80 FR 8633 - Birch Power Company; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting Scoping Comments

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 32 (February 18, 2015)

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 18, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8633-8634]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03263]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 13102-003]


Birch Power Company; 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 is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: Original License (Major Project).
    b. Project No.: 13102-003.
    c. Date Filed: July 2, 2013.
    d. Applicant: Birch Power Company.
    e. Name of Project: Demopolis Lock and Dam Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: At the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) Demopolis 
Lock and Dam, on theTombigbee River, west of the city of Demopolis in 
Marengo and Sumter Counties, Alabama. The proposed project would occupy 
approximately 23 acres of federal land administered by the Corps.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Nicholas E. Josten, GeoSense, 2742 Saint 
Charles Ave., Idaho Falls, ID 83404, (208) 528-6152.
    i. FERC Contact: Adam Peer, (202) 502-8449 or [email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: April 25, 2015.
    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, please send a paper copy 
to: Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street 
NE., Washington, DC 20426. The first page of any filing should include 
docket number P-13102-003.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedures 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 is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The proposed project would utilize the existing Corps' Demopolis 
Lock and Dam and Reservoir, and would consist of the following new 
facilities: (1) A 900-foot-long excavated intake channel (headrace); 
(2) two 60-foot-long by 32-foot-wide trash racks with 2.5-inch bar 
spacing; (3) a 201-foot-long by 80-foot-wide powerhouse containing two 
24-megawatt (MW) Kaplan turbines, having a total installed capacity of 
48 MW; (4) a substation; (5) a forebay oxygen diffuser line system to 
enhance dissolved oxygen; (6) a 1,880-foot-long excavated tailrace 
channel; (7) a 1,700-foot-long retaining wall along the north side of 
tailrace channel; (8) a 4.4-mile-long, 115-kilovolt transmission line; 
and (9) appurtenant facilities. The average annual generation would be 
about 213,000 megawatt-hours.
    m. A copy of the application is available for review at the 
Commission in the Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the 
Commission's Web site 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. For assistance, contact 
FERC Online Support. A copy is also available for inspection and 
reproduction at the address in item h above.
    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.
    n. Scoping Process:
    The Commission intends to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) 
on the project in accordance with the National Environmental Policy 
Act. The EA will consider both site-specific and cumulative 
environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to the proposed 
action.

 Scoping Meetings

    FERC staff will conduct one agency scoping meeting and one public 
meeting. The agency scoping meeting will focus on resource agency and 
non-governmental organization (NGO) concerns, while the public scoping 
meeting is primarily for public input. All interested individuals, 
organizations, and agencies are invited to attend one or both of the 
meetings, and to assist the staff in identifying the scope of the 
environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. The times and 
locations of these meetings are as follows:

Agency Scoping Meeting

    DATE: Thursday, March 26, 2015.
    TIME: 9:00 a.m. (EDT).
    PLACE: Demopolis Civic Center.
    ADDRESS: 501 N. Commissioner's Avenue, Demopolis, AL 36732.

Public Scoping Meeting

    DATE: Thursday, March 26, 2015.
    TIME: 7:00 p.m. (EDT).
    PLACE: Demopolis Civic Center.
    ADDRESS: 501 N. Commissioner's Avenue, Demopolis, AL 36732.
    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to 
be addressed in the EA 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 FERC staff will conduct a project Environmental 
Site Review. The time and location of this meeting is as follows:
    PROJECT: Demopolis Lock and Dam Hydroelectric Project.
    DATE: Thursday, March 26, 2015.
    TIME: 2:00 p.m. (EDT).
    LOCATION: Demopolis Civic Center Parking Lot, 501 N. Commissioner's 
Avenue, Demopolis, AL 36732.
    All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited 
to attend. All participants should meet at the time and location 
specified above. All participants are responsible for their own 
transportation to the site. Anyone with questions about the 
Environmental Site Review should contact Nicholas E. Josten, GeoSense, 
2742 Saint Charles Ave., Idaho Falls, ID 83404, (208) 528-6152 on or 
before March 19, 2015.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (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 EA, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the

[[Page 8634]]

resource issues to be addressed in the EA; and (5) identify those 
issues that require a detailed analysis, as well as those issues that 
do not require a detailed analysis.

Procedures

    The meetings are recorded by a stenographer and become part of the 
formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project.
    Individuals, organizations, 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 EA.

     Dated: February 11, 2015.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-03263 Filed 2-17-15; 8:45 am]
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