[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 246 (Tuesday, December 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83542-83544]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28235]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 1889-085]


FirstLight MA Hydro LLC; Notice Establishing Procedural Schedule 
for Licensing and Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

    Take notice that the following amended hydroelectric application 
has been filed with the Commission and is available for public 
inspection.
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 1889-085.
    c. Date Material Amendments Filed: December 4, 2020.
    d. Applicant: FirstLight MA Hydro LLC (FirstLight).
    e. Name of Project: Turners Falls Hydroelectric Project (project).

[[Page 83543]]

    f. Location: The existing project is located on the Connecticut 
River in Windham County, Vermont, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, and 
Franklin County, Massachusetts. There are approximately 20 acres of 
federal lands within the current project boundary associated with the 
U.S. Geological Survey's Silvio Conte Anadromous Fish Laboratory.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Justin Trudell, Vice President, 
Operations, FirstLight MA Hydro LLC, 111 South Bedford Street, Suite 
103, Burlington, MA 01803; (781) 653-4247 or 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Steve Kartalia, (202) 502-6131 or 
[email protected].
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. FirstLight Hydro Generating Company filed an application for a 
new license for the Turners Falls Hydroelectric Project No. 1889 
(project) on April 29, 2016. In the license application, FirstLight 
Hydro Generating Company stated that it could not develop a complete 
licensing proposal for the project since many of the required 
environmental studies were not complete as of April 29, 2016. 
FirstLight Hydro Generating Company indicated that it would amend the 
license application after completing additional field work, 
consultation, and analyses on the required studies. On July 11, 2019, 
Commission staff approved the transfer of the license for the project 
from FirstLight Hydro Generating Company to FirstLight MA Hydro LLC. 
FirstLight MA Hydro LLC filed material amendments to the final license 
application on December 4, 2020.
    l. Project Description: The existing Turners Falls Project consists 
of: (1) A 630-foot-long, 35-foot-high dam (Montague dam) that includes: 
(i) Four 120-foot-wide, 13.25-foot-high bascule gates; and (ii) a 170-
foot-long fixed section with a crest elevation of 185.5 feet National 
Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29); (2) a 493-foot-long, 55-
foot-high dam (Gill dam) that includes: (i) Three 40-foot-wide, 39-
foot-high tainter gates; and (ii) 97.3- and 207.5-foot-long fixed 
sections with crest elevations of 185.5 feet NGVD 29; (3) a 2,110-acre 
impoundment with a useable storage volume of 16,150 acre-feet between 
elevations 176.0 feet and 185.0 feet NGVD 29; (4) a 214-foot-long, 33-
foot-high gatehouse that includes six 9-foot-wide, 10.66-foot-high 
gates and nine 9.5-foot-wide, 12.6-foot-high gates; (5) a 2.1-mile-
long, 120- to 920-foot-wide, 17- to 30-foot-deep power canal; (6) a 
700-foot-long, 100-foot-wide, 16- to 23-foot-deep branch canal; (7) the 
Station No.1 generating facility that includes: (i) Eight 15-foot-wide 
bays with trashracks with 2.625-inch clear-bar spacing; (ii) four 100-
foot-long, 13.1- to 14-foot-diameter penstocks; (iii) a 134-foot-long, 
64-foot-wide powerhouse that contains five turbine-generator units with 
a total installed capacity of 5.693 megawatts (MW); (iv) four 21-foot-
long, 6.5-foot-diameter draft tubes; (v) five 40- to 70-foot-long, 2.4-
kilovolt (kV) generator leads that connect the turbine-generator units 
to a generator bus; (vi) a 110-foot-long, 2.4-kV generator lead that 
connects the generator bus to a substation; and (vii) a 20-foot-long, 
2.4-kV generator lead that connects the substation to three 
transformers; (8) the Cabot Station generating facility that includes: 
(i) An intake structure with 217-foot-wide, 31-foot-high trashracks 
with 0.94-inch and 3.56-inch clear-bar spacing; (ii) six 70-foot-long 
penstocks; (iii) a 235-foot-long, 79.5-foot-wide powerhouse that 
contains six turbine-generator units with a total installed capacity of 
62.016 MW; (iv) six 41-foot-long, 12.5- to 14.5-foot-diameter draft 
tubes; (v) six 80- to 250-foot-long, 13.8-kV generator leads that 
connect the turbine-generator units to a generator bus; (vi) a 60-foot-
long, 13.8-kV generator lead that connects the generator bus to the 
powerhouse roof; and (vii) a 200-foot-long, 13.8-kV generator lead that 
connects to a transformer; (9) eight 13.6-foot-wide, 16.7-foot-high 
power canal spillway gates that are adjacent to Cabot Station; (10) a 
16.2-foot-wide, 13.1-foot-high log sluice gate in the Cabot Station 
forebay with an 8-foot-wide weir for downstream fish passage; (11) a 
200-foot-long, 7-foot-diameter drainage tunnel (Keith Drainage Tunnel) 
and headgate; (12) a 955-foot-long, 5-foot-diameter lower drainage 
tunnel; (13) an 850-foot-long, 16-foot-wide, 10-foot-high fishway 
(Cabot fishway); (14) a 500-foot-long, 10-foot-wide, 10-foot-high 
fishway (Spillway fishway); (15) a 225-foot-long, 16-foot-wide, 17.5-
foot-high fishway (Gatehouse fishway); and (16) appurtenant facilities.
    The Turners Falls Project operates in peaking and run-of-river 
modes, depending on inflows. Average annual generation from 2011-2019 
was approximately 332,351 MW-hours.
    FirstLight proposes three changes to the current project boundary: 
(1) Remove 0.2 acre of land associated with residential property; (2) 
add 0.8 acre of land for recreation purposes; and (3) remove 20.1 acres 
of land associated with the U.S. Geological Survey's Silvio Conte 
Anadromous Fish Laboratory.
    FirstLight proposes to construct new fish passage facilities and 
recreational access trails. FirstLight also proposes changes to project 
operation that would generally reduce impoundment fluctuations and 
increase flow releases to the portion of the Connecticut River that is 
bypassed by the project. The specific proposed changes are described in 
the amended application.
    m. 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-
1889). 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).
    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. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the 
schedule may be made as appropriate.

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                  Milestone                           Target date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commission issues letters identifying          January 2021.
 application deficiencies and requesting
 additional information.
Notice of Acceptance/Notice of Ready for       May 2021.
 Environmental Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary terms   July 2021.
 and conditions, and fishway prescriptions.
Reply Comments due...........................  August 2021.
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[[Page 83544]]

    p. 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: December 16, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-28235 Filed 12-21-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P