[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 248 (Tuesday, December 28, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Page 81643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-32660]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation


Hydropower Resource Assessment at Existing Reclamation 
Facilities--Draft Report

AGENCIES: Bureau of Reclamation, Interior.

ACTION: Reopening of comment period for review of the Hydropower 
Resource Assessment at Existing Reclamation Facilities Draft Report 
(HRA).

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Reclamation is reopening the review period for 
the HRA for another 30 days from the date of publication of this 
Notice. The notice of availability of the HRA was published in the 
Federal Register on November 4, 2010 (75 FR 67993). The public review 
period was originally to end on December 6, 2010.

DATES: Submit written comments on the Draft Report on or before January 
27, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments or requests for copies to Mr. Michael 
Pulskamp, Bureau of Reclamation, Denver Federal Center, Bldg. 67, P.O. 
Box 25007, Denver, Colorado 80225, or e-mail to [email protected].
    The Draft Report is also accessible from the following Web site: 
http://www.usbr.gov/power/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Michael Pulskamp, 303-445-2931, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Administration is committed to 
increasing the generation of environmentally sustainable, affordable 
hydropower for our national electricity supplies. Reclamation has 476 
dams and 8,116 miles of canals, and owns and operates 58 hydropower 
plants. On an annual basis, these plants produce an average of 40 
billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to meet the entire 
electricity needs of over 9 million people on average, and provide the 
energy equivalent of more than 80 million barrels of crude oil or about 
48.4 billion pounds of coal. Reclamation is the second largest producer 
of hydroelectric power in the United States, and is actively engaged in 
looking for opportunities to encourage development of additional 
hydropower capacity.
    In March 2010 Reclamation signed a Memorandum of Understanding 
(MOU) with the Department of Energy and the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers. The MOU focuses on ways to increase renewable energy 
generation by focusing on development of sustainable, low impact, and 
small hydropower projects. The MOU committed Reclamation to produce an 
updated list of facilities and sites best suited for projects to 
increase sustainable hydropower generation by October 2010. The HRA 
provides information on potential hydropower development at existing 
Reclamation facilities that may warrant further study.
    The Draft Report does not make any recommendations for development 
of the sites included in the report. Instead, it provides an inventory 
of hydropower potential at existing Reclamation sites using broad 
energy and economic criteria. Reclamation is not undertaking a new dam 
construction initiative with this study, and is focused on identifying 
the hydropower potential of Reclamation's existing structures. This 
resource assessment level study does not take the place of a site by 
site feasibility study.

Public Disclosure

    Before including your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, 
or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should 
be aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Dated: December 21, 2010.
Michael R. Gabaldon,
Director, Technical Resources, Bureau of Reclamation.
[FR Doc. 2010-32660 Filed 12-27-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MN-P