[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 246 (Tuesday, December 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83540-83541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28237]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 1855-050]


Great River 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.: 1855-050.
    c. Date Material Amendments Filed: December 7, 2020.
    d. Applicant: Great River Hydro, LLC (Great River Hydro).
    e. Name of Project: Bellows Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The existing project is located on the Connecticut 
River in Windsor and Windham Counties, Vermont, and Sullivan and 
Cheshire Counties, New Hampshire. There are no federal lands within the 
project boundary.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: John Ragonese, FERC License Manager, Great 
River Hydro, LLC, 40 Pleasant Street, Suite 202, Portsmouth, NH 03801; 
(603) 498-2851 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. Great River Hydro filed an application for a new license for the 
Bellows Falls Hydroelectric Project No. 1855 on May 1, 2017. In the 
license application, Great River Hydro 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 May 1, 2017. 
Great River Hydro indicated that it would amend the license application 
after completing additional field work, consultation, and analyses on 
the required studies. Great River Hydro filed material amendments to 
the final license application on December 7, 2020.
    l. Project Description: The existing Bellows Falls Project consists 
of: (1) A 643-foot-long, 30-foot-high concrete dam that includes: (a) 
Two 18-foot-high, 115-foot-wide steel roller gates; (b) two 13-foot-
high, 121-foot-wide stanchion flashboards; and (c) a 13-foot-high, 100-
foot-wide stanchion flashboard; (2) a 26-mile-long, 2,804-acre 
impoundment with a useable storage volume of 7,467 acre-feet between 
elevations 288.63 and 291.63 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 
1929 (NGVD 29); (3) a 1,700-foot-long, 36- to 100-foot-wide, 29-foot-
deep stone-lined power canal; (4) a 130.25-foot-wide concrete forebay 
that includes trashracks with 4-inch clear bar spacing; (5) a 186-foot-
long, 106-foot-wide, 52-foot-high steel frame, brick powerhouse 
containing three 13.6-megawatt (MW) vertical Francis turbine-generator 
units, for a total project capacity of 40.8 MW; (6) three approximately 
20-foot-high, 31-foot-wide concrete draft tubes; (7) a 900-foot-long 
tailrace; (8) a 12-foot-wide, 10-foot-high ice sluice; (9) three 80-
foot-long, 6.6-kilovolt generator leads that connect the turbine-
generator units to two step-up transformers; (10) a 920-foot-long, 8-
foot-wide fishway; (11) a concrete fish barrier dam in the bypassed 
reach; and (12) appurtenant facilities.
    Great River Hydro operates the project in coordination with its 
upstream Wilder Project No. 1892 and downstream Vernon Project No. 1904 
and in a peaking mode. Average annual generation is approximately 
239,070 MW-hours. Great River Hydro is proposing changes to project 
operation that would reduce impoundment fluctuations and increase the 
stability of downstream flow releases relative to current project 
operation, including targeted water surface elevation levels and flow 
ramping rates. Great River Hydro proposes several protection, 
mitigation, and enhancement measures for aquatic, terrestrial, 
cultural, and recreation resources, and threatened and endangered 
species. 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-
1855). 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
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Commission issues letter 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 83541]]

    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. 2020-28237 Filed 12-21-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P