[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 174 (Monday, September 13, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50879-50880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19675]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 5261-023]


Green Mountain Power Corporation; 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

    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.: 5261-023.
    c. Date filed: August 27, 2021.
    d. Applicant: Green Mountain Power Corporation.
    e. Name of Project: Newbury Hydroelectric Project (project).
    f. Location: On the Wells River, in the town of Newbury, Orange 
County, Vermont. 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: John Greenan, Green Mountain Power 
Corporation, 2152 Post Road, Rutland, VT 05701; Phone at (802) 770-
2195, or email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Adam Peer at (202) 502-8449, 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 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: October 26, 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: Newbury Hydroelectric Project (P-5261-
023).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The existing Newbury Project consists of: 
(1) An 11.4-acre impoundment at a normal water surface elevation of 
463.9 feet mean sea level; (2) a 26-foot-high by 90-foot-long concrete 
gravity dam that includes a 73.3-foot-long spillway topped with 5-foot-
high pneumatic crest gates; (3) a seasonally installed, 8-foot-long by 
4-foot-wide steel sluice box on the south side of the spillway to 
provide downstream fish passage; (4) an 11.2-foot-wide, 9-foot-long 
intake structure with trash racks, connected to a 5-foot-diameter, 435-
foot-long underground steel penstock; (5) a 1,892-square-foot 
powerhouse containing a single 315-kilowatt turbine-generator unit; (6) 
a second 50-kilowatt turbine-generator unit located outside of the 
powerhouse approximately 75-feet downstream of the dam along the 
bypassed reach; (7) a 125-foot-long tailrace; (8) three 150-foot-long 
generator leads that create a 480 Volt, 3 phase 150-foot-long 
underground transmission line connected to three pole mounted 167 
kilovolt-ampere step-up transformers; and (9) appurtenant facilities. 
The project creates a 590-foot-long bypassed reach of the Wells River.
    o. The current license requires Green Mountain Power Corporation 
to: (1) Operate the project in run-of-river mode; (2) release a 
continuous bypassed reach minimum flow of 50 cubic feet per second 
(cfs) from April 15 to June 10 and 25 cfs during the remainder of the 
year; and (3) release a year-round,

[[Page 50880]]

continuous aesthetic flow of 5 cfs over the dam. The average annual 
generation of the project is approximately 882 megawatt-hours.
    p. Green Mountain Power Corporation proposes to: (1) Continue 
operating the project in run-of-river mode; (2) release new bypassed 
reach minimum flows of 35 cfs from May 15 to October 15 and 30 cfs from 
October 16 to May 14; and (3) release a new aesthetic flow of 10 cfs 
over the dam from May 15 to October 15 during daytime hours and no 
aesthetic flow the remainder of the year.
    q. 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-
5261). 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 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.
    r. 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)....  November 2021.
Request Additional Information............  November 2021.
Issue Acceptance Letter...................  March 2022.
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments.....  March 2022.
Issue Scoping Document 2..................  May 2022.
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental     May 2022.
 Analysis.
 

    s. 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: September 7, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-19675 Filed 9-10-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P