[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 241 (Monday, December 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 87420-87421]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-27750]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3428-205]


Brown Bear II Hydro, Inc.; Notice of Application Tendered for 
Filing With the Commission and Establishing Procedural Schedule for 
Licensing and 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.: 3428-2050.
    c. Date Filed: November 29, 2023.
    d. Applicant: Brown Bear II Hydro, Inc.
    e. Name of Project: Worumbo Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Androscoggin River, in Androscoggin County, 
Maine.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).

[[Page 87421]]

    h. Applicant Contact: Matthew Nini, Brown Bear II Hydro Inc., (973) 
998-8171 or email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Ryan Hansen at (202) 502-8074 or email at 
[email protected]. j. The application is not ready for environmental 
analysis at this time.
    k. Project Description: The project consists of the following 
existing facilities: (1) an 870-foot-long concrete gravity dam with an 
116-foot-long flood spillway containing four 18-foot-wide and 26-foot-
high vertical lift gates and three flashboard sections including (from 
left to right facing downstream) a 233-foot-long ogee spillway topped 
by 38 2-foot-high hinged steel flashboard panels, a 167-foot-long 
concrete gravity section topped by 21 2-foot-high steel flashboard 
panels controlled by inflatable air bags, and a 349-foot-long concrete 
gravity section topped by 26 steel flashboard panels ranging in height 
from 1.5 to 1.9-foot-high controlled by inflatable air bags; (2) a 
reservoir with a gross storage capacity of 2,000 acre-feet and a 
surface area of 240 acres at the normal full-pond elevation of 98.5 
feet; (3) a 337-foot-long concrete retaining wall with a top elevation 
of 108 feet leading to the intake structure; (4) a concrete intake 
structure integral with the powerhouse, containing two vertical slide 
gates each 33-foot-wide and 40- foot-high which are normally fully open 
and protected by trash racks; (5) a 105-foot-wide, 145-foot-long 
reinforced concrete powerhouse containing two Kaplan bulb turbines each 
with a generating capacity of 10.5 MW at 28.5 feet net head; (6) an 
approximately 30-foot-high vertical fish-lift, four vertical attraction 
pumps, an eight-foot-long and 8-foot-wide hopper lift tank, and a 
viewing room; (7) an upstream eel passage system consisting of two two-
foot-wide, seven-foot-long bristled ramps, and an eel trap; (8) a 
downstream fish passage system consisting of three entry way gates with 
trashracks, a 36-inch-diameter downstream passage pipe, and a 30-foot-
wide, 20-foot-long, 10-foot-deep plunge pool; (9) an 850-foot-long, 
approximately 80-foot wide, tailrace excavated from the downstream 
powerhouse wall to the State Route 125 (Canal Street) bridge, flanked 
by a 200-foot-long concrete retaining wall on the left and a 230-foot-
long concrete training wall on the right; (10) a 3,540-foot-long, 34.5-
kilovolt (kV) transmission line leading to the Central Maine Power 
Company's Lisbon Falls substation; and (11) appurtenant facilities. 
Brown Bear Hydro II Hydro, LLC has not proposed any new construction at 
the project. The project is operated in a run-of-river mode and average 
annual generation from the project is 83,911 megawatt-hours.
    l. Location of the Application: 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-3428). For assistance, contact FERC at 
[email protected] or call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or (202) 
502-8659 (TTY).
    m. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    n. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. The need for 
additional tagging and cfd modeling studies will influence the schedule 
below. Revisions to the schedule may be made as appropriate.

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                Milestone                           Target date
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Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary)..  December 2023.
Issue Additional Information Request (if  January 2024.
 necessary).
Issue Study Modification Determination..  February 2024.
Notice of Acceptance/Notice of Ready for  March 2024.
 Environmental Analysis (if no studies
 are needed).
Filing of recommendations, preliminary    June 2024.
 terms and conditions, and fishway
 prescriptions.
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    o. 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: December 12, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-27750 Filed 12-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P