[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 56 (Thursday, March 21, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20194-20196]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06043]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3451-047]


Beaver Falls Municipal Authority; 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.

[[Page 20195]]

    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 3451-047.
    c. Date filed: August 1, 2022.\1\
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    \1\ The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure provide 
that if a deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, holiday, or other 
day when the Commission is closed for business, the deadline does 
not end until the close of business on the next business day. 18 CFR 
385.2007(a)(2). Because the deadline for filing a license 
application fell on a Sunday (i.e., July 31, 2022), the deadline was 
extended until the close of business on Monday, August 1, 2022.
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    d. Applicant: Beaver Falls Municipal Authority.
    e. Name of Project: Townsend Water Power Project (Townsend Project 
or project).
    f. Location: On the Beaver River, in the Borough of New Brighton in 
Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: James Riggio, General Manager, Beaver Falls 
Municipal Authority, P.O. Box 400, Beaver Falls, PA 15010; (724) 846-
2400.
    i. FERC Contact: Claire Rozdilski at (202) 502-8259; or email at 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: May 17, 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 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, please send a paper copy via 
U.S. Postal Service 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, Maryland 20852. All 
filings must clearly identify the project name and docket number on the 
first page: Townsend Water Power Project (P-3451-047).
    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 intervenor 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. The Townsend Project includes: (1) a 450-foot-long and 13-foot-
high dam, constructed of rock-filled timber cribs encased in concrete, 
with a 350-foot-long spillway and an average dam crest elevation of 
698.63 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29); (2) an 
approximately 25-acre reservoir with a gross storage capacity of 200 
acre-feet at normal pool elevation of 698.78 feet NGVD29; (3) a short 
entrance channel excavated in rock near the left dam abutment that 
directs water to an intake structure with two 17-foot-wide trashracks 
with 5-inch clear bar spacing; (4) a 52-foot-long by 46-foot-wide 
concrete powerhouse; (5) two double-regulated open-pit type turbine-
generator units each rated at 2,500 kilowatts (kW) for a total 
installed capacity of 5 megawatts; (6) an approximately 230-foot-long 
tailrace, excavated in rock at a normal tailwater elevation of 681.17 
feet NGVD29; (7) a 500-foot-long, 23-kilovolt (kV) transmission line 
owned by Duquesne Light Company; (8) 4.16-kV generator leads, a 60-
foot-long section of 5-kV underground cable leading to a 5-megavolt-
ampere, 4.16/23-kV step-up transformer in an outdoor substation; and 
(9) appurtenant facilities. The average annual generation was 19,524 
megawatt-hours for the period from 2015 to 2019.
    The Townsend Project operates in a run-of-river mode with a 
continuous minimum flow of 304 cubic feet per second (cfs), or inflow, 
whichever is less conveyed to the bypassed reach. Because the minimum 
hydraulic capacity for operating a single unit is 600 cfs, the minimum 
river flow needed for project operation is 904 cfs (304 cfs plus 600 
cfs). There is minimal to no available usable storage behind the dam 
and if river flow is less than 904 cfs, all water is spilled over the 
dam. The project is typically operated automatically, but manual 
operation may occur during high-water events. The project is returned 
to automatic operation when flow decreases.
    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 public scoping meetings and an 
environmental site review in the vicinity of the project to receive 
input on the scope of the NEPA document. An evening meeting will focus 
on receiving input from the public and a daytime meeting will focus on 
the concerns of resource agencies, non-governmental organizations 
(NGOs), and Indian Tribes. We invite all interested agencies, Indian 
Tribes, NGOs, and individuals to attend one or both meetings. The times 
and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Evening Scoping Meeting

Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
Place: Hampton Inn Pittsburgh Area--Beaver Valley
Address: 202 Fairview Drive, Monaca, PA 15061

Daytime Scoping Meeting

Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Place: Hampton Inn Pittsburgh Area--Beaver Valley

[[Page 20196]]

Address: 202 Fairview Drive, Monaca, PA 15061

    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

    The applicant and Commission staff will conduct an environmental 
site review of the project. All interested individuals, agencies, 
Indian Tribes, and NGOs are invited to attend. All participants are 
responsible for their own transportation to the site. Please RSVP via 
email to Laura Cowen at [email protected] or by phone 
at (717) 983-4056 if you plan to attend the environmental site review. 
The time and location of the environmental site review is as follows:
Date: Wednesday, April 17, 2024
Time: 9:00 a.m. EDT
Place: Townsend Water Power Project Station Entrance
Address: 900 1st Avenue, New Brighton, PA 15066

    All persons attending the environmental site review must adhere 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; (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 are recorded by a stenographer and become part of the 
formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project. Individuals, 
NGOs, Indian Tribes, and agencies with environmental expertise and 
concerns are encouraged to attend the meeting and to assist the staff 
in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in the NEPA 
document.

    Dated: March 15, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-06043 Filed 3-20-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P