[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 234 (Friday, December 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78319-78320]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26715]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 4451-024]


Green Mountain Power Corporation, City of Somersworth, New 
Hampshire; Notice Soliciting Scoping Comments

    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.: 4451-024.
    c. Date Filed: April 30, 2020.
    d. Submitted By: Green Mountain Power Corporation and the City of 
Somersworth, New Hampshire.
    e. Name of Project: Lower Great Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Salmon Falls River in Strafford County, New 
Hampshire, and York County, Maine. 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: Mr. John Greenan, Green Mountain Power 
Corporation, 1252 Post Road, Rutland, VT 05701; Phone at (802) 770-
2195, or email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Amanda Gill at (202) 502-6773; or email at 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: December 30, 2020.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
scoping comments using the Commission's eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. Commenters can submit brief 
comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the 
eComment system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/QuickComment.aspx. 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, you may submit a paper copy. 
Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: 
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via 
any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and 
docket number on the first page: Lower Great Falls Hydroelectric 
Project (P-4451-024).
    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 application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The existing Lower Great Falls Hydroelectric Project consists 
of: (1) A 297-foot-long, 32-foot-high stone masonry and concrete dam 
that includes the following sections: (a) A 176-foot-long spillway 
section with a crest elevation of 102.37 feet National Geodetic 
Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) with 4-foot-high flashboards at an 
elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD 29 at the top of the flashboards and a 
5.25-foot-wide, 4-foot-high debris sluice gate; (b) a 50-foot-long left 
abutment section with

[[Page 78320]]

two 8-foot-wide, 8-foot-high low-level outlet gates (only one of which 
is operational), that control flow into two 7-foot-diameter, 40-foot-
long outlet pipes; and (c) a 71-foot-long right abutment section; (2) a 
40-acre impoundment with a normal surface elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD 
29; (3) a 40.5-foot-wide, 20-foot-high intake structure with four 5-
foot-wide, 10.5-foot-high steel frame gates and a trashrack with 2-inch 
bar spacing; (4) an 8.5-foot-diameter, 120-foot-long left, steel 
penstock that bifurcates into a 5.3-foot-diameter, 85-foot-long section 
and a 7.6-foot-diameter, 85-foot-long section; (5) an 8.5-foot-
diameter, 140-foot-long right, steel penstock that bifurcates into a 7-
foot-diameter, 85-foot-long section and a 7.6-foot-diameter, 85-foot-
long section; (6) a 46-foot-long, 30-foot-wide concrete and brick 
powerhouse with two 260-kilowatt (kW) F-type Francis turbine-generator 
units and two 380-kW F-type Francis turbine-generator units, for a 
total installed capacity of 1.28 MW; (7) a 55-foot-long, 30-foot-wide 
tailrace; (8) a 260-foot-long underground transmission line that 
delivers power to a 4.16-kilovolt distribution line; and (9) 
appurtenant facilities. The project creates an approximately 250-foot-
long bypassed reach of the Salmon Falls River.
    The project operates as a run-of-river (ROR) facility with no 
storage or flood control capacity. The project impoundment is 
maintained at a flashboard crest elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD. The 
current license requires the project to maintain a continuous minimum 
flow of 6.05 cubic feet per second (cfs) or inflow, whichever is less, 
to the bypassed reach for the purpose of protecting and enhancing 
aquatic resources in the Salmon Falls River. The average annual 
generation production of the project was 3,916,825 kilowatt-hours from 
2005 through 2018.
    The applicant proposes to: (1) Continue operating the project in a 
ROR mode; (2) provide a minimum flow of 30 cfs or inflow, whichever is 
less, to the bypassed reach; (3) install an eel ramp for upstream eel 
passage at the project; (4) implement targeted nighttime turbine 
shutdowns to protect eels during downstream passage; (5) install a 
downstream fish passage structure for eels and other fish species.
    m. 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.
    n. 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.
    o. Scoping Process.
    Commission staff will prepare either an environmental assessment 
(EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that describes and 
evaluates the probable effects, if any, of the licensee's proposed 
action and alternatives. The EA or EIS will consider environmental 
impacts and reasonable alternatives to the proposed action. The 
Commission's scoping process will help determine the required level of 
analysis and satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, irrespective of 
whether the Commission prepares an EA or an EIS. Due to restrictions on 
mass gatherings related to COVID-19, we do not intend to conduct a 
public scoping meeting and site visit in this case. Instead, we are 
soliciting written comments and suggestions on the preliminary list of 
issues and alternatives to be addressed in the NEPA document, as 
described in scoping document 1 (SD1), issued November 30, 2020.
    Copies of the SD1 outlining the subject areas to be addressed in 
the NEPA document 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: November 30, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-26715 Filed 12-3-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P