[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 113 (Thursday, June 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33745-33746]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-13700]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 14616-000]


Oregon State University; Notice of Scoping Meeting and Soliciting 
Scoping Comments for an Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment 
Using the Alternative Licensing Process

    a. Type of Filing: Notice of Intent to File License Application and 
Pre-Application Document for an Original License.
    b. Project No.: 14616-000.
    c. Applicant: Oregon State University.
    d. Name of Project: Pacific Marine Energy Test Center South Energy 
Test Site.
    e. Location: Pacific Ocean approximately six nautical miles off the 
coast of Newport, Oregon on the Outer Continental Shelf.
    f. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    g. Applicant Contact: Belinda Batten, Oregon State University, 350 
Batcheller Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331; (541) 737-9492; email at 
[email protected].
    h. FERC Contact: Jim Hastreiter at (503) 552-2760; or email at 
[email protected].
    i. Deadline for filing scoping comments: August 4, 2014.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
comments using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. Commenters can submit brief comments up to 
6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the eComment system 
at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp. You must include your 
name and contact information at the end of your comments. For 
assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at 
[email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, please send a paper copy to: 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20426. The first page of any filing should include 
docket number P-14616-000.
    j. The proposed project would consist of: (1) Four offshore test 
berths; (2) a maximum of 20 wave energy conversion (WEC) devices with a 
maximum total installed capacity of 20 megawatts; (2) various WEC 
devices including point absorbers, oscillating water column, 
overtopping, attenuator, and ``other'' types that utilize a combination 
of technology designs; (3) various anchoring systems including gravity 
based anchors, drag anchors, and embedment anchors, consisting of 
steel, concrete, or a mixture of steel and concrete; (4) single- or 3-
point mooring systems consisting of chain, steel cables, or synthetic 
materials; (5) mooring infrastructure including surface buoys, 
subsurface floats, and chain, wire or rope, as catenary, tendon or 
bridle lines; (6) subsea connectors; (7) buried subsea transmission 
cables converging in a nearshore conduit; (8) an onshore cable landing 
connecting to a power monitoring and conditioning facility; (9) grid-
interconnection at Central Lincoln Public Utility District substation; 
and (10) appurtenant facilities.
    k. Scoping Process:
    Oregon State University (OSU) intends to utilize the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission's (Commission) alternative licensing process 
(ALP). Under the ALP, OSU will prepare an Applicant Prepared 
Environmental Assessment (APEA) and license application for the Pacific 
Marine Energy Test Center South Energy Test Site.
    OSU expects to file with the Commission, the APEA and the license 
application for the Pacific Marine Energy Test Center South Energy Test 
Site Project by December 2015. Although the Commission's intent is to 
prepare an EA, there is the possibility that an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) will be required. Nevertheless, this meeting will 
satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, irrespective of whether an EA or 
EIS is issued by the Commission.
    The purpose of this notice is to inform you of the opportunity to 
participate in the upcoming scoping meetings and environmental site 
review identified below, and to solicit your scoping comments.

[[Page 33746]]

Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review

    OSU and the Commission staff will hold two scoping meetings, one in 
the daytime and one in the evening, to help us identify the scope of 
issues to be addressed in the APEA.
    The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency 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 environmental issues that should be analyzed in the 
APEA. The times and locations of these meetings and environmental site 
review are as follows:

Daytime Meeting

Wednesday, July 9, 2014
1:00 p.m.
Hatfield Marine Science Center
Guin Library (Seminar Room)
2121 SE Marine Science Drive
Newport, Oregon 97365

Evening Meeting

Wednesday, July 9, 2014
7:00 p.m.
Hatfield Marine Science Center
Visitor Center Auditorium
2030 SE Marine Science Drive
Newport, Oregon 97365

Environmental Site Review

Thursday, July 10, 2014
Ona Beach State Park
Day Use Beach Parking Lot (west of Hwy. 101)
Oregon Coast Highway
Waldport, Oregon 97376

    Please notify Brenda Langley at [email protected] or 
(541) 737-6138 by June 25, 2014, if you plan to attend the site visit.
    To help focus discussions, Scoping Document 1 (SD1) was mailed by 
OSU on June 5, 2014, outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the 
APEA, to the parties on the mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will 
be available at the scoping meetings. OSU will file SD1 with the 
Commission and the document will be 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.
    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 
[email protected].
    Based on all written comments received, a Scoping Document 2 (SD2) 
may be issued. SD2 will include a revised list of issues, based on the 
scoping sessions.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, OSU and Commission staff will: (1) 
Summarize the environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis 
in the APEA; (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 APEA, including viewpoints in opposition to, 
or in support of, the OSU and Commission staff's preliminary views; (4) 
determine the resource issues to be addressed in the APEA; 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 will be recorded by a stenographer and will 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 OSU in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in the 
APEA.

    Dated: May 5, 2014.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-13700 Filed 6-11-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P