[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 1, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33146-33148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-11475]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Western Area Power Administration


Proposed 2025 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan

AGENCY: Western Area Power Administration, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of proposed 2025 Olmsted power marketing plan and 
announcement of public information and comment forum.

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

SUMMARY: Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), a federal Power 
Marketing Administration of the Department of Energy (DOE), is seeking 
comments on its proposed 2025 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan including 
the general power marketing criteria to be used as the basis for 
marketing the hydroelectric generation of the Olmsted Powerplant 
Replacement Project (Olmsted Project). The current Olmsted Power 
Marketing Plan will expire on September 30, 2024, and the proposed 2025 
Olmsted Power Marketing Plan would take effect October 1, 2024.

DATES: The public comment period on the Proposed 2025 Olmsted Power 
Marketing Plan begins June 1, 2022 and ends August 30, 2022. To be 
assured of consideration, WAPA must receive all written comments by the 
end of the comment period.
    WAPA will hold a virtual public information forum about this 
proposed marketing plan on Thursday, June 28, 2022, from 9:30 a.m. to 
12:00 p.m. MDT. The virtual public comment forum is scheduled for the 
afternoon of the same day, Thursday, June 28, 2022, beginning at 1:00 
p.m. MDT and concluding when comments are complete, or no later than 
4:00 p.m. MDT. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, neither the public 
information nor comment forums will be held in-person. Information on 
the virtual meeting may be found on the Colorado River Storage Project 
(CRSP) website at: https://www.wapa.gov/regions/CRSP/PowerMarketing/Pages/power-marketing.aspx. WAPA will post webinar and dial in 
information at this link 14 days before the scheduled forums.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments about this proposed marketing plan 
to: Mr. Rodney Bailey, Acting CRSP Manager, CRSP Management Center 
(MC), Western Area Power Administration, 1800 South Rio Grande Avenue, 
Montrose, CO 81401. Comments also may be emailed to [email protected] or faxed to 970-240-6282. All documentation 
developed or retained by WAPA for the purpose of developing the 
proposed marketing plan is available for inspection and copying at the 
CRSP MC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Randolph Manion, CRSP Contracts 
and Energy Services Manager, [email protected], 720-201-3285. Written 
requests for information should be mailed to the CRSP Management Center 
at the ADDRESSES section.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: WAPA is responsible for marketing power from 
CRSP, of which the Olmsted Project is a feature. WAPA is also 
responsible for marketing power from other CRSP projects which include 
the Salt Lake City Area Integrated Projects, the Falcon-Amistad 
Project, and the Provo River Project. CRSP operates approximately 2,316 
miles of transmission line and associated infrastructure related to 
these federal hydroelectric projects across Arizona, New Mexico, 
Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. This Federal Register notice formally 
initiates WAPA's public process and request for public comments on the 
proposed 2025 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan. WAPA will prepare and 
publish the final 2025 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan after considering 
public comments on the proposed marketing plan. This Federal Register 
notice is not a call for applications. A call for applications from 
those interested in an allocation of Olmsted Project power will occur 
in a future notice.
    The Olmsted Project is located at the mouth of Provo Canyon in 
northern Utah and is part of the Central Utah Project, a participating 
project of CRSP. In 1987, the United States Department of the Interior, 
Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) secured ownership of the Olmsted 
Flowline, located in northern Utah, from PacifiCorp (formerly known as 
Utah Power and Light), and the associated water rights as an essential 
part of the Central Utah Project. In the related 1990 Settlement 
Agreement, the Olmsted facilities were acquired in condemnation 
proceedings by the United States and added to the Central Utah Project 
to better secure and develop water rights. As part of the condemnation 
proceedings, PacifiCorp continued Olmsted operations until September 
22, 2015. Power generation at the site ceased on that date, and the 
Department of Interior (DOI) assumed responsibility for operating the 
Olmsted Project.
    The continued operation of the Olmsted facilities is essential to 
maintaining the non-consumptive Olmsted water rights necessary for the 
Central Utah Project. A comprehensive evaluation of the 100-year-old 
project determined the facility greatly exceeded its operational life, 
and a replacement hydroelectric facility was necessary. On February 4, 
2015, an Implementation Agreement (Agreement) for the Olmsted Project 
was signed by the Central Utah Water Conservancy District (District), 
Reclamation, DOE, and WAPA (Participants). The Agreement set forth the 
responsibilities of the Participants and how the Olmsted Project would 
be funded. The second quarter of calendar year 2016, pursuant to the 
Agreement, the District began construction of the 12-megawatt, $42 
million replacement hydroelectric facility and new power transmission 
line to the Provo Power system. Olmsted Powerplant construction was 
completed in July 2018 and started commercial power production in 
October 2018. The

[[Page 33147]]

Olmsted Project is a federal facility operated and maintained by the 
District in connection with its Central Utah Project operations. The 
Olmsted Project is a ``run-of-the-river'' plant producing power only 
when water demands from downstream users necessitate water deliveries.

