[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 71 (Friday, April 12, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14932-14934]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07292]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 3023-014; Project No. 2972-027]
Blackstone Hydro, Inc., City of Woonsocket, Rhode Island; Notice
of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting
Scoping Comments
Take notice that the following hydroelectric applications have been
filed with Commission and are available for public inspection:
a. Type of Application:
New Major License (P-3023-014)
Subsequent Minor License (P-2972-027)
b. Project Nos.: 3023-014 and 2972-027.
c. Dates filed:
October 1, 2018 (P-3023-014)
November 1, 2018 (P-2972-027)
d. Submitted By:
[[Page 14933]]
Blackstone Hydro, Inc. (Blackstone Hydro) (P-3023-014)
City of Woonsocket, Rhode Island (City) (P-2972-027)
e. Names of Project:
Blackstone Hydroelectric Project (P-3023-014)
Woonsocket Falls Project (P-2972-027)
f. Location: The Blackstone Hydroelectric Project is located on the
Blackstone River in Providence County, Rhode Island and Worchester
County, Massachusetts. The Woonsocket Falls Project is located on the
Blackstone River in the City of Woonsocket, Providence County, Rhode
Island. The Blackstone Hydroelectric and Woonsocket Falls Projects do
not occupy any federal land.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contacts: Blackstone Hydroelectric Project--Lewis C.
Loon, General Manager, Operations and Maintenance--USA/QC, KEI USA
Power Management, Inc., 423 Brunswick Avenue, Gardiner, ME 04345; (207)
203-3027, or [email protected].
Woonsocket Falls Project--Mr. Michael Debroisse, City of
Woonsocket, Engineering, 169 Main Street, Woonsocket, RI 02895; (401)
767-9213.
i. FERC Contact: Patrick Crile, (202) 502-8042 or
[email protected].
j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: June 9, 2019.
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
scoping 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. All filings must clearly identify the project
name and docket number on the first page: Blackstone Hydroelectric
Project No. 3023-014 and/or Woonsocket Falls Project No. 2972-027.
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 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. The applications are not ready for environmental analysis at
this time.
l. The existing Blackstone Hydroelectric Project consists of: (1) A
210-foot-long, 12-foot-high arch-type masonry dam and spillway
(Blackstone Dam) with 12-inch-high flashboards and a crest elevation of
192.8 feet above mean sea level (msl) at the top of the flashboards;
(2) an approximately 2-mile-long impoundment with a normal maximum
elevation of 192.8 feet msl; (3) water conveyance structures that
consist of: (a) A 1,100-foot-long, 60- to 100-foot-wide power canal
located 700 feet upstream of the Blackstone Dam; (b) an 11.5-acre
headpond at a normal maximum elevation of 192.8 feet msl; (c) a 46-
foot-long, 16-foot-high headgate dam structure with four 7-foot-high,
8-foot-wide intake gates; (d) a 300-foot-long, 40-foot-wide headrace
canal structure; and (e) four 8-foot-diameter, 22-foot-long buried
penstocks; (4) a concrete and brick powerhouse containing four vertical
Francis turbine-generator units with a total authorized capacity of
1,724 kilowatts; (5) a 100-foot-long, 40-foot-wide tailrace channel
that discharges into the Blackstone River; (6) outlet work structures
located downstream of the headgate dam structure in the headrace canal
that consist of: (a) A 37-foot-long, 12-foot-high emergency spillway
with a crest elevation of 196 feet msl located at the north end of the
headrace; (b) two 5-foot-wide, 5-foot-high outlet gates; (c) a 60-foot-
long outlet channel; and (d) two 36-inch-diameter, 150-foot-long
concrete conduits that empty into a 190-foot-long, 20-foot-wide channel
that discharges into the Blackstone River downstream from the tailrace;
(7) a 90-foot-long, 4.16-kilovolt (kV) transmission line, a 4.16/13.8-
kV step-up transformer, and a 1,300-foot-long, 13.8-kV transmission
line connecting the project generators to the regional electric grid;
and (8) appurtenant facilities.
Blackstone Hydro operates the project in a run-of-river mode with
an annual average generation of approximately 4,027 megawatt-hours. The
project bypasses approximately 1 mile of the Blackstone River, and
there is currently no required minimum instream flow for the bypassed
reach. However, Blackstone Hydro voluntarily maintains a flow between
11 and 21 cubic feet per second (cfs) over the crest of the Blackstone
Dam to the bypassed reach using an automatic pond level controller.
