[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 133 (Friday, July 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41578-41579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-14906]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[FFP Project 101, LLC; Project No. 14861-002]


Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and 
Soliciting Additional Study Requests

    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Filing: Original major license.
    b. Project No.: 14861-002.
    c. Date Filed: June 23, 2020.
    d. Submitted By: Rye Development on behalf of FFP Project 101, LLC 
(FFP).
    e. Name of Project: Goldendale Pumped Storage Project.
    f. Location: Off-stream (north side) of the Columbia River at River 
Mile 215.6 in Klickitat County, Washington and Sherman County, Oregon, 
approximately 8 miles southeast of the City of Goldendale. The project 
would occupy 18.1 acres of lands owned by the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Erik Steimle, Rye Development, 220 Northwest 
8th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97209; (503) 998-0230; email_
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Michael Tust at (202) 502-6522; or email at 
[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: August 22, 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. The proposed project would consist of the following new 
facilities: (1) A 61-acre upper reservoir formed by a 175-foot high, 
8,000 foot-long rockfill embankment dam at an elevation of 2,950 feet 
mean sea level (MSL) with a vertical concrete intake-outlet structure; 
(2) a 63-acre lower reservoir formed by a 205-foot high, 6,100-foot 
long embankment at an elevation of 590 feet MSL with a horizontal 
concrete intake-outlet structure and vertical steel slide gates; (3) an 
underground conveyance tunnel system connecting the two reservoirs 
consisting of a 2,200-foot-long, 29-foot diameter concrete-lined 
vertical shaft, a 3,300-foot-long, 29-foot diameter concrete-lined high 
pressure tunnel, a 200-foot-long, 22-foot diameter high pressure 
manifold tunnel, three 600-foot-long, 15-foot diameter steel/concrete 
penstocks, a 200-foot-long, 20-foot diameter steel-lined draft tube 
tunnel, a 200-foot-long, 26-foot diameter concrete-lined low pressure 
tunnel, and a 3,200-foot-long, 30-foot diameter concrete-lined tailrace 
tunnel; (4) an underground powerhouse located between the upper and 
lower reservoir in a 0.83-acre powerhouse cavern containing three, 400-
megawatt (MW) Francis-type pump-turbine units for a total installed 
capacity of 1,200 MW; (5) a 0.48-acre underground transformer cavern 
adjacent to the powerhouse containing intermediate step-up transformers 
that will step up the voltage to 115 kilovolts; (6) two 30-foot 
diameter tunnels for accessing the powerhouse and transformer caverns; 
(7) an approximate 1.0-mile-long, 115-kilovolt transmission line routed 
from the transformer gallery through the combined access/transmission 
tunnel to a new outdoor 7.3-acre substation/switchyard that will step 
up the voltage to 500 kilovolts; (8) a 4-mile-long, 500-kilovolt 
transmission line routed from the substation/switchyard south over the 
Columbia River and connecting to Bonneville Power Administration's 
existing John Day Substation; (9) a buried 2.5-foot diameter water fill 
line leading from a shut-off and throttling valve within a non-project 
water supply vault owned by Klickitat Public Utility District (KPUD) to 
an outlet structure within the lower reservoir to convey water for 
reservoir filling; and (10) appurtenant facilities. The project would 
also include an existing 0.7-mile road for accessing the lower 
reservoir site and an existing 8.6-mile road for accessing the upper 
reservoir site both of which may be modified to provide for 
construction vehicle access.
    The water supply used to initially fill the lower reservoir as well 
as to provide make-up water would be purchased from KPUD and would be 
sourced from

[[Page 41579]]

KPUD's existing intake pond on the Columbia River. The new project 
water fill line would connect to a new KPUD-owned flanged water supply 
service connection in a water supply vault located near the lower 
reservoir. Within the vault, and just downstream of the service 
connection, there would be a project shut-off and throttling valve to 
allow control of the initial fill and make-up water flow rate into the 
lower reservoir. The initial volume of water necessary to fill the 
lower reservoir is estimated to be 7,640 acre-feet and would be filled 
over about six months at an average flow rate of approximately 21 cubic 
feet per second (maximum flow rate available is 35 cubic feet per 
second). It is estimated that the project would need 260 acre-feet of 
water each year to replenish water lost through evaporation. The 
estimated annual generation for operating 8 hours a day, 7 days a week 
is 3,500 gigawatt-hours per year.
    o. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an 
opportunity to view and/or print the contents 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. 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 TYY, 
(202) 502-8659.
    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: The application will be processed according 
to the following preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. In its 
application, FFP requested expedited processing pursuant to section 35 
of the Federal Power Act for qualifying closed-loop pumped storage 
projects. The Commission has not yet acted on this request; however, 
the preliminary schedule below reflects an expedited licensing process 
in accordance with 18 CFR part 7 of the Commission's Regulations which 
will be followed while the Commission conducts its review of the 
application. The Commission will act on FFP's request to use the 
expedited licensing process no later than 180 days after receipt of the 
request in accordance with 18 CFR part 7.5. If the request is denied, 
the application will be processed pursuant to a standard processing 
schedule under 18 CFR part 4. Revisions to the schedule will be made as 
appropriate.

Issue deficiency/additional information letter--July 2020
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments--September 2020
Comments on Scoping Document 1--November 2020
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary)--December 2020
Issue notice of acceptance, ready for environmental analysis, approving 
request for expedited processing--December 2020
Commission issues draft EA or draft EIS--August 2021
Comments on draft EA or draft EIS--September 2021
Commission issues final EA or final EIS--January 2022

    Dated: July 6, 2020.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-14906 Filed 7-9-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P