[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 24, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 75002-75003]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25984]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3253-015]


Mad River Power Associates LP; 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: Subsequent Minor License.
    b. Project No.: 3253-015.
    c. Date filed: November 3, 2020.
    d. Applicant: Mad River Power Associates (MRPA).
    e. Name of Project: Campton Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Mad River in Grafton County, New Hampshire. The 
project occupies approximately 0.05 acre of federal land administered 
by the U.S. Forest Service.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Ian Clark, Mad River Power Associates, 1 
Pepsi Way, Suite 6n75, Katonah, NY 10536; Phone at (914) 297-7645, or 
email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Amanda Gill at (202) 502-6773, 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 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: January 2, 2021. The Commission strongly 
encourages electronic filing. Please file additional study requests and 
requests for cooperating agency status using the Commission's eFiling 
system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. 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. MRPA electronically filed the license application with the 
Commission after the close of business on November 2, 2020 at 7:58 p.m. 
Pursuant to 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(2), any document received after 5:00 
p.m. eastern time is considered filed on the next regular business day. 
On November 3, 2020, Mad River Power filed a motion requesting that the 
Commission accept its November 3, 2020 license application out of time 
or other appropriate remedies. By this notice, the requirement under 18 
CFR 16.20(c) to file the subsequent license application at least 24 
months before the expiration of the existing license (i.e., no later 
than November 2, 2020) is waived.
    o. Project Description: The existing Campton Hydroelectric Project 
utilizes water from the impoundment (Campton Pond) created by the U.S. 
Forest Service's Campton Dam and consists of: (1) An intake structure 
located approximately 60 feet upstream of the Campton Dam that includes 
a 25-foot-long trashrack; (2) a 600-foot-long, 78-inch-diameter 
underground steel penstock; (3) a 40-foot-long, 28-foot-wide powerhouse 
located on the east side of the Mad River that contains a 167-kilowatt 
(kW) Francis turbine-generator unit; (4) two 236-kW submersible Flygt 
turbine-generator units located outside of the powerhouse; (5) an 
approximately 50-foot-long, 56-foot-wide tailrace; (6) a 200-foot-long 
transmission line and a 33.5-kilovolt transformer that connects the 
generators to the electric grid; and (7) appurtenant facilities. The 
project creates an approximately 600-foot-long bypassed reach of the 
Mad River.
    Downstream passage for Atlantic Salmon is provided by a smolt 
bypass facility located on the left riverbank of the Mad River.
    The current license requires: (1) Inflow to be discharged over the 
spillway to the bypassed reach during periods of non-generation or when 
inflow is less than 25 cfs; (2) a minimum flow of 4.5 cfs through the 
Atlantic salmon smolt bypass facility during periods of generation or 
when inflow is greater than 25 cfs; and (3) operation of the smolt 
bypass facility from mid-April to mid-June. The average annual 
generation of the project is approximately 1,170 megawatt-hours (MWh).
    MRPA proposes to: (1) Operate the project in a run-of-river mode; 
(2) replace one of the Flygt turbine-generator units with a new 340-kW 
Flygt turbine-generator unit, (3) release a minimum flow of 29 cfs or 
inflow, whichever is less, to the bypassed reach; and (4) close the 
existing smolt bypass facility. MRPA estimates the project enhancements 
will result in an average annual generation of approximately 1,900 MWh.
    p. 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-
3253). 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).

[[Page 75003]]

    You may also register online at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    q. Procedural schedule: 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) January 2021
Request Additional Information January 2021
Issue Acceptance Letter April 2021
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments May 2021
Request Additional Information (if necessary) August 2021
Issue Scoping Document 2 August 2021
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis August 2021

    r. 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: November 17, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-25984 Filed 11-23-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P