[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 30 (Wednesday, February 17, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9924-9925]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-03159]


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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 of Application Ready for Environmental Analysis and 
Soliciting Comments, Recommendations, Terms and Conditions, and 
Prescriptions

    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. Applicants: Green Mountain Power 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. The project does not occupy federal 
land.
    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, (202) 502-6773 or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing comments, recommendations, terms and 
conditions, and prescriptions: 60 days from the issuance date of this 
notice; reply comments are due 105 days from the issuance date of this 
notice.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
comments, recommendations, terms and conditions, and prescriptions 
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. The first page of any filing should include docket 
number P-4451-024.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice require all intervenors 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 
intervenor 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. This application has been accepted and is ready for 
environmental analysis at this time.
    The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued a final rule on 
July 15, 2020, revising the regulations under 40 CFR parts 1500-1518 
that federal agencies use to implement the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) (see Update to the Regulations Implementing the 
Procedural Provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, 85 FR 
43,304). The Final Rule became effective on and applies to any NEPA

[[Page 9925]]

process begun after September 14, 2020. An agency may also apply the 
regulations to ongoing activities and environmental documents begun 
before September 14, 2020, which includes the proposed Lower Great 
Falls Hydroelectric Project relicensing. Commission staff intends to 
conduct its NEPA review in accordance with CEQ's new regulations.
    l. Project Description: 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) and 4-foot-high 
flashboards at an elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD at the top of the 
flashboards; (b) a 50-foot-long left abutment section with 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 elevation of 106.37 feet NGVD; (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 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 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 megawatts; (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 a 250-foot-long bypassed reach of the Salmon Falls River 
between the dam and the downstream end of the tailrace.
    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; and (5) install a 
downstream fish passage structure for eels and other fish species.
    m. A copy of the application can be viewed on the Commission's 
website 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, contact FERC Online 
Support.
    All filings must: (1) Bear in all capital letters the title 
``COMMENTS,'' ``REPLY COMMENTS,'' ``RECOMMENDATIONS,'' ``TERMS AND 
CONDITIONS,'' or ``PRESCRIPTIONS;'' (2) set forth in the heading the 
name of the applicant and the project number of the application to 
which the filing responds; (3) furnish the name, address, and telephone 
number of the person submitting the filing; and (4) otherwise comply 
with the requirements of 18 CFR 385.2001 through 385.2005. All 
comments, recommendations, terms and conditions, or prescriptions must 
set forth their evidentiary basis and otherwise comply with the 
requirements of 18 CFR 4.34(b). Agencies may obtain copies of the 
application directly from the applicant. Each filing must be 
accompanied by proof of service on all persons listed on the service 
list prepared by the Commission in this proceeding, in accordance with 
18 CFR 4.34(b) and 385.2010.
    You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    n. The applicant must file no later than 60 days following the date 
of issuance of this notice: (1) A copy of the water quality 
certification; (2) a copy of the request for certification, including 
proof of the date on which the certifying agency received the request; 
or (3) evidence of waiver of water quality certification. Please note 
that the certification request must be sent to the certifying authority 
and to the Commission concurrently.
    o. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made as 
appropriate.

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                 Milestone                           Target date
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Deadline for filing comments,               April 2021.
 recommendations, preliminary terms and
 conditions, and preliminary fishway
 prescriptions.
Deadline for filing reply comments........  May 2021.
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    p. Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of this notice.

    Dated: February 10, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-03159 Filed 2-16-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P