[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 51 (Thursday, March 14, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18630-18632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05414]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 4113-067]


Oswego Hydro Partners, LP; Notice of Application Tendered for 
Filing With the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and 
Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for 
Submission of Final Amendments

    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed

[[Page 18631]]

with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 4113-067.
    c. Date Filed: February 27, 2024.
    d. Applicant: Oswego Hydro Partners, LP.
    e. Name of Project: Phoenix Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Oswego, Oneida, and Seneca Rivers in Onondaga 
and Oswego counties, New York.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Jody Smet, Vice President Regulatory Affairs, 
Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, LLC, 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1100W, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone at (240) 482-2700; email at 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Joshua Dub, Project Coordinator, Great Lakes 
Branch, Division of Hydropower Licensing; telephone at (202) 502-8138; 
email at [email protected].
    j. Cooperating agencies: Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies 
with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to 
environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the 
environmental document should follow the instructions for filing such 
requests described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note 
the Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation 
of the environmental document cannot also intervene. See 94 FERC ] 
61,076 (2001).
    k. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's 
regulations, if any resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person believes 
that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to 
form an adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the 
application on its merit, the resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person 
must file a request for a study with the Commission not later than 60 
days from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of 
the request on the applicant.
    l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for 
cooperating agency status: April 27, 2024.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status 
using the Commission's eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. 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 project name and docket number on the first page: Phoenix 
Hydroelectric Project (P-4113-067).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The Phoenix Project includes a concrete 
dam, known as the Phoenix Dam, that includes: (1) a 107-foot-long 
section with two 41.5-foot-long Tainter gates; (2) a 390-foot-long ogee 
spillway with 1-foot-high flashboards that have a crest elevation of 
364.0 feet Barge Canal Datum (BCD); (3) a 206.1-foot-long section with 
a 32.4-foot-long Tainter gate and three 46.5-foot-long Tainter gates; 
(4) a 163-foot-long ogee spillway with 1-foot-high flashboards that 
have a crest elevation of 364.0 feet BCD; (5) a 44-foot-long section 
with a 10-foot-long debris sluice gate and a 7-foot-long timber sluice 
gate; and (6) an 80-foot-long, 45-foot-wide concrete and steel 
powerhouse that includes two 55-foot-long trashracks with 1-inch clear 
bar spacing, two intake openings, and two 1.590-megawatt (MW) vertical 
Kaplan turbine-generator units, for a total installed capacity of 3.180 
MW.
    The Phoenix Dam and a non-project lock, known as the Phoenix Lock, 
comprise Lock and Dam No. 1, which creates an impoundment that has a 
surface area of approximately 1,400 acres at an elevation of 364.0 BCD. 
From the impoundment, water flows through powerhouse and is discharged 
through draft tubes to an approximately 120-foot-long tailrace that 
discharges to the Oswego River.
    The project generators are connected to the regional electric grid 
by: (1) a 90-foot-long, 4.16-kilovolt (kV) underground generator lead 
line; (2) a 4.16/34.5-kV step-up transformer located approximately 10 
feet south of the powerhouse; and (3) a 230-foot-long, 34.5-kV 
underground transmission line that connects to a switchyard located 
approximately 150 feet northwest of the powerhouse.
    The project includes an upstream American eel passage facility that 
consists of a trap and truck facility that consists of: (1) a 20-foot-
long, 1.7-foot-wide metal and wood eel ramp; and (2) a 2.5-foot-wide, 
2-foot-long plastic eel collection box located approximately 160 feet 
downstream of the project dam on the east shore of the Oswego River. 
The project also includes a downstream fishway that consists of the 7-
foot-long sluice gate and a 7-foot-wide, 14-foot-long concrete plunge 
pool. Additionally, the project includes a 274.6-foot-long, 5.4-foot-
wide aluminum walkway that provides access to the 206.1-foot-long 
section of the dam. There are no project recreation facilities.
    The minimum and maximum hydraulic capacities of the powerhouse are 
500 and 4,580 cubic feet per second (cfs), respectively. The average 
annual energy production of the Phoenix Project from 2016 through 2023 
was 10,518 megawatt-hours.
    The current license requires Oswego Hydro to minimize impoundment 
fluctuations by operating the project in a run-of-river mode, such that 
project outflow approximates inflow, and maintaining a maximum 
impoundment surface elevation of 364.0 feet BCD. Oswego Hydro currently 
maintains the surface elevation of the impoundment between 363.5 feet 
and 364.0 feet BCD, with a normal impoundment elevation of 363.8 feet 
BCD. The current license also requires Oswego Hydro to: (1) release a 
year-round minimum flow of 300 cfs or inflow, whichever is less, to the 
Oswego River downstream of the project, including flows over the 
spillway sections and/or through the Tainter gates; and (2) when inflow 
is less than 1,900 cfs from June 1 through October 31, implement water 
quality monitoring and, if average tailwater dissolved oxygen drops 
below 5 milligrams per liter, provide mitigative flow releases for the 
protection of downstream water quality.
    Oswego Hydro proposes to continue operating the project in a manner 
that is consistent with current operation, except that Oswego Hydro 
does not propose to continue water quality monitoring and mitigative 
flow releases when inflow is less than 1,900 cfs from June 1 through 
October 31. In addition, Oswego Hydro proposes to develop a fish 
passage operation and maintenance plan, implement a draft Bat and Bald 
Eagle Protection Plan, and maintain an existing interpretative display 
and fencing for the protection of historic properties.

[[Page 18632]]

    o. 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-
4113). For assistance, contact FERC at [email protected], 
(866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
    You may also register online 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, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    p. 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].
    q. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions to the schedule will 
be made as appropriate.

Issue Deficiency Letter and Request Additional Information April 2024
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments July 2024
Request Additional Information (if necessary) August 2024
Issue Acceptance Letter August 2024
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary) September 2024
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis September 2024

    r. 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: March 8, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-05414 Filed 3-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P