[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 47 (Thursday, March 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13172-13173]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-5488]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2079-069]


Placer County Water Agency

    Notice of Application Tendered for Filing with the Commission and 
Establishing Procedural Schedule for Licensing And Deadline for 
Submission of Final Amendments
    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.: 2079-069
    c. Date Filed: February 23, 2011
    d. Applicant: Placer County Water Agency
    e. Name of Project: Middle Fork American River Project
    f. Location: The Middle Fork American River Project is located in 
Placer and El Dorado counties, almost entirely within the Tahoe and El 
Dorado National Forests. The project occupies 3,268 acres of federal 
lands administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture--Forest 
Service.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r)
    h. Applicant Contact: Andy Fecko, Project Manager, Placer County 
Water Agency, 144 Ferguson Road, Auburn, CA 95603; Telephone: (530) 
823-4490.
    i. FERC Contact: Carolyn Templeton, (202) 502-8785 or 
[email protected]
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. The Project Description: The Middle Fork American River Project 
(project) has two principal water storage reservoirs, French Meadows 
and Hell Hole. These reservoirs are located on the Middle Fork American 
River and the Rubicon River, respectively, and have a combined gross 
storage capacity of 342,583 acre-feet (ac-ft).
    Starting at the highest elevation of the project, water is diverted 
from Duncan Creek at the Duncan Creek diversion and routed through the 
1.5-mile-long Duncan Creek-Middle Fork tunnel into French Meadows 
reservoir (134,993 ac-ft of gross storage).
    Flows in the Middle Fork American River are captured and stored in 
French Meadows reservoir along with diversions from Duncan Creek. From 
French Meadows reservoir, water is transported via the 2.6-mile-long 
French Meadows-Hell Hole tunnel, passed through the French Meadows 
powerhouse [installed generating capacity of 15.3 megawatts (MW)], and 
released into Hell Hole reservoir (207,590 ac-ft of gross storage). 
Flows in the Rubicon River are captured and stored in Hell Hole 
reservoir along with water released from French Meadows reservoir 
through French Meadows powerhouse. Water released from Hell Hole 
reservoir into the Rubicon River to meet instream flow requirements 
first pass through the Hell Hole powerhouse (installed generating 
capacity of 0.73 MW), which is located at the base of Hell Hole dam.
    From Hell Hole reservoir, water is also transported via the 10.4-
mile-long Hell Hole-Middle Fork tunnel, passed through the Middle Fork 
powerhouse (installed generating capacity of 122.4 MW), and released 
into the Middle Fork Interbay (175 ac-ft of gross storage). Between 
Hell Hole reservoir and Middle Fork powerhouse, water is diverted from 
the North and South Forks of Long Canyon creeks directly into the Hell 
Hole-Middle Fork tunnel. Water diverted from these creeks into the Hell 
Hole-Middle Fork tunnel can either be stored in Hell Hole reservoir or 
be used to augment releases from Hell Hole reservoir to the Middle Fork 
powerhouse.

[[Page 13173]]

    Flows from the Middle Fork American River (including instream flow 
releases from French Meadows reservoir) are captured at Middle Fork 
interbay along with water released from Hell Hole reservoir through 
Middle Fork powerhouse. From Middle Fork Interbay, water is transported 
via the 6.7-mile-long Middle Fork-Ralston tunnel, passed through the 
Ralston Powerhouse (installed generating capacity of 79.2 MW), and 
released into the Ralston afterbay (2,782 ac-ft of gross storage).
    Flows from the Middle Fork American River (including instream 
releases from Middle Fork interbay) and flows from the Rubicon River 
(including instream releases from Hell Hole reservoir) are captured in 
Ralston afterbay along with water transported from Middle Fork interbay 
through Ralston powerhouse. From Ralston afterbay, water is transported 
via the 400-foot-long Ralston-Oxbow tunnel, passed through the Oxbow 
powerhouse (installed generating capacity of 6.1 MW), and released from 
the project to the Middle Fork American River. The project has a total 
generation capacity of 224 MW.
    l. Locations of the Application: 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 website 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.
    m. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    n. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the 
schedule may be made as appropriate.

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                 Milestone                           Target date
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Notice of Acceptance/Notice of Ready for     April 25, 2011.
 Environmental Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary       June 24, 2011.
 terms and conditions, and fishway
 prescriptions.
Commission issues Draft EA or EIS..........  December 21, 2011.
Comments on Draft EA or EIS................  February 20, 2012.
Modified Terms and Conditions..............  April 20, 2012.
Commission Issues Final EA or EIS..........  July 19, 2012.
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    o. Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice 
of ready for environmental analysis.

    Dated: March 4, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-5488 Filed 3-9-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P