[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 27, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22282-22284]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-09434]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 2790-074]
Boott Hydropower, LLC; Notice of Application Accepted for Filing,
Soliciting Motions To Intervene and Protests, Ready for Environmental
Analysis, and Soliciting Comments, Recommendations, Preliminary Terms
and Conditions, and Preliminary Prescriptions
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.: 2790.
c. Date Filed: April 30, 2021.
d. Applicant: Boott Hydropower, LLC (Boott).
e. Name of Project: Lowell Hydroelectric Project (project).
f. Location: The existing project is located on Merrimack River in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts and Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
The project does not occupy any federal land but is located within the
administrative boundary of the Lowell National Historical Park.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: Jillian Lawrence, Boott Hydropower, LLC, 4747
Bethesda Avenue, Suite 1220, Bethesda, MD 20814; (856) 906-0180 or
[email protected].
i. FERC Contact: Bill Connelly at (202) 502-8597 or
[email protected].
j. Deadline for filing motions to intervene and protests, comments,
recommendations, terms and conditions, and prescriptions: on or before
5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on July 21, 2025; reply comments are due on or
before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on September 2, 2025.
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
motions to intervene and protests, comments, recommendations, terms and
conditions, and prescriptions 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
[[Page 22283]]
(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, Maryland 20852. All filings must clearly identify the
project name and docket number on the first page: Lowell Hydroelectric
Project (P-2790-074).
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 the
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. This application has been accepted and is now ready for
environmental analysis.
l. The Lowell Project consists of: (1) the 1,093-foot-long, 15-
foot-high Pawtucket Dam and spillway, equipped with a 5-foot-high
pneumatic crest gate with a crest elevation of 92.2 feet National
Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD 29) at the top of the gate; (2) a
1,236-acre impoundment with a normal maximum water surface elevation of
92.2 feet NGVD 29; (3) a 5.5-mile-long, two-tiered canal system that
includes the 4,300 foot-long Northern Canal and the 9,000-foot-long
Pawtucket Canal (canal system), along with a series of connected water
ways, small dams, gatehouses, and generating facilities; (4) a 125-
foot-long, 55-foot-high gatehouse that controls flow from the
impoundment to the Northern Canal (Pawtucket Gatehouse); (5) a 70-foot-
long, 20-foot-high, five-bay gatehouse that control flows from the
impoundment to the Pawtucket Canal as part of the Guard Lock and Gates
Facility, which also includes a boat navigation lock and a Francis Gate
facility with a 25-foot-wide, 25-foot-high flood gate; (6) generating
facilities, including: (a) the Eldred L. (E.L.) Field Power Station,
which is located on the mainstem of the Merrimack River and consists
of: (i) a 109-foot-long, 96-foot-wide concrete powerhouse with two
turbine-generator units with a total installed capacity of 15,012
kilowatts (kW); (ii) a 200-foot-long. 80-foot-wide forebay; (iii) a
100-foot-long, 26-foot-wide, 22.25-foot-high canal control structure
that maintains water levels in the forebay as part of a Hydro Locks
Facility, which also includes a boat navigation lock; (iv) a 440-foot-
long tailrace with a 10- to-16-foot high concrete training wall; (v)
two 4.16-kilovolt (kV) generator leads; (vi) a 4.16/13.8-kV step-up
transformer; and (vi) appurtenant facilities; (b) the Hamilton Power
Station, which is located on the canal system and consists of: (i) five
turbine-generator units with a total installed capacity of 1,180 kW;
(ii) five 0.6-kV generator leads; and (iii) appurtenant facilities; (c)
the Assets Power Station, which is located on the canal system and
consists of: (i) three turbine-generator units with a total installed
capacity of 792 kW; (ii) three 0.6-kV generator leads; and (iii)
appurtenant facilities; (d) the Bridge Street Power Station, which is
located on the canal system and consists of: (i) three turbine-
generator units with a total installed capacity of 1,080 kW; (ii) three
0.6-kV generator leads; and (iii) appurtenant facilities; and (e) the
John Street Power Station, which is located on the canal system and
consists of: (i) four turbine-generator units with a total installed
capacity of 2,100 kW; (ii) four 0.6-kV generator leads; and (iii)
appurtenant facilities; (7) a 4.5-mile-long, 13.8-kV submarine cable
that connects the project generating facilities to the regional
electric grid; (8) upstream and downstream fish passage facilities; and
(9) a visitor center.
The project bypasses approximately 2 miles of the Merrimack River,
including a 0.7-mile-long bypassed reach from the Pawtucket Dam to the
E.L. Field Powerhouse tailrace and an approximately 1.3-mile-long
bypassed reach from the E.L. Field Powerhouse tailrace to the
confluence of the Merrimack and Concord Rivers.
The current license requires Boott to operate in run-of-river mode.
Fish passage facilities include a fish elevator and downstream fish
bypass at the E.L. Field Powerhouse, and a fish ladder at the Pawtucket
Dam.
The fish elevator at the E.L. Field Powerhouse has a design
discharge capacity of 200 cubic feet per second (cfs). Fish migrating
upstream through the tailrace channel enter a collection gallery, where
they are attracted to a crowding pool and then into the elevator. Once
in the elevator, fish are lifted in a hopper to the exit channel. Fish
then pass from the exit channel to the Northern Canal, where they swim
upstream until they rejoin the Merrimack River upstream of Pawtucket
Dam. The fish elevator system includes areas where fish can be counted
or trapped before swimming from the exit channel to the Northern Canal.
The downstream fishway at the E.L. Field Powerhouse consists of an
adjustable-flow sluiceway and bypass adjacent to the powerhouse intake.
