81 FR 2207 - Hawks Nest Hydro, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Licensing and Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 10 (January 15, 2016)

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 10 (Friday, January 15, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2207-2208]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00706]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2512-075]


Hawks Nest Hydro, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing 
With the Commission and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Licensing 
and 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: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 2512-075.
    c. Date Filed: December 29, 2015.
    d. Applicant: Hawks Nest Hydro, LLC (Hawks Nest Hydro).
    e. Name of Project: Hawks Nest Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The existing project is located on the New River, in 
Fayette County, West Virginia. The project does not occupy any federal 
lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Steven Murphy, Manager, Licensing, Brookfield 
Renewable Energy Group, 33 West 1st Street South, Fulton, New York 
13069; Telephone (315) 598-6130.
    i. FERC Contact: Monir Chowdhury, (202) 502-6736 or 
[email protected].
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. Project Description: The existing Hawks Nest Hydroelectric 
Project consists of: (1) A 948-foot-long concrete gravity dam with a 
crest elevation of 795.0 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 
(NGVD29); (2) 14 ogee-type spillway bays extending almost the entire 
length of the dam, each with a 25-foot-high by 50-foot-wide Stoney-type 
steel lift gate and separated by a 9-foot-wide concrete pier; (3) a 
243-acre reservoir with a gross storage capacity of 7,323 acre-feet at 
a normal pool elevation of 819.9 feet NGVD29; (4) an intake structure 
located at the right shoreline (looking downstream) of the reservoir 
just upstream of the dam and consisting of a 110-foot-wide by 50-foot-
high trashrack structure and a Stoney-type 42-foot-high by 50-foot-wide 
bulkhead intake gate that sits back approximately 50 feet from the 
opening where the trashrack is located; (5) a 16,240-foot-long tunnel 
that runs along the right side of the river to convey water from the 
intake to the powerhouse downstream of the New River; (6) a 600-foot-
long by 170-foot-wide surge basin located at a point on the tunnel 
approximately 60 percent of the distance from the intake to the 
powerhouse; (7) a 116-foot-diameter and 56-foot-high differential surge 
tank located at the downstream end of the tunnel and before the 
powerhouse; (8) a 210-foot-long by 74.5-foot-wide powerhouse containing 
four turbine-generator units, each with a rated capacity of 
approximately 25.5 megawatts; (9) two parallel approximately 5.5-mile-
long, 69-kilovolt transmission lines; and (10) appurtenant facilities.
    Hawks Nest Hydro operates the project in a run-of-river mode. The 
existing license (Article 402) requires that the project release a 
continuous minimum flow of 100 cubic feet per second into the bypassed 
reach between the dam and the powerhouse. Hawks Nest Hydro proposes to 
continue run-of-river operation and a modified minimum flow schedule 
for the bypassed reach. The project generates an annual average of 
544,253 megawatt-hours.
    l. Locations of the Application: 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 at [email protected] 
or toll-free at 1-866-208-3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659. A copy is 
also available for inspection and reproduction at the address in item 
(h) above.
    m. 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. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the 
schedule may be made as appropriate.

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               Milestone                           Target date
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Notice of Acceptance/Notice of Ready     February 2016.
 for Environmental Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary   April 2016.
 terms and conditions, and fishway
 prescriptions.
Commission issues EA...................  August 2016.
Comments on EA.........................  September 2016.

[[Page 2208]]

 
Modified Terms and Conditions..........  November 2016.
Commission Issues Final EA, if           February 2017.
 necessary.
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    o. 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: January 11, 2016.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-00706 Filed 1-14-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P