[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 137 (Wednesday, July 17, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58148-58149]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15732]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. P-7888-024]


Comtu Falls Corporation; 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: Subsequent Minor License.
    b. Project No.: 7888-024.
    c. Date Filed: June 27, 2024.
    d. Applicant: Comtu Falls Corporation (Comtu Corporation).
    e. Name of Project: Comtu Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Black River in Windsor County, Vermont.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contacts: Celeste Fay, Director Regulatory Affairs, 
Comtu Falls Corporation, P.O. Box 7580, Boulder, CO 80306; (413) 262-
9466; email at [email protected]; or Jonathon Petrillo, VP 
Business Development, Comtu Falls Corporation, P.O. Box 7580, Boulder, 
CO 80306; (413) 262-9466; email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Nathan Tatum at 202-502-8838, or 
[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: August 26, 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 http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. 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: Comtu 
Falls Project (P-7888-024).

[[Page 58149]]

    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The Comtu Project consists of the following: (1) a 4-foot-high, 
128-foot-long concrete gravity dam (Comtu Falls Dam) topped with 2-
foot-high wooden flashboards with a crest elevation of 394.4 feet North 
American Vertical Datum of 1988 at the top of the flashboards; (2) a 
0.4-acre impoundment; (3) an intake structure on the west side of the 
dam equipped with a trashrack with 1.5-inch clear bar spacing and a 
slide gate; (4) a 6-foot-high, 6-foot wide, 65-foot-long reinforced 
concrete penstock; (5) a powerhouse with one Kaplan turbine generator 
unit with an authorized installed capacity of 460 kilowatts; (6) a 0.6/
4.61 kilovolt (kV), 300 kilo-volt-amperes transformer; (7) a 20-foot-
long, 4.16-kV transmission line; and (8) appurtenant facilities.
    Comtu Corporation operates the project in a run-of-river mode using 
an automatic pond level control system to regulate turbine operation, 
such that outflow from the project approximates inflow. The current 
license requires Comtu Corporation to release a continuous minimum flow 
of 4 cubic feet per second or inflow, whichever is less, over the 
project dam and to release all inflow over the dam when inflow is less 
than 44 cubic feet per second. The project had an average annual 
generation of 2,340 megawatt-hours between 2011 and 2020.
    The current license also requires Comtu Corporation to provide 
downstream fish passage at the project from April 1 to June 15. Comtu 
Corporation operates a downstream fish passage facility consisting of a 
3-foot-wide, 2-foot-deep notch in the spillway that discharges to a 
concrete plunge pool.
    Comtu Corporation proposes to continue operating the project in a 
run-of-river mode. Comtu Corporation also proposes to: (1) increase the 
current year-round 0.5-inch aesthetic flow over the spillway to 1 inch 
or 10 cfs; (2) operate the existing downstream fish passage facility 
from April 1 to June 15 and from September 15 to November 15; and (3) 
develop a flow management and monitoring plan.
    o. Copies of the application may be viewed on the Commission's 
website at 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-7888). For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support at [email protected] or call tollfree, (866) 
208-3676 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
    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 [email protected].
    p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will 
be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions 
to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

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                Milestone                           Target date
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Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary)..  August 2024.
Request for Additional Information......  August 2024.
Issue Acceptance Letter.................  December 2024.
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments...  December 2024.
Request Additional Information (if        January 2025.
 necessary).
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary).  March 2025.
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    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: July 11, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-15732 Filed 7-16-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P