[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 97 (Thursday, May 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30477-30478]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10780]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2547-095]


Village of Swanton, Vermont; 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: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 2547-095.
    c. Date Filed: April 29, 2022.
    d. Applicant: Village of Swanton, Vermont (Village).
    e. Name of Project: Highgate Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On Missisquoi River in Franklin 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: Reginald R. Beliveau, Jr., Manager--Village 
of Swanton, 120 First Street, Swanton, Vermont 05488; call at (802) 
868-3397; 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 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: June 28, 2022.

[[Page 30478]]

    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, 
MD 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and docket 
number on the first page: Highgate Falls Hydroelectric Project (P-2547-
095).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The existing project consists of: (1) A dam 
about 670 feet long comprised of: (i) A 235-foot-long earth-filled 
embankment on the west bank; (ii) a 174-foot-long concrete intake 
structure; (iii) a 226-foot-long ogee-shaped concrete spillway section 
with a 15-foot-high pneumatic crest gate and a maximum crest elevation 
of 190.0 foot National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29) when 
fully inflated; and (iv) a 35-foot-long concrete abutment on the east 
bank; (2) an impoundment with a storage capacity of 3,327 acre-feet at 
an elevation of 190.0 feet NGVD29; (3) a 509-foot-long, 10.5-foot-wide, 
and 10.5-foot-high concrete conduit connecting to a 243-foot-long, 12-
foot-diameter steel penstock that conveys flow from the intake 
structure to the main powerhouse; (4) a surge tank; (5) a concrete and 
masonry main powerhouse containing two 1,000-kilowatt (kW), one 2,800-
kW, and one 6,000-kW vertical Francis turbine-generators; (6) a 75-
foot-long, 5-foot-diameter steel penstock conveying flow from the 
intake structure to a 710-kW crossflow turbine-generator located within 
a secondary concrete powerhouse; (7) an outdoor substation; and (8) 
appurtenant facilities. The project creates an approximately 1,100-
foot-long bypassed reach of the Missisquoi River between the dam and 
the powerhouse discharge.
    The current license requires the project operate as a run-of-river 
facility such that outflow approximates inflow between March 31 and 
June 1. From June 1 through March 30, the Village operates the project 
as a peaking facility by generating electricity during daily peak 
demand periods. When peaking, the Village limits the daily impoundment 
drawdown to 30 inches or less from the full pond elevation of 190 feet 
NGVD29. The current license also requires a minimum flow release of 200 
cubic feet per second (cfs) or inflow, whichever is less, to the 
Missisquoi River downstream of the powerhouse, including 35 cfs from 
the dam to the bypassed reach. The average annual generation of the 
project was approximately 39,442 megawatt-hours from 2013 through 2020.
    The applicant proposes modify current project operations to: (1) 
Operate the project in run-of-river mode from March 31 through June 15, 
and during periods when inflow is 400 cfs or less; (2) limit 
impoundment drawdowns during peaking operation to 18 to 24 inches, 
instead of 30 inches under current operation; (3) refill the 
impoundment within 8 hours of each drawdown for peaking operation; (4) 
continue to provide a minimum flow of 200 cfs downstream of the 
powerhouse, including the following minimum flows to the bypassed 
reach: 150 cfs in April and May, 70 cfs in June, and 35 cfs from July 
through March; (5) develop a freshwater mussel plan for relocating 
mussels when the impoundment is lowered to 186 feet NGVD 29 or less for 
prolonged periods of time; (6) develop a plan for protecting horn-
leaved riverweed downstream of the Swanton Dam ledges, which are 
located approximately 7 miles downstream of the powerhouse; (7) provide 
aesthetic flows of 1 to 3 inches of spill over the dam during certain 
holidays; (8) improve an existing parking area to accommodate 5 to 7 
cars for recreation users; (9) develop a plan to provide access for 
hand-carry water craft to the impoundment and downstream of the 
project; and (10) develop an historic properties management plan to 
protect historic properties.
    The applicant also proposes to: (1) Conduct a post-licensing 
evaluation of the feasibility of using the existing downstream Swanton 
Dam canal works for upstream fish passage; (2) develop a recreational 
maintenance and enhancement plan to guide regular maintenance 
activities at recreation facilities; (3) install a warning system to 
alert recreation users to increases in flow in the bypassed reach and 
downstream of the powerhouse; and (4) install an electric vehicle 
charging station for five vehicles using electricity produced by the 
hydroelectric plant.
    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-
2547). 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) June 2022
Request Additional Information June 2022
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments September 2022
Request Additional Information (if necessary) October 2022
Issue Acceptance Letter October 2022
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary) November 2022
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis November 2022

    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: May 13, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-10780 Filed 5-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P