[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 19, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5177-5178]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01032]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 4718-039]


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; Cocheco Falls Associates

    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.: 4718-039.
    c. Date filed: December 29, 2020.
    d. Applicant: Cocheco Falls Associates.
    e. Name of Project: Cocheco Falls Dam Project.
    f. Location: On the Cocheco River in Dover, Strafford County, New 
Hampshire. The project does not occupy any federal land.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. John Webster, Cocheco Falls Associates, 
P.O. Box 178, South Berwick, ME 03908; Phone at (207) 384-5334, or 
email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Amy Chang at (202) 502-8250, 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

[[Page 5178]]

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: February 27, 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). 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: Cocheco Falls Dam Project (P-4718-
039).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The existing Cocheco Falls Dam Project 
consists of: (1) A 150-foot-long, 13.5-foot-high stone masonry arch dam 
that includes the following sections: (a) A left abutment section; (b) 
a 140-foot-long spillway section with 24-inch-high flashboards, a 5-
foot-wide, 10-foot-high low-level outlet gate, and a crest elevation of 
37.0 feet mean sea level (msl) at the top of the flashboards; and (c) a 
right abutment section with a debris sluice gate; (2) a 20-acre 
impoundment with a storage capacity of 150 acre-feet at an elevation of 
37.0 feet msl; (3) a 64-foot-wide, 10-foot-high intake structure 
equipped with a trashrack with 1-inch clear bar spacing; (4) an 8.5-
foot-diameter, 184-foot-long gated steel penstock that trifurcates into 
three 5-foot-diameter, 8-foot-long sections, each controlled by a 5-
foot-diameter butterfly valve; (5) a 40-foot-long, 40-foot-wide 
concrete and brick masonry powerhouse containing three 238-kilowatt 
(kW) vertical Flygt submersible turbine-generator units for a total 
installed capacity of 714 kW; (6) a 40-foot-long, 40-foot-wide tailrace 
that discharges into the Cocheco River; (7) a 1,000-foot-long, 34.5-
kilovolt (kV) underground transmission line and a 34.5-kV transformer 
that connects the project to the local utility distribution system; and 
(8) appurtenant facilities.
    Cocheco Falls Associates voluntarily operates the project in a run-
of-river mode using an automatic pond level control system to regulate 
turbine operation, such that outflow from the project approximates 
inflow. The project creates an approximately 100-foot-long bypassed 
reach of the Cocheco River.
    Downstream fish passage is provided by a bypass facility located on 
the left side of the dam and consist of a 5.6-foot-wide, 7-foot-long 
fish collection box, a trashrack with 6-inch clear bar spacing, and a 
24-inch-diameter PVC fish passage pipe. Upstream fish passage is 
provided by a Denil fish ladder located on the right side of the dam.
    The current license requires the release of: (1) 20 cubic feet per 
second (cfs) from the upstream fish passage facility from April 15 
until June 30; (2) 20 cfs through the trash sluiceway from April 15 
until June 15, to attract anadromous fish to the fish ladder; and (3) 
20 cfs through the downstream fish passage facility from April 15 until 
ice forms on the river. The average annual generation of the project is 
approximately 3,000 megawatt-hours.
    Cocheco Falls Associates proposes to: (1) Continue to operate the 
project in a run-of-river mode; (2) continue to facilitate upstream and 
downstream fish passage by providing the minimum flows required by the 
current license; (3) design and install an upstream eel passage 
facility at the Denil fish ladder location within 4 years of the 
effective date of a subsequent license; and (4) consult with the New 
Hampshire State Historic Preservation Officer before beginning any 
land-disturbing activities or alterations to known historic structures 
within the project boundary.
    o. 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-
4718). 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).
    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.
    p. 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) February 2021
Request Additional Information February 2021
Issue Acceptance Letter May 2021
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments June 2021
Request Additional Information (if necessary) August 2021
Issue Scoping Document 2 September 2021
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis September 2021

    q. 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: January 12, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-01032 Filed 1-15-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P