[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 205 (Monday, October 26, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54990-54991]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-25611]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2696-033]


Albany Engineering Corporation: Town of Stuyvesant; Notice of 
Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

October 16, 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.: 2696-033.
    c. Date filed: July 31, 2009.
    d. Submitted by: Albany Engineering Corporation and the Town of 
Stuyvesant.
    e. Name of project: Stuyvesant Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On Kinderhook Creek (in the Hudson River drainage 
basin) in the town of Stuyvesant, Columbia County, New York. The 
project does not occupy any federal lands.
    g. Filed pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant contact: Mr. James A. Besha, P.E., President, Albany 
Engineering Corporation, 5 Washington Square, Albany, New York 12205; 
(518) 456-7712.
    i. FERC contact: Carolyn Templeton at (202) 502-8785 or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: December 17, 2009.
    All documents may be filed electronically via the Internet. See 18 
CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's Web 
site (http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ferconline.asp) under the 
``eFiling'' link. For a simpler method of submitting text only 
comments, click on ``Quick Comment.'' For assistance, please contact 
FERC Online Support at [email protected]; call toll-free at 
(866) 208-3676; or, for TTY, contact (202) 502-8659. Although the 
Commission strongly encourages electronic filing, documents may also be 
paper-filed. To paper-file, mail an original and eight copies to: 
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

[[Page 54991]]

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.
    k. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The Stuyvesant Falls Hydroelectric Project is located on 
Kinderhook Creek in Columbia County, New York. All project features 
pre-date the license by 80 years, and there were no operational changes 
or construction when the project was licensed in 1980, backdated to 
1965. The Stuyvesant Falls Hydroelectric Project consists of a 13-foot-
high, 240-foot-long, masonry gravity dam and stone and concrete intake 
structure that impounds Kinderhook Creek, forming a 46-acre reservoir 
with a normal pool elevation of 174.3 feet USGS datum. A Taintor gate 
and trash sluice is located near the south abutment of the gravity dam. 
The intake structure is enclosed in a prefabricated steel intake house 
and carries water from the reservoir to two 7.5-foot-diameter, 2,860-
foot-long, riveted-steel pipelines. From the pipelines, water flows 
into a 25-foot-diameter surge tank. Water is then transported from the 
surge tank to a brick and steel powerhouse via two 200-foot-long steel 
penstocks. The powerhouse contains a single 2.8-megawatt horizontal 
double runner Francis turbine.
    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-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.
    n. Scoping Process.
    The Commission intends to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) 
on the project in accordance with the National Environmental Policy 
Act. The EA will consider both site-specific and cumulative 
environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to the proposed 
action.

Scoping Meetings

    FERC staff will conduct one daytime scoping meeting and one evening 
scoping meeting. The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource 
agency and non-governmental organization (NGO) concerns, while the 
evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input. 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 EA. The 
times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Evening Scoping Meeting

    Date and Time: Monday, November 16, 2009, at 6 p.m.
    Location: Stuyvesant Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant, NY 
12173.
    Phone Number: 518-758-6248.

Daytime Scoping Meeting

    Date and Time: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, at 10 a.m.
    Location: Stuyvesant Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive, Stuyvesant, NY 
12173.
    Phone Number: 518-758-6248.
    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to 
be addressed in the EA were distributed to the parties on the 
Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 will be available at the 
scoping meeting or may be viewed on the Web at http://www.ferc.gov 
using the ``eLibrary'' link [see item (m) above].

Environmental Site Review

    The Applicant and FERC staff will conduct a project environmental 
site review beginning at 1 p.m. (EST) on Monday, November 16, 2009. All 
interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to 
attend. All participants should meet at the Stuyvesant Falls 
Hydroelectric Project powerhouse. All participants are responsible for 
their own transportation to the site. Please notify Wendy Carey, Albany 
Engineering Corporation at 518-456-7712, ext. 401 or 
[email protected] by November 9, 2009, if you plan to attend 
the environmental site review. Directions are as follows:
    From Albany, take 90E to Exit 12, US-9 toward Hudson. Turn Right 
onto US-9 S. Stay straight through circular onto NY-9H S. Take slight 
right onto CR-25 into Stuyvesant Falls. Take right onto CR-25A. 
Driveway is on the left approximately 500 feet before old bridge.
    From Hudson, drive north on 66 to 9H. Go north on 9H to CR-25. Go 
south on CR-25 into Stuyvesant Falls. Take a right onto CR-25A. 
Driveway is on the left approximately 500 feet before old bridge.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (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 EA, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the EA; and (5) identify those issues that 
require a detailed analysis, as well as those issues that do not 
require a detailed analysis.

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 meeting and to assist the staff in 
defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in the EA.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E9-25611 Filed 10-23-09; 8:45 am]
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