Current Marketing Plan Background

    WAPA published the Final 2018 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan and Call 
for Applications in the Federal Register on October 11, 2017 (82 FR 
47201). The ``Final Allocations of the Olmsted Powerplant Replacement 
Project'' was published in the Federal Register on September 5, 2018 
(83 FR 45121), and WAPA began marketing energy under the marketing plan 
on October 5, 2018. The Olmsted Project's 3-year net generation average 
is 24,650,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). This hydropower is currently 
marketed to Utah Municipal Power Agency; and the District, Lehi City, 
Kaysville City, Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, and Springville 
City through the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (Customers). 
Customers with an allocation receive a proportional share of the energy 
and annually pay a proportional share of the operation, maintenance, 
and replacement (OM&R) expenses in 12 monthly installments.

Proposed 2025 Olmsted General Power Marketing Criteria

    In the proposed 2025 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan, WAPA proposes to 
offer a resource extension to existing Customers and a portion of the 
resource to new applicants under the following general marketing 
criteria:
    A. Marketing Area: Due to the relatively small size of the resource 
and its operating characteristics, eligible applicants must be located 
within the following counties in Utah: Davis, Juab, Morgan, Salt Lake, 
Summit, Utah, Weber, and Wasatch.
    B. Resource Extensions and Resource Pool Allocations: WAPA proposes 
to provide 95 percent of its available energy resource to existing 
Customers and to establish a resource pool up to 5 percent for eligible 
new preference entities and the ``June Sucker'' fish restoration 
efforts required by the Central Utah Project Completion Act. WAPA will 
take into consideration all existing federal hydropower allocations an 
applicant is currently receiving when determining each new allocation. 
Allocations of Olmsted Project energy will be determined solely by 
WAPA. Eligible applicant(s) who receive an allocation will be allocated 
a percentage of the annual energy output of the powerplant rather than 
fixed quantities of energy.
    C. Eligible Applicants: Eligible applicants must qualify as 
preference entities, in accordance with section 9(c) of the Reclamation 
Project Act of 1939, 43 U.S.C. 485h(c). WAPA will provide allocations 
only to preference entities in the marketing area. WAPA, through a 
separate public process, will determine the amount of energy to 
allocate in accordance with the marketing criteria and administrative 
discretion under Reclamation Law (e.g., Reclamation Act of 1902, 32 
Stat. 388, as amended). As operator of the Olmsted Power Plant and as a 
result of priority status under the current marketing plan, the 
District will not be impacted by the 5 percent set aside for eligible 
new preference entities.
    D. Preference Entities: Municipalities, rural electric 
cooperatives, and political subdivisions including irrigation or other 
districts, and other governmental organizations that have electric 
utility status by October 1, 2023, and federally recognized Native 
American tribes are all preference entities in accordance with section 
9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, as amended (43 U.S.C. 
485h(c)). A Native American applicant must be an ``Indian Tribe'' as 
that term is defined in section 4 of the Indian Self Determination and 
Education Assistance Act, as amended (25 U.S.C. 5304(e)). ``Electric 
utility status'' means that the entity has responsibility to meet load 
growth, has a distribution system, and is ready, willing, and able to 
purchase federal power from WAPA on a wholesale basis.
    E. Ready, Willing, and Able: Eligible applicants must be ready, 
willing, and able to receive and distribute or consume energy from 
WAPA. ``Ready, willing, and able'' means the applicant has the 
facilities needed for the receipt of power or has made the necessary 
arrangements for transmission and/or distribution service, and its 
power supply contracts with third parties permit the delivery of WAPA's 
power.
    F. Contract Obligations: Eligible applicants that receive an 
allocation must execute electric service contracts within 6 months of 
receiving a contract offer from WAPA, unless WAPA agrees otherwise in 
writing. Furthermore, applicants must comply with all terms and 
conditions stated within that contract, including scheduling, 
accounting, and billing procedures; Energy Planning and Management 
Program requirements; General Power Contract Provisions; and power 
factor, among others.
    G. Contract Term: The term of the contract will be limited to 10 
years. Resource extensions and new allocations would begin on October 
1, 2024, and remain in effect through September 30, 2034. However, the 
contract will automatically renew for up to two additional 5-year 
terms, commencing on October 1, 2034, and October 1, 2039, 
respectively, unless no later than 3 years before the beginning of an 
extension (by October 1, 2031, and October 1, 2036, respectively), any 
party to the contract gives written notice not to renew. If such notice 
is given, the automatic renewal option will be revoked, and all 
contracts will expire on September 30, 2034, or September 30, 2039, 
respectively.
    H. Delivery Point: The Olmsted Project is electrically 
interconnected to the City of Provo, Utah, distribution and 
transmission facilities (Provo System), and delivery of power to each 
Customer will be where the 12.47 Provo System interconnects at 
PacifiCorp's Hale Substation.
    I. Transmission Beyond Delivery Point: Any associated 
transformation/transmission beyond the delivery point at Hale 
Substation is the sole responsibility of each Customer. Eligible 
applicants that receive an allocation must have the necessary 
arrangements for transmission and/or distribution service in place by 
October 1, 2023.
    J. Regional Transmission Organization: Should PacifiCorp, as the 
balancing authority operator where the Olmsted Project is 
interconnected, join a full electricity market (e.g., Regional 
Transmission Organization and/or an Independent System Operator), and 
in joining that market create unintended delivery point/point of 
receipt financial impacts to the Olmsted Project, and/or other 
unintended financial impacts, such financial impacts will be included 
as part of the Olmsted operation expenses, and WAPA will work with the 
Customers in good faith in an attempt to minimize those financial 
impacts.
    K. Rates and Payment: Olmsted Project is a ``take all, pay all'' 
project (i.e. the Olmsted Project annual revenue requirement is not 
dependent upon the amount of energy available each year). For 
additional information see the Provisional Formula Rate Schedule 
Olmsted F-1, effective through May 6, 2023, under Olmsted Powerplant 
Replacement Project-Rate Order No. WAPA-177, published in the Federal 
Register on May 7, 2018 (83 FR 20065).

