[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 182 (Thursday, September 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49288-49289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-20263]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3777-011]


Town of Rollinsford, New Hampshire; Notice of Application 
Tendered for Filing With the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study 
Requests and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a 
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: Subsequent Minor License.
    b. Project No.: 3777-011.
    c. Date filed: August 29, 2019.
    d. Applicant: Town of Rollinsford, New Hampshire (Town).
    e. Name of Project: Rollinsford Project.
    f. Location: On the Salmon Falls River in Strafford County, New 
Hampshire and York County, Maine. No federal lands are occupied by the 
project works or located within the project boundary.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791a-825r.
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. John Greenan, Green Mountain Power 
Corporation, 1252 Post Road, Rutland, VT 05701; Phone at (802) 770-
2195, or email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: John Baummer, (202) 502-6837 or 
[email protected].
    j. Cooperating agencies: Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies 
with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to 
environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the 
environmental document should follow the instructions for filing such 
requests described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note 
the Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation 
of the environmental document cannot also intervene. See 94 FERC 61,076 
(2001).
    k. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's 
regulations, if any resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person believes 
that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to 
form an adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the 
application on its merit, the resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person 
must file a request for a study with the Commission not later than 60 
days from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of 
the request on the applicant.
    l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for 
cooperating agency status: October 28, 2019.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status 
using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. 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-3777-011.
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The existing Rollinsford Project consists of: (1) A 385-foot 
long, 19-foot-high concrete-masonry dam that includes: (i) A 255-foot-
long spillway section topped with 15-inch-high flashboards, and (ii) an 
82-foot-long, 52-foot-wide intake headworks section that includes five, 
5.5-foot-high by 5.5-foot-wide vertical lift gates, one penstock intake 
protected by a 22.8-foot-wide by 15.7-foot-high trash rack structure 
with 2.5-inch clear bar spacing, one 8-foot-wide skimmer waste gate, 
and one 4-foot-wide by 4-foot-high inoperable sluice gate; (2) an 82-
acre impoundment at a normal maximum elevation of 71.25 feet National 
Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29), including the spillway 
flashboards; (3) a 600-foot-long, 10-foot diameter concrete penstock 
with a 250-foot-long, 9-foot diameter steel sleeve that directs flow 
from the intake headworks to a 40-foot-wide, 30-foot-long reinforced 
concrete forebay that is integral with the powerhouse; (4) a 60-foot-
wide, 38-foot-long concrete and brick masonry powerhouse containing two 
Francis turbine-generator units for a total installed capacity of 1,500 
kilowatts; (5) a 38-foot-long, 34-foot-wide tailrace channel at a 
normal tailwater elevation of 24 feet NGVD 29; (6) a 100-foot-long 
underground transmission line; and (7) appurtenant facilities.
    The Town voluntarily operates the project in a run-of-river mode 
using an automatic pond level control system,

[[Page 49289]]

such that outflow from the project approximates inflow. The project 
bypasses approximately 680 feet of the Salmon Falls River. The existing 
license requires the licensee to release: (1) A continuous minimum flow 
of 10 cubic feet per second (cfs) or inflow, whichever is less, from 
the dam to the bypassed reach via a 5-foot, 9-inch wide by 5-inch deep 
notch in the flashboards; and (2) a minimum flow of 115 cfs or inflow, 
whichever is less, through the powerhouse to the downstream reach. When 
inflow falls below the minimum hydraulic capacity of the powerhouse (80 
cfs), the minimum flow requirement for the downstream reach is met by 
releasing flows over the dam. The average annual generation was 
5,837,900 kilowatt-hours for the period of record from 2005 to 2018.
    The Town proposes to: (1) Continue operating the project in a run-
of-river mode; (2) release a minimum flow of 35 cfs, or inflow, 
whichever is less into the bypassed reach to protect and enhance 
aquatic habitat; (3) install and operate an upstream eel ramp; (4) 
implement targeted nightly shutdowns for the protection of downstream 
migrating eels in September and October; and (5) construct a downstream 
fish bypass structure to pass eels and resident fish into the bypassed 
reach of the project. The Town also proposes to conduct a one-season 
tagging study to determine whether river herring and American shad can 
migrate upstream through the bypassed reach to the project dam.
    Green Mountain Power estimates that the proposed measures would 
result in an average annual generation loss of approximately 759,000 
MWh and will cost $98,500 per year for operation and maintenance.
    o. 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. A copy is also available for inspection and 
reproduction at the address in item h above.
    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.
    p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will 
be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions 
to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary)--September 2019
Request for Additional Information--October 2019
Issue Acceptance Letter--January 2020
Issue Scoping Document 1 for Comments--February 2020
Request Additional Information (if necessary)--April 2020
Issue Scoping Document 2--May 2020
Notice that Application is Ready for Environmental Analysis--May 2020
Notice of the Availability of Environmental Assessment--November 2020

    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: September 12, 2019.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-20263 Filed 9-18-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P