[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 98 (Wednesday, May 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30694-30695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-10843]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3472-024]


Aspinook Hydro, LLC; 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: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: P-3472-024.
    c. Date filed: April 30, 2020.
    d. Applicant: Aspinook Hydro, LLC.
    e. Name of Project: Wyre Wynd Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Quinebaug River in New London and Windham 
Counties, Connecticut. 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. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mark Boumansour, Chief Operating Officer, 
Gravity Renewables, Inc., 1401 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO 80302; Phone 
at (303) 440-3378, or email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Dr. Nicholas Palso at (202) 502-8854, 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

[[Page 30695]]

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 70 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: July 9, 2020.
    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).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The existing Wyre Wynd Hydroelectric 
Project consists of: (1) A concrete-encased masonry dam that includes 
the following sections: (a) A 473-foot-long, 19-foot-high spillway 
section with a crest elevation of 95.3 feet National Geodetic Vertical 
Datum of 1929 (NGVD) and 2-foot-high flashboards at an elevation of 
97.3 feet NGVD at the top of the flashboards; (b) a left abutment 
section; and (c) a right abutment section; (2) a 333-acre impoundment 
with a normal elevation of 97.3 feet NGVD; (3) a 100-foot-long, 25-
foot-wide headgate structure with five 10.5-foot-wide, 11.5-foot-high 
sluice gates; (4) a 170-foot-long, 50-foot-wide forebay with five 13-
foot-high, 9.5-foot-wide flood gates, a 110-foot-long overflow weir, 
and two 13-foot-high, 9.5-foot-wide low-level outlet gates; (5) a 
powerhouse intake structure located at the downstream end of the 
forebay that includes: (a) A 38.2-foot-long, 20- to 21.3- foot-wide 
trashrack with 2.6-inch clear-bar spacing; (b) a 16-foot-long, 12-foot-
diameter steel penstock that provides flow to a 2.7-megawatt (MW) S-
type Kaplan turbine-generator unit located inside of a 75-foot-long, 
30-foot-wide concrete powerhouse; and (c) a 450-foot-long, 60-foot-wide 
tailrace; (6) a minimum flow unit intake structure that branches off of 
the right side of forebay approximately 35 feet downstream of the 
headgate structure, and that includes: (a) A 20-foot-long, 9-foot-wide 
trashrack with 1.5-inch clear-bar spacing; (b) a 40-foot-long, 4-foot-
diameter steel penstock that provides flow to a 0.08-megawatt (MW) 
propeller-type turbine-generator unit located outside; and (c) a 10-
foot-long, 30-foot-wide tailrace; (7) two generator leads connecting 
the turbine-generator units to the local electric distribution system; 
and (8) appurtenant facilities. The project creates an approximately 
400-foot-long bypassed reach of the Quinebaug River.
    The current license requires an instantaneous minimum flow of 120 
cubic feet per second (cfs), or the inflow, whichever is less, 
downstream of the dam to protect fish and wildlife resources in the 
Quinebaug River.
    The project had an average annual generation production of 
approximately 11,000,000 kilowatt-hours from 2003 through 2015.
    Aspinook proposes to: (1) Operate the project in run-of-river mode; 
(2) provide an 84-cfs minimum flow to the bypassed reach; and (3) 
provide upstream and downstream fish passage.
    o. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an 
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this notice, as well 
as other documents in the proceeding (e.g., license application) via 
the internet through the Commission's Home Page (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 (P-
3472). At this time, the Commission has suspended access to the 
Commission's Public Reference Room due to the proclamation declaring a 
National Emergency concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), 
issued by the President on March 13, 2020. For assistance, contact FERC 
at [email protected] or call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or 
(202) 502-8659 (TTY).
    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)--July 2020
Request Additional Information--July 2020
Issue Acceptance Letter--October 2020
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments--November 2020
Request Additional Information (if necessary)--January 2021
Issue Scoping Document 2--February 2021
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis--February 2021
Commission issues Environmental Assessment--August 2021

    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: May 14, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-10843 Filed 5-19-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P