Legal Authority

    WAPA is responsible for marketing the Federal power produced by the

[[Page 33148]]

Olmsted Project, as well as the other participating projects of CRSP, 
in accordance with the following Acts of Congress: Reclamation Act of 
June 17, 1902 (Pub. L. 57-161) (32 Stat. 388), Revision of the 
Reclamation Act of August 4, 1939 (Pub. L. 76-260) (53 Stat. 1187), 
Colorado River Storage Project Act of April 11, 1956 (Pub. L. 84-485) 
(70 Stat. 105), Department of Energy Organization Act of August 4, 1977 
(Pub. L. 95-91) (91 Stat. 565), Energy Policy Act of October 30, 1992 
(Pub. L. 102-575) (106 Stat. 4600, 4605), as amended.

Availability of Information

    Documents developed or retained by WAPA during this public process 
will be available on WAPA's website, by appointment, for inspection and 
copying at the CRSP MC at the ADDRESSES Section above. Written comments 
received as part of the Proposed 2025 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan 
formal public process will be available for viewing on CRSP's website.

Regulatory Procedure Requirements

A. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

    WAPA has determined that this proposed action fits within the 
categorical exclusion listed in appendix B to subpart D of 10 CFR part 
1021 (B4.1 Contracts, policies, and marketing and allocation plans for 
electric power). Categorically excluded projects and activities do not 
require preparation of either an environmental impact statement or an 
environmental assessment.\1\ Specifically, WAPA has determined that 
this rulemaking is consistent with activities identified in part B4, 
Categorical Exclusions Applicable to Specific Agency Actions (see 10 
CFR part 1021, appendix B to subpart D, part B4). A copy of the 
categorical exclusion determination is available on the CRSP website 
at: https://www.wapa.gov/regions/CRSP/environment/Pages/environment.aspx.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ The determination was done in compliance with NEPA (42 
U.S.C. 4321-4347); the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations 
for implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508); and DOE NEPA 
Implementing Procedures and Guidelines (10 CFR part 1021).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq., 
requires a federal agency to perform a regulatory flexibility analysis 
whenever the agency is required by law to publish a general notice of 
proposed rulemaking for any proposed rule, unless the agency can 
certify that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. For purposes of the RFA, a 
``rule'' does not include ``a rule of particular applicability relating 
to rates [and] services . . . or to valuations, costs or accounting, or 
practices relating to such rates [and] services . . .'' 5 U.S.C. 601. 
WAPA has determined that this action relates to services offered by 
WAPA and, therefore, is not a rule within the purview of the RFA.

C. Determination Under Executive Order 12866

    WAPA has an exemption from centralized regulatory review under 
Executive Order 12866. Accordingly, no clearance of this notice by the 
Office of Management and Budget is required.

D. Review Under Paperwork Reduction Act

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501, et 
seq.), WAPA has received approval from the Office of Management and 
Budget to collect applicant data, under OMB control number 1910-5136.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Department of Energy was signed on [DATE], by 
Tracey A. LeBeau, Administrator, Western Area Power Administration, 
pursuant to delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That 
document, with the original signature and date, is maintained by DOE. 
For administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements 
of the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal 
Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the 
document in electronic format for publication, as an official document 
of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way 
alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the 
Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on May 24, 2022.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2022-11475 Filed 5-31-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P