[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2121-2122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00387]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 298-081]


Southern California Edison Company; 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.: 298-081.
    c. Date Filed: December 23, 2019.
    d. Applicant: Southern California Edison Company.
    e. Name of Project: Kaweah Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The existing project is located on the Kaweah River 
and East Fork Kaweah River in Tulare County, California. The project 
occupies 176.26 acres of public lands administered by the Bureau of 
Land Management. The project incorporates non-project facilities 
(diversion structures and water conveyance facilities) located within 
Sequoia National Park, which are authorized by a National Park Service 
special use permit.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Wayne P. Allen, Principle Manager, Hydro 
Licensing and Implementation, Southern California Edison Company, 1515 
Walnut Grove Avenue, Rosemead, CA 91770, (626) 302-9741 or email at 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Jim Hastreiter, (503) 552-2760 or 
[email protected].
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. The Project Description: The Kaweah Project has three 
developments consisting of the following components.

Kaweah No. 1

    This development consists of: (1) A 20-foot-long and 6-foot-high 
concrete

[[Page 2122]]

diversion dam on the East Fork Kaweah River, (2) a 30,723-foot-long 
steel flume, (3) a forebay tank, (4) a 3,340-foot-long penstock, and 
(4) a powerhouse with an impulse turbine rated at 2.25 megawatts (MW).

Kaweah No. 2

    This development consists of: (1) A 161-foot-long and 7-foot-high 
masonry diversion dam on the Kaweah River, (2) a 16,738-foot-long 
concrete-lined ditch, (3) a 3,822-foot-long steel flume, (4) a 1,047-
foot-long steel pipe, (5) a forebay, (6) a 1,012-foot-long buried 
penstock, and (7) a powerhouse with a Francis turbine rated at 1.8 MW.

Kaweah No. 3

    This development consists of: (1) A 2,580 foot-long concrete-lined 
flume, (2) an embankment forebay, (3) a 3,151 foot-long penstock, and 
(4) a powerhouse with two impulse turbines rated at a combined 4.8 MW.
    The project has a primary 4.09-mile-long transmission line 
extending from the Kaweah No. 3 powerhouse to a substation, and two tap 
lines (120-foot-long and 0.4-mile-long) connecting Kaweah No. 1 and No. 
2 powerhouses, respectively, to the primary line, and appurtenant 
facilities.

Non-project Facilities

    The project makes use of several non-project facilities located in 
Sequoia National Park. These facilities comprise portions of Kaweah No. 
1 and No. 3 developments: (1) Two diversion structures on the Middle 
Fork and Marble Fork Kaweah Rivers, (2) a 21,000-foot-long steel flume 
that is the initial section of flowline which conveys water to the 
Kaweah No. 3 powerhouse, and (3) four small reservoirs on the East Fork 
Kaweah River. These facilities are operated under a special use permit 
(Permit No. PWR-SEKI-6000-2016-015) issued to SCE by the National Park 
Service, which expires on September 8, 2026.
    The project developments operate independently of one another and 
in a run-of-river mode. Water captured by the diversion structures is 
transported through connecting conveyance facilities and penstocks to 
the powerhouses for power generation and then returned to the river at 
the tailraces. A portion of the water in Kaweah No. 1 and No. 2 
flowlines is used to meet downstream contractual obligations for water 
delivery with pre-1914 water users.
    The project forebays and diversion pools have minimal water storage 
capability of about 13 acre-feet (AF). The four small non-project 
reservoirs located on tributaries to the East Fork Kaweah River 
upstream of the Kaweah No. 1 diversion dam and within the Sequoia 
National Park store a maximum of 1,153 AF of water, which is used to 
generate power at the Kaweah No. 1 powerhouse.
    The project diversions create two bypassed river reaches. The 
Kaweah No. 1 development bypasses streamflow around 4.7 miles of the 
East Fork Kaweah River from the diversion dam to the confluence with 
the Kaweah River. The Kaweah No. 2 development bypasses streamflow 
around 4.1 miles of the Kaweah River from the diversion dam to the 
Kaweah No. 2 powerhouse tailrace.
    The volume and timing of streamflow diverted is a function of 
inflow, minimum flow and ramping rate requirements of the existing 
license, and the flow required to maintain sufficient head in the water 
conveyance facilities (flowlines) to meet downstream water delivery 
contractual obligations. The Kaweah No.1 development flowline has a 
maximum hydraulic capacity of 24 cubic feet per second (cfs), the 
Kaweah No. 2 development flowline has a maximum hydraulic capacity of 
87 cfs, and the Kaweah No. 3 development flowline has a maximum 
hydraulic capacity of 97 cfs. To maintain sufficient head pressure to 
meet downstream water deliveries, SCE must maintain at least 1 cfs flow 
through the Kaweah No. 1 development and 3 cfs through the Kaweah No. 2 
development.
    SCE is proposing to modify the existing project boundary to 
encompass all facilities necessary for operation and maintenance of the 
project, while removing lands that are not related to project 
functions. SCE proposes to include the existing Kaweah No. 1 forebay 
access road as a project facility.
    SCE proposes to remove part of the ramping rate requirement when 
increasing flows below the Kaweah No. 1 and No. 2 diversion dams. The 
ramping rate in the existing license requires increasing and decreasing 
flows below Kaweah No. 1 and No. 2 powerhouses to not be altered at a 
rate greater than 30 percent of the existing stream flow per hour.
    SCE also proposes to modify license article 405 to eliminate the 
need for future modification requests to resource agencies. 
Historically, SCE has requested approval from California Department of 
Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to 
temporarily reduce minimum flow releases below Kaweah No. 1 diversion 
and Kaweah No. 2 diversion when projected inflows were approaching the 
combined flow necessary to meet both water supply and minimum flow 
release requirements. These flow modifications were necessary to ensure 
compliance with required minimum flows based on uncertainty in actual 
runoff and inflow.
    SCE further proposes to remove required protective measures for the 
elderberry shrub, the host plant for the federally threatened valley 
elderberry longhorn beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus). In 
2014, the FWS determined that Tulare County was no longer considered 
within the valley elderberry longhorn beetle's range.
    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, please contact FERC Online Support at 
[email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY). 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    February 2020.
 Environmental Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary      April 2020.
 terms and conditions, and fishway
 prescriptions.
Commission issues Draft EA................  October 2020.
Comments on Draft EA......................  November 2020.
Modified terms and conditions.............  January 2021.
Commission issues Final EA................  April 2021.
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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: January 8, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-00387 Filed 1-13-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P