[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10582-10583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4263]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 13015-001]


Town of Edgartown; Notice of Public/Technical Meeting To Discuss 
Information and Monitoring Needs for a License Application for a Pilot 
Project

    a. Type of Application: Draft Pilot License Application.
    b. Project No.: 13015-001.
    c. Applicant: Town of Edgartown (Edgartown).
    d. Name of Project: Muskeget Channel Tidal Energy Project.
    e. Location: In Muskeget Channel, between the islands of Martha's 
Vineyard and Nantucket, Dukes County, Massachusetts.
    f. Filed Pursuant to: 18 CFR 5.3 of the Commission's regulations.
    g. Applicant Contact: Ms. Pamela Dolby, Town Administrator, Town of 
Edgartown, 70 Main Street, Edgartown, MA 02539; (508) 627-6180.
    h. FERC Contact: Michael Watts, phone: (202) 502-6123, e-mail: 
[email protected].
    i. Project Description: The proposed Muskeget Channel Tidal Energy 
Project would consist of: (1) 13 commercially operated OCGen\TM\ 
horizontal hydrokinetic cross-flow turbine generation units with a 
total installed capacity of 5 megawatts, and one experimental turbine 
unit that would be used to test various tidal energy technologies; (2) 
a mooring and anchoring system attached to each unit consisting of four 
mooring lines, an anchor, and a clump weight; (3) two alternative 
submarine cable routes consisting of a either a 3.5-mile-long, or a 5-
mile-long submarine cable with two 13.8-kilovolt (kv) transmission 
lines and a 4.0-kv transmission line connecting the turbine generation 
units to an onshore substation located either in the Chappaquiddick or 
Katama sections of Edgartown; (4) two alternative onshore transmission 
line routes consisting of a 34.5 kv transmission line connecting either 
the Chappaquiddick or Katama onshore substation to an existing 
distribution line in Edgartown; and (5) appurtenant facilities. The 
project would have an average annual generation of 10.95 gigawatt-
hours.
    j. Licensing Process: On February 1, 2011, Edgartown filed a Notice 
of Intent and request for waivers of certain regulations of the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission's (Commission) Integrated Licensing 
Process to expedite processing of a license application for the 
Muskeget Channel Tidal Energy Pilot Project. Edgartown expects to file 
a final license application for a pilot project with the Commission by 
February 15, 2012.
    k. Notice Purpose: The purpose of this notice is to inform you of 
the opportunity to participate in the upcoming joint public/technical 
meeting with Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) Office, 
Commission staff, and Edgartown.\1\ The purpose of the meeting is to 
discuss information and monitoring needs for the final license 
application and to provide a public consultation session for the 
purposes of MEPA review and scoping of the Environmental Impact Report 
(EIR). All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are 
invited to attend the meeting. The time and location of the meeting is 
as follows:
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    \1\ In order to coordinate the State and Federal reviews of the 
project, this meeting is being held in lieu of the May 1, 2011, 
technical meeting listed in the Commission's notice issued on 
February 8, 2011.
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Meeting Schedule and Location

Meeting

Monday, March 7, 2011, 11 a.m. (local time). Edgartown Town Hall, 70 
Main Street, Edgartown, MA 02539.

    A land-based site visit to the proposed cable landfall location(s) 
will take place after the meeting.
    Anyone in need of directions may contact Mr. Stephen Barrett at: 
(781) 852 3125, or via e-mail at: [email protected].
    To help focus discussions, Commission staff encourages participants 
to review Edgartown's draft pilot license application and monitoring 
plans filed with the Commission on February 1, 2011. These materials 
are 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 P-13015-001 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.
    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, 
please contact FERC Online Support.
    l. Meeting Objectives: At the technical meeting, Commission staff 
will focus the discussion on the information gaps that need to be 
addressed to ensure that sufficient information exists for the 
Commission to make a determination on whether the proposed project 
meets the criteria for a pilot project and for processing a license 
application for a pilot project upon its filing with the Commission.
    m. MEPA Review: Edgartown filed an expanded Environmental 
Notification Form (ENF) for the Muskeget Channel Tidal Energy Project 
with the MEPA Office. Edgartown is requesting a single Environmental 
Impact Report (EIR) rather than the typical two-stage draft and final 
EIR. The expanded ENF was noticed in the February 9, 2011, issue of the 
Environmental Monitor. http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/emonitor.aspx.
    Any agency or person may comment on the expanded ENF and the 
proposed project, including: feasible alternatives, potential 
environmental impacts, potential mitigation measures, and what 
additional information and analysis to require in the scope for the 
EIR. A MEPA public consultation session will be held on March 7, 2011, 
in conjunction with the Commission's technical meeting. Written 
comments on the ENF must be sent to the MEPA office by March 17, 2011. 
Please mail your comments to:


[[Page 10583]]


Secretary Richard K. Sullivan, Executive Office of Energy and 
Environmental Affairs, Attn: MEPA Office [Aisling O' Shea], EEA No. 
14696, 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900, Boston, MA 02114.

    To send comments by e-mail or fax, or for questions regarding the 
MEPA process, contact Aisling O'Shea, MEPA Analyst at: e-mail: 
aisling.o'[email protected]; Fax: (617) 626-1181 or Phone: (617) 626-
1024.
    In addition, please file a copy of your comments with the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission. Your comments may be filed electronically 
via the Internet (instructions are on the Commission's Web site at: 
http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp). 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 
FERC strongly encourages electronic filing, your comments may also be 
paper-filed. To paper-file, mail an original and eight copies to: 
Kimberly Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. Please put the docket number, 
P-13015-001 on the first page of your response.
    n. Procedures: The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and 
will become part of the formal record of the Commission proceeding on 
the project.

    Dated: February 18, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-4263 Filed 2-24-11; 8:45 am]
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