[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 225 (Wednesday, November 23, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71611-71612]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-25560]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2853-073]


Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; Notice 
of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting 
Scoping Comments

    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.: 2853-073.
    c. Date Filed: June 30, 2022.
    d. Applicant: Montana Department of Natural Resources and 
Conservation (Montana DNRC).
    e. Name of Project: Broadwater Hydroelectric Project (Broadwater 
Project or project).
    f. Location: On the Missouri River near the town of Toston in 
Broadwater County, Montana. The project occupies approximately two 
acres of federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: David Lofftus, Hydro Power Program Manager, 
Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, 1424 9th 
Avenue, P.O. Box 201601, Helena, Montana 59620; Phone at (406) 444-
6659; or email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Ingrid Brofman at (202) 502-8347, or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: January 13, 2023.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
scoping comments 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, 
MD 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and docket 
number on the first page: Broadwater Hydroelectric Project (P-2853-
073).
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure 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 intervener 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 is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. Project Description: The existing Broadwater Hydroelectric 
Project consists of: (1) a 630-foot-long, 24-foot-high concrete gravity 
dam with a 360-foot-long spillway containing seven inflatable rubber 
gates capable of raising the dam's crest elevation by 11 feet; (2) a 
275-acre, 9-mile-long reservoir; (3) a 160-foot long rock jetty that 
extends upstream into the reservoir that serves to separate inflow to 
the powerhouse from the headworks of the non-project irrigation canal 
adjacent to the dam; (4) an intake integral with the powerhouse

[[Page 71612]]

and covered by two inclined trashracks, each 20 feet wide and 40 feet 
high, with a clear bar spacing of 3 inches; (5) a 160-foot-long, 46-
foot-wide, 64-foot high powerhouse containing a single Kaplan turbine 
with a rated capacity of 9.66 megawatts; (6) a 100-kilovolt, 2.8-mile-
long transmission line; and (6) appurtenant facilities.
    Montana DNRC operates the project in a run-of-river mode (minus 
flows diverted for non-project irrigation purposes at the dam) and 
generates an estimated average of 40,669 megawatt-hours per year.
    Montana DNRC proposes the following modifications to existing 
project facilities: (1) remove the jetty that separates the hydropower 
intake and the non-project irrigation canal intake; (2) install a new 
angled screen with 6-inch spacing between the bars and install two 
parallel 100-foot-long, 10-foot-wide by 10-foot-high box culverts 
within the irrigation intake canal and a bulkhead near the current non-
project irrigation headworks, and include the new angled screen and box 
culverts as licensed project facilities; (3) modernize the project 
trash rake (i.e., replace and recalibrate sensors on the rake) to 
minimize debris buildup on the dam intake and; (4) upgrade the 
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) monitoring system 
(i.e., improving connectivity to the substation, protective relaying, 
and automation upgrades).
    Montana DNRC proposes to continue to operate in an automated run-
of-river mode throughout the year where outflow from the project 
approximates inflow (minus flows diverted for irrigation) as it does 
under the current license but proposes to modify its procedures for 
responding to an unplanned unit trip by maintaining higher flows 
downstream and more slowly returning reservoir levels to normal 
elevation to reduce the potential for fish stranding downstream of the 
dam.
    m. A copy of the application can be viewed on the Commission's 
website at https://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.
    You may also register 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, please 
contact FERC Online Support at [email protected].
    n. Scoping Process: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA), Commission staff intends to prepare either an environmental 
assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS) 
(collectively referred to as the ``NEPA document'') that describes and 
evaluates the probable effects, including an assessment of the site-
specific and cumulative effects, if any, of the proposed action and 
alternatives. The Commission's scoping process will help determine the 
required level of analysis and satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, 
irrespective of whether the Commission issues an EA or an EIS.

Scoping Meetings

    Commission staff will hold two public scoping meetings to receive 
input on the scope of the environmental issues that should be analyzed 
in the NEPA document. The daytime meeting will focus on the concerns of 
resource agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Native 
American tribes. The evening meeting will focus on receiving input from 
the public. All interested individuals, resource agencies, Native 
American tribes, and NGOs are invited to attend one or both of the 
meetings. The times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Evening Scoping Meeting

Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2022
Time: 6:30 p.m. (MST)
Place: Broadwater County Fairgrounds, 4-H Building
Address: 189 U.S. Highway 12, Townsend, Montana 59644

    Once at the County Fairgrounds, the 4-H Building is the largest 
building of three, on-site.

Daytime Scoping Meeting

Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Time: 1:30 p.m. (MST)
Place: Montana DNRC Water Resources Building, Fred Buck Conference Room
Address: 1424 9th Ave., Helena, Montana 59620

    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to 
be addressed in the NEPA document were distributed to the parties on 
the Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 will be available at 
the scoping meeting or may be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov 
using the ``eLibrary'' link (see item m above).

Environmental Site Review

    Montana DNRC and Commission staff will conduct an environmental 
site review of the project beginning at 1:30 p.m. on December 13, 2022. 
All interested individuals, agencies, tribes, and NGOs are invited to 
attend. All participants should meet at the project, which is located 
at 511 Toston Dam Road, Toston, Montana 59643. All participants are 
responsible for their own transportation to the site and during the 
site visit. Anyone with questions about the environmental site review 
should contact David Lofftus at (406) 444-6659 or [email protected]. 
Those individuals planning to participate in the site review should 
notify Mr. Lofftus of their intent, no later than December 7, 2022.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, Commission staff will: (1) summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the NEPA 
document; (2) solicit from the meeting participants all available 
information, especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; 
(3) encourage statements from experts and the public on issues that 
should be analyzed in the NEPA document, including viewpoints in 
opposition to, or in support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) 
determine the resource issues to be addressed in the NEPA document; and 
(5) identify those issues that require a detailed analysis, as well as 
those issues that do not require a detailed analysis.

Procedures

    The meetings are recorded by a stenographer and become part of the 
formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project. Individuals, 
NGOs, Native American tribes, and agencies with environmental expertise 
and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to assist the 
staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in the NEPA 
document.

    Dated: November 15, 2022.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-25560 Filed 11-22-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P