[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 108 (Thursday, June 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34432-34433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-12050]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2816-050; Project No. 12766-007]


North Hartland, LLC; Green Mountain Power Corporation; Notice 
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 (2816-050), New License 
for Transmission Line Project (12766-007).
    b. Project Nos.: 2816-050 and 12766-007.
    c. Dates filed: November 26, 2019 (P-2816-050), November 22, 2019 
(P-12766-007).
    d. Applicants: North Hartland, LLC (North Hartland) (P-2816-050), 
Green Mountain Power Corporation (Green Mountain Power) (P-12766-007).
    e. Names of Projects: North Hartland Hydroelectric Project (P-2816-
050), Clay Hill Road Line 66 Transmission Project (P-12766-007).
    f. Location: The North Hartland Hydroelectric Project (North 
Hartland Project) is located on the Ottauquechee River in Windsor 
County, Vermont. The North Hartland Project occupies 20.8 acres of land 
managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Clay Hill Road 
Line 66 Transmission Project (Clay Hill Project) is located along Clay 
Hill Road in Windsor County, Vermont. The Clay Hill Project does 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--Andrew J. 
Locke, President, Essex Hydro Associates, LLC, 55 Union Street, Boston, 
MA 02108; Phone at (617) 367-0032, or email at [email protected].
    Clay Hill Project--John Greenan, Green Mountain Power Corporation, 
2152 Post Road, Rutland, VT 05701; Phone at (802) 770-2195, or email at 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Bill Connelly, (202) 502-8587 or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: June 28, 2020.
    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: North Hartland Hydroelectric 
Project (P-2816-050) and/or Clay Hill Road Line 66 Transmission Project 
(P-12766-007).
    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. Project Descriptions:

North Hartland Project

    The existing North Hartland Project consists of: (1) A steel-lined 
intake structure in the Corps' North Hartland Dam that is equipped with 
trashracks with 2-inch clear bar spacing; (2) a 470-foot-long, 12-foot-
diameter steel penstock that provides flow to a 4.0-megawatt (MW) 
adjustable blade, vertical shaft turbine-generator unit located inside 
of a 59-foot-long, 40-foot-wide concrete powerhouse; (3) a 12-foot-
diameter bypass conduit that branches off of the 12-foot-diameter 
penstock about 100 feet before the powerhouse, and that empties into a 
60-foot-long concrete-lined channel through a bypass control gate; (4) 
a 30-inch-diameter steel penstock that branches off of the 12-foot-
diamater bypass conduit about 50 feet upstream of the bypass control 
gate, and that provides flow to a 0.1375-MW fixed geometry, horizontal 
pump turbine-generator unit located on a raised platform outside of the 
southern wall of the powerhouse; (5) a 400-foot-long, 50 to 150-foot-
wide tailrace channel; (6) a transmission line that comprises an 
approximately 600-foot-long, 12.5 kilovolt (kV) underground segment, 
and a 4,000-foot-long, 12.5-kV overhead segment that connect the 
generators to the Clay Hill Project; and (9) appurtenant facilities.
    North Hartland proposes to release the following minimum and 
maximum flows, respectively, to the downstream reach: (1) 60 and 700 
cfs from October 1 through March 31; (2) 160 and 835 cfs from April 1 
through April 31; (3) 160 and 550 cfs from May 1 through May 31; (4) 
140 and 450 cfs from June 1 through June 30; and (5) 60 and 300 cfs 
from July 1 through September 30.

Clay Hill Project

    The existing Clay Hill Project consists of: (1) A 2.3-mile-long, 
12.5-kV, three-phase electrical line mounted on top of Green Mountain 
Power's regional distribution line (Line 66) along Clay Hill Road from 
Pole 115 to 62x; and (2) appurtenant facilities. The project serves as 
a primary transmission line for the North Hartland Project. Green 
Mountain Power is not proposing any changes to project facilities or 
operation.
    m. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all

[[Page 34433]]

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-2816 or P-12766). 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, (886) 208-3673 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
    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: Commission staff intend to prepare a single 
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the projects 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. At this time, we do not anticipate 
holding on-site public or agency scoping meetings. Instead, we are 
soliciting your comments and suggestions on the preliminary list of 
issues and alternatives to be addressed in the EA, as described in 
scoping document 1 (SD1), issued May 29, 2020.
    Copies of the SD1 outlining the subject areas to be addressed in 
the EA were distributed to the parties on the Commission's mailing list 
and the applicant's distribution 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: May 29, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-12050 Filed 6-3-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P