[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 115 (Thursday, June 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50320-50321]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12985]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 1403-068]


Yuba County Water Agency; 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 available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 1403-068.
    c. Dated Filed: November 14, 2023.
    d. Submitted By: Yuba County Water Agency (YCWA).
    e. Name of Project: Narrows Hydroelectric Project (Narrows 
Project).
    f. Location: At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) 
Englebright Dam, located on the mainstem of the Yuba River northeast of 
the town of Smartsville in Yuba County, California. The project 
currently occupies 0.55 acre of Federal land managed by the Corps.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)--825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Willie Whittlesey, General Manager, Yuba 
County Water Agency, 1220 F Street, Marysville, CA 95901; (530) 741-
5000; [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Rebecca Kipp at (202) 502-8846 or email at 
[email protected]. Deadline for filing scoping comments: August 6, 
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: Narrows Hydroelectric Project (P-1403-068).
    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.
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. The Narrows Project consists of: (1) an adit portal connecting 
to the Corps' tunnel from Englebright Dam; (2) a 1,077-foot-long tunnel 
that connects the adit portal to the project penstock; (3) a 266-foot-
long steel penstock pipe that connects the project tunnel to the 
project powerhouse; and (4) a reinforced concrete powerhouse containing 
a single 12-megawatt Francis turbine capable of passing up to 730 cubic 
feet per second (cfs). There are no recreation facilities at the 
project. The estimated average annual generation of the project is 
52,887 megawatt-hours.
    The Narrows Project operates as a run-of-river facility primarily 
through remote control using a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition 
system. YCWA coordinates operations of the Narrows 1 powerhouse, which 
is a facility of the Narrows Project and the Narrows 2 powerhouse, 
which is a facility of YCWA's Yuba River Development Project No. 2246 
located on the north bank of the river at the base of Englebright, to 
meet downstream flow

[[Page 50321]]

requirements and irrigation water demands as follows: (1) lower flow 
requirements: when the required releases are less than the Narrows 1 
powerhouse's current capacity, only Narrows 1 powerhouse operates; (2) 
moderate flow requirement up to 900 cfs: when the required releases 
exceed the Narrows 1 powerhouse's capacity but under 900 cfs, the 
Narrows 1 powerhouse operates at full capacity. The remaining required 
release is provided via Narrows 2 full or partial bypass; (3) high flow 
requirement over 900 cfs: when the release is over 900 cfs, the Narrows 
2 powerhouse operates either independently or in conjunction with 
Narrows 1; (4) transitioning Narrows 1 online: if Narrows 2 is 
operating but Narrows 1 needs to come online, synchronization to the 
grid occurs while reducing Narrows 2 output; (5) as Narrows 1 gradually 
increases its load and water releases, Narrows 2 decreases its release 
to maintain the overall required flow; and (6) transitioning Narrows 2 
online: if Narrows 1 is operating and Narrows 2 needs to come online, 
synchronization to the grid occurs while reducing Narrows 1 output, 
allowing Narrows 2 to supplement Narrows 1 load to meet the release 
requirements.
    l. 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 online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    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].
m. 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 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:

Daytime Scoping Meeting

Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Time: 10:00 a.m. (PST)
Place: Yuba Water Agency
Address: 1220 F Street, Marysville, CA 95901
Phone: (530) 741-5000

Evening Scoping Meeting

Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2024
Time: 6:00 p.m. (PST)
Place: Yuba Water Agency
Address: 1220 F Street, Marysville, CA 95901
Phone: (530) 741-5000
    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, 
tribes, and NGOs are invited to attend. All participants are 
responsible for their own transportation to/from the project and during 
the site visit. Participants must wear sturdy, closed-toe shoes, or 
boots. Please RSVP to John James via email to [email protected] on 
or before July 1, 2024, if you plan to attend the environmental site 
review. The time and location of the environmental site review is as 
follows:

Date: Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Time: 9:00 a.m. (PST)
Place: Yuba Water Agency (meet in parking lot)
Address: 1220 F Street, Marysville, CA 95901
    Participants must meet at the Yuba Water Agency parking lot to 
begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. where participants will drive in personal 
vehicles together to the project.

Meeting 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.
    Meeting participants should come prepared to discuss their issues 
and/or concerns. Please review SD1 in preparation for the scoping 
meetings. Directions on how to obtain a copy of SD1 are included in 
item n of this document.

Meeting 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: June 7, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-12985 Filed 6-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P