Blackstone Hydro proposes to: (1) Continue operating the project in
a run-of-river mode; (2) provide a year-round minimum flow of 35 cfs to
the bypassed reach; (3) provide upstream eel passage at the project,
following installation of an upstream eel passage facility at the
downstream Woonsocket Falls Project; (4) implement nighttime turbine
shutdowns during the downstream eel passage season to facilitate
downstream passage, 10 years after the installation of the upstream eel
passage facility; and (5) provide a continuous flow through the intake
canal to improve dissolved oxygen levels in the power canal under
certain flow conditions from June 1 to October 31.
The existing Woonsocket Falls Project utilizes water from an
impoundment that is created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers'
(Corps) Woonsocket Falls Dam. The project consists of: (1) A 14-foot-
wide, 20.5-foot-high concrete intake structure located about 60 feet
upstream of the Woonsocket Falls Dam and fitted with a 12-foot-wide,
18-foot-high steel trash rack having 3.5-inch clear bar spacing; (2) a
275-foot long, 12-foot-wide, 10-foot-high concrete penstock; (3) a
steel headgate integral with the powerhouse; (4) a 65-foot-long, 25-
foot-wide, 20-foot-high concrete powerhouse containing one adjustable
blade turbine-generator unit with an authorized capacity of 1,200
kilowatts; (5) a 50-foot-long, 12.5-foot-diameter steel draft tube; (6)
an approximately 50-foot-long, 20-foot-wide, 15-foot-deep tailrace; (7)
a 35-foot-long 4.16 kilovolt (kV) generator lead line, a 4.16/13.8-kV
step-up transformer, and a 1,200-foot-long, 13.8-kV transmission line
connecting the project generator to the regional grid; and (8)
appurtenant facilities.
The dam and impoundment are operated in a run-of-river mode. The
Woonsocket Falls Project bypasses approximately 360 feet of the
Blackstone River and there is currently no required minimum instream
flow for the bypassed reach. However, a flow of 20 cfs is provided to
the bypassed reach over the crest of the dam. The Woonsocket Falls
project has an average annual generation of approximately 4,584
megawatt-hours.
The City proposes to: (1) Operate the impoundment in a run-of-river
mode pursuant to an operating plan and Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
with the Corps; (2) provide a year-round minimum flow of 20 cfs to the
bypassed reach pursuant to an operating plan and MOA with the Corps;
(3) provide upstream eel passage at the dam pursuant to an operating
plan and MOA
[[Page 14934]]
with the Corps; and (4) implement nighttime turbine shutdowns during
the downstream eel passage season to protect eels during passage.
m. Copies of the applications are 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. Copies are also available for inspection and
reproduction at the addresses in item h above. Additionally, copies of
the Blackstone project license application are available for viewing
during normal business hours at the Blackstone Public Library located
at 86 Main Street, Blackstone, MA 01504 and at the North Smithfield
Public Library located at 20 N Main St., Slatersville, Rhode Island
02876.
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. 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 agency scoping meeting and one public
meeting. The agency scoping meeting will focus on resource agency and
non-governmental organization (NGO) concerns, while the public 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: Thursday, May 9, 2019
Time: 6:00 p.m. (ET)
Place: Holiday Inn Express & Suites
Address: 194 Fortin Drive, Woonsocket, Rhode Island 02895
Daytime Scoping Meeting
Date: Friday, May 10, 2019
Time: 9:00 a.m. (ET)
Place: Holiday Inn Express & Suites
Address: 194 Fortin Drive, Woonsocket, Rhode Island 02895
Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to
be addressed in the EIS 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
Blackstone Hydro and FERC staff will conduct an environmental site
review of the Blackstone Hydroelectric Project beginning at 9:00 a.m.
on May 9, 2019. All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies
are invited to attend. All participants should meet at the project
powerhouse located at 2 Tupperware Drive, North Smithfield, Rhode
Island 02896. All participants interesting in seeing the inside of the
project powerhouse will be required to wear steel-toed safety shoes.
All participants interested in seeing the project dam, which is located
approximately 0.5 mile from the project powerhouse, are responsible for
their own transportation. Directions to the dam from the powerhouse
will be provided during the environmental site review. Anyone planning
to attend the environmental site review should contact Sherri Loon at
(207) 203-3026 or [email protected] by May 3, 2019, and indicate
how many participants will be attending with you.
The City and FERC staff will conduct a project environmental site
review of the Woonsocket Falls Project beginning at 1:00 p.m. on May 9,
2019. All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are
invited to attend. All participants should meet at the City Park
located at 0 South Main Street, Woonsocket, RI 02895. The City Park is
located adjacent to the Woonsocket Falls Dam, on the east riverbank,
near the intersection of South Main and River Streets. All participants
are responsible for their own transportation to the site. Anyone
planning to attend the environmental site review should contact Bruce
DiGennaro at (401) 835-1185 or [email protected] by May 3,
2019, and indicate how many participants will be attending with you.
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 projects.
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.
Dated: April 8, 2019.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-07292 Filed 4-11-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P