[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 35 (Wednesday, February 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13062-13063]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-03492]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2607-016]


Spencer Mountain Hydropower, LLC; Notice 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: Subsequent License.
    b. Project No.: P-2607-016.
    c. Date Filed: June 26, 2023.
    d. Applicant: Spencer Mountain Hydropower, LLC (SMH).
    e. Name of Project: Spencer Mountain Hydroelectric Project (Spencer 
Mountain Project).
    f. Location: On the South Fork Catawba River, near the town of 
Gastonia, in Gaston County, North Carolina.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Kevin Edwards and Mrs. Amy Edwards, 
Spencer Mountain Hydropower, LLC, 916 Comer Rd., Stoneville, NC 27048; 
Phone at (336) 589-6138, or [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Michael Spencer at (202) 502-6093; or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: March 15, 2024.
    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

[[Page 13063]]

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: 
Debbie-Anne A. Reese, Acting Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. 
Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Debbie-
Anne A. Reese, Acting Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852. All filings must clearly 
identify the following on the first page: Spencer Mountain 
Hydroelectric Project (P-2607-016).
    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. The existing Spencer Mountain Project consists of: (1) a 12-
foot-high, 636-foot-long masonry and rubble dam with a crest elevation 
of 634.7 feet mean sea level (msl); (2) a 68-acre reservoir with a 
storage capacity of 166 acre-feet; (3) a 58.9-foot-long canal headwork, 
consisting of four 6-foot-wide gates; (4) a 53.8-foot-long canal 
spillway connected to the downstream side of the canal headwork; (5) a 
30-foot-wide, 10-foot-deep, 3,644-foot-long open earthen canal; (6) a 
32-foot-wide trash rack at the powerhouse forebay with 2.5-inch clear 
bar-spacing; (7) a 36-inch-diameter bypass pipe; (8) a 22.5-foot-high, 
49.5-foot-long, 48.75-foot-wide powerhouse containing two Francis-type 
generating units with a total capacity of 0.64 megawatts; (9) a 
concrete lined tailrace discharging flows back into the South Fork 
Catawba River; (10) a substation containing a 2.3/44-kilovolt (kV) 
transformer and interconnection to Duke Energy's 44 kV transmission 
line; and (11) appurtenant facilities. The project creates a 3,644-
foot-long bypassed reach of the South Fork Catawba River.
    The current license requires SMH to operate in a run-of-river mode 
with a continuous minimum flow of 76 cubic feet per second (cfs), or 
inflow, whichever is less, released to the bypassed reach. SMH proposes 
no changes to the project facilities or operations.\1\ The project has 
an average annual generation of 4,064 megawatt-hours.
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    \1\ SMH's non-capacity amendment to replace the horizontal Unit 
1 turbine and generator with a vertical shaft turbine and generator 
of the same generating capacity was approved on June 11, 2020 (See 
171 FERC ] 62,126 (2020)). The replacement of Unit 1 is pending. 
(See Exhibit A, Project Description and Operation in the FLA, filed 
June 26, 2023).
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    SMP proposes to continue operating the project in run-of-river 
mode, and to continue releasing a continuous minimum flow of 76 cfs to 
the bypassed reach.
    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 at [email protected].
    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. 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 [email protected].
    o. 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. At this 
time, we do not anticipate holding an on-site scoping meeting. Instead, 
we are soliciting written comments and suggestions on the preliminary 
list of issues and alternatives to be addressed in the NEPA document, 
as described in scoping document 1 (SD1), issued February 13, 2024.
    Copies of the SD1 outlining the subject areas to be addressed in 
the NEPA document were distributed to the parties on the Commission's 
mailing list and the applicant's distribution list. Copies of SD1 may 
be viewed on the web at 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. For assistance, call 1-866-
208-3676 or for TTY, (202) 502-8659.

    Dated: February 14, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-03492 Filed 2-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P