[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 30, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59892-59894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18751]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2459-279]


Lake Lynn Generation, LLC; 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.: P-2459-279.
    c. Date Filed: November 30, 2022.
    d. Applicant: Lake Lynn Generation, LLC.
    e. Name of Project: Lake Lynn Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Cheat River, near the City of Morgantown, in 
Monongalia County, West Virginia, and near the Borough of Point Marion, 
in Fayette County, Pennsylvania.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Ms. Joyce Foster, Director, Licensing and 
Compliance, Lake Lynn Generation, LLC, 7315 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 
1100W, Bethesda, MD 20814; Phone at (804) 338-5110, or email at 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Allan Creamer at (202) 502-8365, or email at 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: October 25, 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

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your name and contact information at the end of your comments. For 
assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at 
[email protected], 1-866-208-3676 (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 following on the first 
page: Lake Lynn Hydroelectric Project No. 2459-279.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all 
interveners 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. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. Project Description: (1) a 13-mile-long, 1,729-acre impoundment 
(Cheat Lake or Lake Lynn) with a maximum storage capacity of 72,300 
acre-feet at a normal water surface elevation of 870 feet National 
Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) and a minimum storage 
capacity of 51,100 acre-feet at 857 feet NGVD 29; (2) a 1,000-foot-
long, 125-foot-high, concrete gravity dam with a 624-foot-long spillway 
section controlled by 26, 21-foot-wide by 17-foot-high, Tainter gates; 
(3) a concrete intake structure equipped with a log boom and eight 
trash racks with 4-inch clear bar spacing; (4) eight 12-foot-wide by 
18-foot-deep gated reinforced concrete penstocks; (5) a 160-foot-long 
by 94.5-foot-wide powerhouse containing four Francis generating units 
with a combined capacity of 51.2 megawatts; and (6) two 800-foot-long 
transmission lines that run from the powerhouse to a substation within 
the project boundary.
    The Lake Lynn Project is currently operated as a dispatchable 
peaking facility, with storage. The current license requires Lake Lynn 
Generation, LLC to maintain Cheat Lake between 868 feet and 870 feet 
NGVD 29 from May 1 through October 31, 857 feet and 870 feet NGVD 29 
from November 1 through March 31, and 863 feet and 870 feet NGVD 29 
from April 1 through April 30 each year. The current license also 
requires Lake Lynn Generation, LLC to release a downstream minimum flow 
of 212 cubic-feet-per-second (cfs), or inflow, from the dam when not 
generating, with an absolute minimum flow of 100 cfs regardless of 
inflow, when not generating. The project generates about 144,741 
megawatt-hours annually. Lake Lynn Generation, LLC proposes no 
modifications to its existing facilities or operations. Lake Lynn 
Generation, LLC proposes new environmental measures and to remove 
approximately 307 acres of land from the existing project boundary.
    m. Copies of the application can be viewed on the Commission's 
website at https://www.ferc.gov, using the ``eLibrary'' link. Enter the 
project's 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].
    The Commission's Office of Public Participation (OPP) supports 
meaningful public engagement and participation in Commission 
proceedings. OPP can help members of the public, including landowners, 
environmental justice communities, Tribal members and others, access 
publicly available information and navigate Commission processes. For 
public inquiries and assistance with making filings such as 
interventions, comments, or requests for rehearing, the public is 
encouraged to contact OPP at (202) 502-6595, or 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 scoping meetings for the project to 
receive input on the scope of the NEPA document. A daytime meeting will 
be held at 2:00 p.m. on September 25, 2023, at the Cranberry Hotel in 
Morgantown, West Virginia, and will focus on the concerns of resource 
agencies, Native American Tribes, and non-governmental organizations 
(NGOs). An evening meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. on September 25, 
2023, at the same location, and will focus on receiving input from the 
public. We invite all interested agencies, Native American Tribes, 
NGOs, and individuals to attend one or both of these meetings. The 
times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Daytime Scoping Meeting

Date: Monday, September 25, 2023
Time: 2:00 p.m. (EDT)
Place: Cranberry Hotel
Address: 2700 Cranberry Square, Morgantown, WV 26508

Evening Scoping Meeting

Date: Monday, September 25, 2023
Time: 6:00 p.m. (EDT)
Place: Cranberry Hotel
Address: 2700 Cranberry Square, Morgantown, WV 26508

    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 and Lake Lynn Generation LLC's 
distribution 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

    The applicant and Commission staff will conduct an environmental 
site review of the project on September 26, 2023, beginning at 9:30 
a.m. All interested agencies, Native American Tribes, NGOs, and 
individuals are invited to attend. All participants are responsible for 
their own transportation to the site and during the environmental site 
review. Please RSVP via email to [email protected], or 
notify Joyce Foster at (804) 338-5110 on or before September 19, 2023, 
if you plan to attend the environmental site review. The time and 
location of the environmental site review are as follows:

Lake Lynn Hydroelectric Project

Date: Tuesday, September 26, 2023
Time: 9:30 a.m. (EDT)
Place: Tailwater Fishing Access parking area
Address: Lake Lynn Project Powerhouse, 600 Lake Lynn Road, Lake Lynn, 
PA 15451

    All persons attending the environmental site review must adhere

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to the following requirements: (1) all persons must wear sturdy, 
closed-toe shoes or boots; (2) persons with open-toed shoes/sandals/
flip flops/high heels, etc. will not be allowed on the environmental 
site review; (3) persons must be 18 years or older, or be accompanied 
by an adult; (4) no photography will be allowed inside the powerhouse; 
(5) no weapons are allowed on-site; (6) no alcohol/drugs are allowed 
on-site (or persons exhibiting the effects thereof); and (7) no animals 
(except for service animals) are allowed on the environmental site 
review.

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 will be recorded by a court reporter and become part 
of the Commission's formal record on the project. Agencies, Native 
American Tribes, NGOs, and individuals 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: August 24, 2023.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-18751 Filed 8-29-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P