    Scoping Document 1 (SD1), which outlines the subject areas to be 
addressed in the environmental document, was distributed to the parties 
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 (see item m above). Based on 
all oral and written comments, a Scoping Document 2 (SD2) will be 
issued. SD2 will include a list of issues identified through the 
scoping process.

Site Visit

    The Applicant and FERC staff will conduct a project site visit 
beginning at 9 a.m. on February 10, 2008. Participants will meet at the 
overlook above Swan Falls dam at 9 a.m. To reach the meeting site, take 
I-84 from Boise, turn south at Exit 44 onto S. Meridian Road (ID-69) 
toward Kuna, follow ID-69 as it becomes E. Avalon Road in Kuna, turn 
south onto S. Swan

[[Page 2584]]

Falls Road, and follow Swan Falls Road about 19 miles to the overlook 
above the dam. Allow 60 to 75 minutes for the drive from Boise. All 
participants are responsible for their own transportation. The site 
visit will take 3 to 4 hours.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EIS; 
(2) solicit from the meeting participants all available information, 
especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage 
statements from experts and the public on issues that should be 
analyzed in the EIS, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the EIS; and (5) identify those issues that 
require a detailed analysis, as well as those issues that do not 
require a detailed analysis.

Meeting Procedures

    The meetings are recorded by a stenographer and become part of the 
formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project.
    Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental 
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to 
assist the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed 
in the EIS.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E9-752 Filed 1-14-09; 8:45 am]
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