Downstream migrating fish entering the bypass are sluiced into a plunge
pool located in the bypassed reach, next to the powerhouse.
The fish ladder at the Pawtucket Dam is designed for river flows up
to 25,000 cfs and has an operating flow of 500 cfs (including fish
attraction flow). The fish ladder is a vertical-slot design with 13-
foot-wide by 10-foot-long pools. A counting station and fish trap area
are also provided at the fish ladder.
Recreation facilities at the project consist of a visitor center at
the E.L. Field Powerhouse. The visitor center offers a view of the
turbines and an interpretive display providing information about the
project and the area.
The minimum and maximum hydraulic capacities of the project are 500
cfs and 8,600 cfs, respectively. The average annual generation of the
project was approximately 84,501 megawatt-hours from 2008 through 2017.
Boott proposes to: (1) continue to operate the project in a run-of-
river mode; (2) release 500 cfs into the bypassed reach from the
existing Pawtucket Dam fish ladder during the upstream migratory fish
passage season, defined annually in consultation with the Merrimack
River Technical Committee, and release 100 cfs, or inflow, whichever is
less, to the bypassed reach from Pawtucket Dam during the rest of the
year; (3) continue to implement the Crest Gate Operation Plan; \1\ (4)
continue to maintain and monitor a water surface elevation of 86.7 feet
NVGD29 in the upper canal system and 71.8 feet NGVD29 in the lower
canal system; (5) continue to operate the gates of the Guard Lock and
Gates Facility to manage water levels in the canal system; (6) develop
an operation and compliance monitoring plan; (7) replace the existing
fish elevator with a short fish ladder to pass migratory fish from the
E.L. Field Powerhouse tailrace upstream to the bypassed reach within
three years of license issuance; (8) conduct a 1-year ``shakedown''
period of the proposed fish ladder after installation; (9) evaluate the
effectiveness of the proposed tailrace fish ladder after installation;
(10) modify the existing Pawtucket Dam fish ladder to enhance upstream
fish passage; (11) modify the bypassed reach
[[Page 22284]]
to enhance upstream fish passage; (12) install a new ``fish exclusion
facility'' at the E.L. Field Powerhouse that would consist of a 0.75-
inch clear-spaced trashrack overlay, modifications to the existing
downstream fish bypass, and an American eel sampling device; (13)
develop an interim nighttime shutdown plan to protect eels from turbine
entrainment and impingement; (14) develop an upstream American eel
passage assessment study plan; (15) develop a fishway operation and
management plan; (16) decommission the Assets, Hamilton, John Street,
and Bridge Street powerhouses; (17) develop a decommissioning plan;
(18) develop an historic properties management plan; (19) prior to any
construction activities, consult with the Massachusetts State Historic
Preservation Office and the National Park Service to develop a
mitigation plan for avoiding or minimizing adverse effects on the Locks
and Canals Historic District and the Lowell National Historical Park;
(20) develop a recreation access and facilities management plan; and
(21) modify the current project boundary to: (i) remove a 7.4-mile
section from the upstream extent of the impoundment; (ii) remove all
except the first 2,200-foot-long section from the Northern Canal
between the Pawtucket Dam and the Pawtucket Gatehouse; and (iii) remove
all except the first 1,600-foot-long section of the Pawtucket Canal
between the impoundment and the Guard Lock and Gates Facility.
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\1\ The Commission approved the Crest Gate Operation Plan on
March 30, 2015.
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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
docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number
field to access the document (P-2790). For assistance, contact FERC
Online Support (see item j above).
n. Anyone may submit comments, a protest, or a motion to intervene
in accordance with the requirements of Rules of Practice and Procedure,
18 CFR 385.210, .211, and .214. In determining the appropriate action
to take, the Commission will consider all protests or other comments
filed, but only those who file a motion to intervene in accordance with
the Commission's Rules may become a party to the proceeding. Any
comments, protests, or motions to intervene must be received on or
before the specified comment date for the particular application.
All filings must: (1) bear in all capital letters the title
``PROTEST,'' ``MOTION TO INTERVENE,'' ``COMMENTS,'' ``REPLY COMMENTS,''
``RECOMMENDATIONS,'' ``PRELIMINARY TERMS AND CONDITIONS,'' or
``PRELIMINARY FISHWAY PRESCRIPTIONS;'' (2) set forth in the heading the
name of the applicant and the project number of the application to
which the filing responds; (3) furnish the name, address, and telephone
number of the person protesting or intervening; and (4) otherwise
comply with the requirements of 18 CFR 385.2001 through 385.2005. All
comments, recommendations, terms and conditions, or prescriptions must
set forth their evidentiary basis and otherwise comply with the
requirements of 18 CFR 4.34(b). Agencies may obtain copies of the
application directly from the applicant. A copy of any protest or
motion to intervene must be served upon each representative of the
applicant specified in the particular application. A copy of all other
filings in reference to this application must be accompanied by proof
of service on all persons listed on the service list prepared by the
Commission in this proceeding, in accordance with 18 CFR 4.34(b) and
385.2010.
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].
You may also register online at https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/overview to be notified via email of new filings and issuances related
to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online
Support.
o. The applicant must file the following on or before 5:00 p.m.
Eastern Time on July 21, 2025: (1) a copy of the water quality
certification; (2) a copy of the request for certification, including
proof of the date on which the certifying agency received the request;
or (3) evidence of waiver of water quality certification.
p. Final amendments to the application must be filed with the
Commission on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on June 19, 2025.
Dated: May 20, 2025.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-09434 Filed 5-23-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P