[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 2, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22711-22712]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06871]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 6066-041]


McCallum Enterprises I, Limited Partnership and Shelton Canal 
Company; Notice Rejecting Application, Waiving Regulations, and 
Soliciting Applications

    On March 1, 2024, McCallum Enterprises I, Limited Partnership and 
Shelton Canal Company (McCallum and Shelton), co-licensees for the 
Derby Dam Hydroelectric Project No. 6066 (project), filed an 
application for a new license for the project pursuant to section 
15(c)(1) of the Federal Power Act (FPA). The license application was 
untimely filed and is hereby rejected.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Eveready Machinery Company, Inc. was issued a major license 
for the project on March 25, 1986, for a term of 40 years, effective 
the first day of the month in which the order was issued. See 
Eveready Machinery Company, Inc., 34 FERC ] 62,578 (1986). 
Therefore, the license would expire on February 28, 2026, and the 
statutory deadline for filing a new license application was February 
29, 2024. See FPA Sec.  15(c)(1), 16 U.S.C. 808(c)(1). The 
Commission received the application via the internet at 12:09 a.m. 
Eastern Time on March 1, 2024.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The project is located on the Housatonic River in Fairfield and New 
Haven Counties, Connecticut. The project consists of: (a) a 23.7-foot-
high, 675-foot-long dam made of concrete capped cut stone with 
flashboards of varying heights, ranging from 1.8-foot-high to 2.2-foot-
high, and a crest elevation of 25.2 feet National Geodetic Vertical 
Datum of 1988 (NGVD 88); (b) a 400-foot-long earth dike with a maximum 
height of 10 feet, located at the east abutment and oriented in a 
northwest-southwest direction; (c) a reservoir (Lake Housatonic) with a 
normal maximum water surface elevation of 25.2 feet NGVD 88 and a 
usable storage capacity of 500 acre-feet; (d) a gatehouse (Derby 
gatehouse) and 2,135 foot-long, 40-foot-wide canal paralleling the east 
bank of the river; (e) a gatehouse (Shelton gatehouse) and 130-foot-
long, 94-foot-wide headrace channel extending downstream from the dam; 
(f) a navigation lock located at the west abutment, which constitutes 
the first 70 feet of the Shelton canal; (g) a powerhouse (Shelton 
powerhouse) at the west abutment, in the existing Shelton canal and 
lock structure, and located approximately 130 feet downstream of the 
Shelton gatehouse, containing two horizontal A-C tube Kaplan turbines 
with two direct drive generators with a total rated capacity of 7.8 
megawatts and a rated flow of 4,600 cubic feet per second; (h) a 775-
foot-long, 13.8 kilovolt underwater transmission line tying into the 
existing United Illuminating Company system; and (i) appurtenant 
facilities.
    As a result of the rejection of McCallum and Shelton's application 
and pursuant to section 16.25 of the Commission's regulations, the 
Commission is soliciting license applications from potential 
applicants. This solicitation is necessary because the deadline for 
filing an application for a new license and any competing license 
applications, pursuant to section 16.9 of the Commission's regulations, 
was February 29, 2024, and no other license applications for this 
project were filed. With this notice, we are waiving those parts of 
section 16.24(a) and 16.25(a) which bar an existing licensee that 
missed the two-year application filing deadline from filing another 
application. Further, because McCallum and Shelton completed the 
consultation requirements pursuant to Part 4 of the Commission's 
regulations, we are waiving the consultation requirements in section 
16.8 for the existing licensees. Consequently, McCallum and Shelton 
will be allowed to refile a license application and compete for the 
license, and the incumbent preference established by the FPA section 
15(a)(2) will apply.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ See Pacific Gas and Electric Co., 98 FERC ] 61,032 (2002), 
reh'g denied, 99 FERC ] 61,045 (2002), aff'd, City of Fremont v. 
FERC, 336 F.3d 910 (9th Cir. 2003).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The licensees are required to make available certain information 
described in section 16.7 of the regulations. For

[[Page 22712]]

more information from the licensees, please contact Mr. Joseph W. 
Szarmach Jr., Managing Partner, McCallum Enterprises I Limited 
Partnership, 2874 Main Street, Stratford, Connecticut 06614, (203) 386-
1745.
    Pursuant to section 16.25(b), a potential applicant that files a 
notice of intent within 90 days from the date of this notice: (1) may 
apply for a license under Part I of the FPA and Part 4 (except section 
4.38) of the Commission's regulations within 18 months of the date on 
which it files its notice; and (2) must comply with sections 16.8 and 
16.10 of the Commission's regulations.
    Questions concerning this notice should be directed to Brandi 
Welch-Acosta, (202) 502-8964 or [email protected].

    Dated: March 26, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-06871 Filed 4-1-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P