[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 250 (Tuesday, December 31, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Page 72348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-28260]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3273-024]


Notice Soliciting Scoping Comments; Chittenden Falls Hydropower, 
Inc.

    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.: 3273-024.
    c. Date filed: May 31, 2019.
    d. Applicant: Chittenden Falls Hydropower, Inc. (Chittenden Falls 
Hydro).
    e. Name of Project: Chittenden Falls Hydropower Project.
    f. Location: On Kinderhook Creek, near the Town of Stockport, 
Columbia County, New York. The project does not occupy federal land.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mark Boumansour, Chief Operating Officer, 
Gravity Renewables, Inc., 1401 Walnut Street, Suite 420, Boulder, CO 
80302; (303) 440-3378; [email protected] and/or Celeste N. 
Fay, Regulatory Manager, Gravity Renewables, Inc., 5 Dartmouth Drive, 
Suite 104, Auburn, NH 03032; (413) 262-9466; 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Monir Chowdhury at (202) 502-6736 or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: 30 days from the issuance 
date of this notice.
    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. The first page of any filing should include 
docket number P-3273-024.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice require all intervenors 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 
intervenor 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. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. Project Description:
    The existing Chittenden Falls Hydropower Project consists of: (1) 
An approximately 4-foot-high, 320-foot-long concrete gravity dam, 
topped with 2-foot-high wooden flashboards, and having a dam crest 
elevation of 59.6 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 
(NGVD29); (2) a reservoir with a surface area of about 18 acres and a 
storage capacity of 63 acre-feet at a normal pool elevation of 61.6 
feet NGVD29; (3) an 8-foot-wide, 22-foot-long intake structure on the 
east side of the dam connecting to an 8-foot-wide, 118-foot-long 
concrete and wooden power canal; (4) a 7.5-foot-diameter, 45-foot-long 
steel penstock that conveys water from the power canal to a powerhouse 
on the east side of the dam containing two turbine-generator units with 
a total rated capacity of 453 kilowatts (kW); (5) an 8-foot-wide, 10-
foot-long intake structure on the west side of the dam connecting to a 
6-foot-diameter, 62-foot-long steel penstock; (6) a powerhouse on the 
west side of the dam containing a single turbine-generator unit with a 
rated capacity of 300 kW; (7) two 480-volt, 40-foot-long generator 
leads connecting the east powerhouse to a transformer yard and a 2,300-
volt, 400-foot-long generator lead connecting the west powerhouse to 
the transformer yard; and (8) appurtenant facilities.
    The Chittenden Falls Project is operated in a run-of-river mode 
with an estimated average annual generation of 2,300 megawatt-hours 
between 2012 and 2018. Chittenden Falls Hydro proposes to continue to 
operate the project in run-of-river mode.
    m. 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 address the document. For assistance, contact 
FERC Online Support. A copy is available for inspection and 
reproduction at the address in item h above.
    n. 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.
    o. Scoping Process:
    The Commission staff intends to prepare an Environmental Assessment 
(EA) for the Chittenden Falls Hydropower 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.
    Commission staff does not propose to conduct any on-site scoping 
meetings at this time. Instead, we are soliciting comments, 
recommendations, and information, on the Scoping Document 1 (SD1) 
issued December 23, 2019.
    Copies of SD1 outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the EA 
were distributed to the parties on the Commission's mailing list. 
Copies of SD1 may be viewed on the web 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, call 1-866-208-3676 or for TTY, (202) 502-8659.

    Dated: December 23, 2019.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-28260 Filed 12-30-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P