[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 96 (Thursday, May 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42869-42870]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10671]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 4349-033]


EONY Generation Limited; 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 with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 4349-033.
    c. Date Filed: April 26, 2024.
    d. Applicant: EONY Generation Limited.
    e. Name of Project: Moose River Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Moose River in Lewis County, New York.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Gregory Clarke, Chief Electricity Generation 
Officer, EONY Generation Limited, 7659 Lyonsdale Road, Lyonsdale, NY 
13368; email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Kelly Wolcott, Project Coordinator, Great Lakes 
Branch, Division of Hydropower Licensing; telephone at (202) 502-6480; 
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: June 25, 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: Moose 
River Hydroelectric Project (P-4349-033).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The Moose River Project includes a dam that 
is comprised of: (1) a southern section that includes: (a) an earthen 
dike; (b) a concrete retaining wall; (c) a 39-foot-long concrete intake 
structure with: (i) a 3-foot-wide debris sluice gate; and (ii) a 15-
foot-wide sluice gate equipped with an approximately 27-foot-wide 
trashrack with 2-inch clear bar spacing; and (d) a concrete section 
with a 10-foot-wide stoplog gate; and (2) a northern section that 
includes: (a) a south abutment; (b) a 240-foot-long spillway that has a 
crest elevation of 1,024.6 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 
1929 (NGVD 29) with a 58-foot-long, 0.5-foot-high notch; and (c) a 
north abutment.
    The dam creates an impoundment that has a surface area of 21 acres 
at the spillway crest elevation of 1,024.6 feet NGVD, which is the 
normal maximum surface elevation of the impoundment.

[[Page 42870]]

From the impoundment, water flows through the intake structure into: 
(1) an approximately 5,000-foot-long tunnel with a surge chamber; and 
(2) an approximately 90-foot-long penstock. From the impoundment, water 
also flows through the debris sluice gate and stoplog gate to an 
excavated rock channel that discharges into the Moose River 
approximately 100 feet downstream of the spillway. The penstock conveys 
water to an underground powerhouse that contains a 12.6-MW Kaplan 
turbine-generator unit. Water is discharged from the turbine to an 
approximately 82.5-foot-long tailrace. The project creates an 
approximately 6,200-foot-long bypassed reach of the Moose River.
    The project generator is connected to the regional electric grid by 
13.8-kilovolt (kV) underground generator lead lines and a switchyard 
approximately 400 feet east of the powerhouse that includes a 13.8/115-
kV step-up transformer.
    Project recreation facilities include: (1) Agers Falls Recreation 
Area that includes two picnic areas and a 900-foot-long interpretative 
trail through the historic Agers Mill Complex; (2) Moose River Trail 
that includes a one-mile-long trail on the shoreline of the bypassed 
reach; (3) a 230-foot-long boat portage trail from a hand-carry boat 
access site on the north side of the dam to a hand-carry boat access 
site approximately 300 feet downstream of the dam; and (4) a car-top 
boat launch located on the south shore of the impoundment, 
approximately 850 feet upstream of the dam.
    The minimum and maximum hydraulic capacities of the powerhouse are 
200 and 1,300 cubic feet per second (cfs), respectively. The average 
annual energy production of the project from 2016 through 2022, was 
51,350 megawatt-hours.
    The current license requires EONY to operate the project in an 
instantaneous run-of-river mode, such that project outflow approximates 
the ``instantaneous sum of the inflow'' to the impoundment. EONY 
maintains the normal maximum surface elevation of the impoundment at 
the spillway crest elevation of 1,024.6 feet NGVD 29 during non-winter 
months. During winter months, EONY maintains the surface elevation of 
the impoundment at 1,024.1 feet NGVD 29, which corresponds to the crest 
elevation of the notch in the spillway, to manage ice.
    The current license requires EONY to release a year-round minimum 
flow of 60 cfs or inflow, whichever is less, to the bypassed reach. 
EONY releases the minimum flow through the spillway notch, expect 
during the winter, when EONY releases the minimum flow through the 
stoplog gate. Under the current license, EONY is required to provide 
annual whitewater flow releases downstream of the dam on ten scheduled 
days and ten unscheduled days, from 12:00 to 7:00 p.m., or one-half 
hour prior to sunset, whichever is earlier. EONY is required to stop 
generating electricity during whitewater releases, except when project 
inflow exceeds 1,500 cfs. At flows above 1,500 cfs, EONY is required to 
release 1,000 cfs to the bypassed reach for whitewater recreation and 
can use the remainder of flow for electric generation. EONY is required 
to ramp down generation upon sign-in of the first boater, and increase 
flows to the bypassed reach gradually and in equal increments over a 
period of two hours to provide whitewater flows. Following a whitewater 
release, EONY ramps up generation upon sign-out of the last boater, and 
decreases flows to the bypassed reach gradually and in equal increments 
over a period of one hour.
    EONY proposes the following changes to the project boundary: (1) 
remove approximately 5.4 acres of land adjacent to the impoundment 
shoreline; (2) remove approximately 6.8 acres of land along the 
northern shoreline of the bypassed reach; (3) remove approximately 4.5 
acres of land associated with Lyonsdale Road; and (4) add approximately 
0.8 acre of land and water north of the hand-carry boat put-in site.
    EONY proposes to continue operating the project in a run-of-river 
mode and maintaining a normal maximum surface elevation of 1,024.6 feet 
NGVD 29 during non-winter months and 1,024.1 feet NGVD 29 during winter 
months. EONY also proposes to: (1) release a year-round minimum flow of 
80 cfs or inflow, whichever is less, to the bypassed reach; (2) 
implement an impoundment drawdown and cofferdam plan, an invasive 
species management plan, and a bat and eagle management plan; (3) 
maintain an existing interpretative display and fencing for the 
protection of historic properties; (4) continue to operate and maintain 
existing project recreation facilities; (5) install signage at a hand-
carry boat take-out site along the Moose River Trail; (6) continue to 
provide up to 20 whitewater flow releases per year; and (7) continue 
ramping during whitewater release days as outlined in the current 
license.
    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-
4349). 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--June 2024
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments--September 2024
Request Additional Information (if necessary)--October 2024
Issue Acceptance Letter--October 2024
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary)--November 2024
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis--November 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: May 9, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-10671 Filed 5-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P