[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 64 (Friday, April 4, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14818-14820]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-05858]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 15045-002-WV; Project No. 15230-002-OH]
Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and
Soliciting Scoping Comments: Current Hydro Project 19, LLC; Pike Island
Hydropower Corporation
Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
a. Types of Applications: Original Major Licenses.
b. Project Nos.: P-15045-002--New Cumberland Hydroelectric Project;
P-15230-002--Pike Island Hydroelectric Project.
c. Dates Filed: May 8, 2024 for P-15045-002; May 14, 2024 for P-
15230-002.
d. Applicants: Current Hydro Project 19, LLC for P-15045-002; Pike
Island Hydropower Corporation for P-15230-002.
e. Name of Projects: New Cumberland Hydroelectric Project (P-15045-
002); Pike Island Hydroelectric Project (P-15230-002).
f. Locations: New Cumberland Hydroelectric Project on the Ohio
River in Hancock County, West Virginia.
Pike Island Hydroelectric Project on the Ohio River in Belmont
County, Ohio.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: Hailee Kessel, Senior Regulatory Lead,
Current Hydro, LLC, 3120 Southwest Freeway, Suite 101, PMB 50808,
Houston, TX 77098, telephone at (315) 558-9834; email at
[email protected].
i. FERC Contact: Colleen Corballis, Project Coordinator, Midwest
Branch, Division of Hydropower Licensing; telephone at (202) 502-8598;
email at [email protected].
j. Deadline for Filing Scoping Comments: May 30, 2025.
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. 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, 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,
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: New Cumberland Hydroelectric
Project No. 15045-002 and/or Pike Island Hydroelectric Project No.
15230-002.
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 each
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. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
l. Project Descriptions: The proposed New Cumberland Project would
be located the U.S. Army Corps of
[[Page 14819]]
Engineers' (Corps) existing New Cumberland Lock and Dam and would
consist of: (1) a 90-foot-wide, 350-foot-long, and 69-foot-high intake
channel with trash racks; (2) a 186.8-foot-long, 98-foot-wide, and
74.5-foot-high concrete powerhouse on the east bank of the Ohio River;
(3) two identical Kaplan pit turbine-generators with a total installed
capacity of 19.99 megawatts (MW); (4) a 95-foot-wide, 215-foot-long
tailrace channel; (5) a 180-foot-long, 12.47-kilovolt (kV), 22.2
megavolt ampere (MVA) underground transmission line crossing under the
Norfolk Southern Railway, transitioning to a 350-foot-long overhead
transmission line to a substation; (6) a 90-foot-long, 90-foot-wide
powerhouse substation including a 12.47-kV/138-kV, 25-MVA 3-phase
single pad-mounted transformer; (7) a 1,050-foot-long, 138-kV, three
phase overhead transmission line connecting the powerhouse substation
to the existing 138-kilowatt (kW) transmission line; and (8)
appurtenant facilities. The proposed estimated annual generation would
be 132.4 gigawatt hours (GWh).
The proposed Pike Island Project would be located at the Corps'
existing Pike Island Locks and Dam, and would consist of: (1) a 90-
foot-wide, 180-foot-long, and 69-foot-high intake section with trash
racks; (2) a 186.8-foot-long and 98-foot-wide concrete powerhouse on
the west bank of the Ohio River; (3) two identical Kaplan pit turbine-
generators with a total installed capacity of 19.99 MW; (4) a 150-foot-
long and 95-foot-wide tailrace channel; (5) a new 550-foot-long, 12.47-
kV, 25-MVA underground utilidor crossing under River Road; (6) a 100-
foot-long and 120-foot-wide substation including a 3,600-foot-long, 69-
kV three phase overhead transmission line connecting the powerhouse
substation to the existing 69-kW transmission line; and (7) appurtenant
facilities. The proposed estimated annual energy production would be
136.1 GWh.
m. A copy 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 (P-15045 or P-15230). 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.
n. 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,
community organizations, 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].
o. 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
In addition to written comments solicited by this notice,
Commission staff will hold two joint public scoping meetings for the
Projects at the times and locations noted below. All interested
individuals, resource agencies, Indian Tribes, and NGOs are invited to
attend any of the meetings to assist Commission staff in identifying
the scope of the environmental issues that should be analyzed in the
NEPA document. The times and locations of these meetings are as
follows:
Daytime Scoping Meeting
Date: May 6, 2025.
Time: 9:00 a.m. EST to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).
Meeting Location: To Be Determined.
Evening Scoping Meeting
Date: May 6, 2025.
Time: 5:00 p.m. EST to 7:00 p.m. EDT.
Location: To Be Determined.
Scoping Document 1 (SD1), which outlines the subject areas to be
addressed in the NEPA document, was mailed to the individuals and
entities on the Commission's mailing list and the applicants'
distribution lists. Copies of SD1 will be available at the scoping
meetings, or may be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov, using the
``eLibrary'' link. Follow the directions for accessing information in
paragraph m.
Environmental Site Review
Current Hydo and Commission staff will conduct an environmental
site review of the Pike Island Project beginning at 2:00 p.m. EDT on
May 6, 2025. Participants should meet at 2:00 p.m. EDT at the
Fisherman's Access Area parking lot, which is located at the Pike
Island Locks and Dam Fisherman's Access Area in Yorkville, OH 26003.
All participants must remain in publicly accessible spaces and should
wear closed-toe shoes/boots for walking in uneven/sloped terrain around
the proposed project area.
All interested individuals, resource agencies, Indian Tribes, and
NGOs are invited to attend the site review. If you plan to attend the
site review, please contact Mitchell Kriege of Current Hydro at (859)
630-7389, or via email at [email protected] on or before April
22, 2025, and indicate if you are attending the Pike Island Project
environmental site review and how many participants will be attending
with you.
There will not be an environmental site review at the proposed New
Cumberland Project due to site access constraints to the proposed
project.
Meeting Procedures
Individuals, NGOs, Indian Tribes, and agencies with environmental
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to
assist the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed
in the NEPA document. At the start of each meeting, Commission staff
will provide a brief overview of the meeting format and objectives.
Individual oral comments will be taken on a one-on-one basis with a
court reporter (with Commission staff present). This format is designed
to receive the maximum number of oral comments in a convenient way
during the timeframe allotted. If you wish to speak, Commission staff
will hand out numbers in the order of your arrival. If all individuals
who wish to provide comments have had an opportunity to do so,
Commission staff may conclude the meeting a half hour earlier than the
scheduled time. Please see appendix 1 for additional information on the
session format and conduct.\1\
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\1\ The appendix referenced in this notice will not appear in
the Federal Register. Copies of the appendix were sent to all those
receiving this notice in the mail and are available at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``eLibrary'' link. For assistance, please
contact FERC Online Support at [email protected] or call
(866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
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Scoping comments will be recorded by the court reporter and become
part of the public record for this proceeding.
[[Page 14820]]
Transcripts will be publicly available on FERC's eLibrary system. If a
significant number of people are interested in providing oral comments
in the one-on-one settings, a time limit may be implemented for each
commentor.
It is important to note that the Commission provides equal
consideration to all comments received, whether filed in writing or
provided orally at a scoping meeting. Although there will not be a
formal presentation, Commission staff will be available throughout the
scoping session to answer your questions about the environmental review
process. Representatives from Current Hydro will also be present to
answer project-specific questions.
Dated: March 31, 2025.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-05858 Filed 4-3-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P