81 FR 8952 - Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe; Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To Intervene, and Competing Applications

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 35 (February 23, 2016)

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8952-8953]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03615]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 14726-000]


Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe; Notice of Preliminary Permit 
Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To 
Intervene, and Competing Applications

    On November 3, 2015, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe (Pyramid Lake) 
filed an application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) 
of the Federal Power Act, proposing to study the feasibility of the 
Prosser Creek Hydroelectric Project (project) to be located at the 
existing Bureau of Reclamation's Prosser Creek Dam on Prosser Creek, 
near the City of Truckee, Nevada County, California. The sole purpose 
of a preliminary permit, if issued, is to grant the permit holder 
priority to file a license application during the permit term. A 
preliminary permit does not authorize the permit holder to perform any 
land-disturbing activities or otherwise enter upon lands or waters 
owned by others without the owners' express permission.
    Prosser Creek Reservoir has a usable storage capacity of 29,800 
acre-feet at a normal maximum elevation of 5,741.2 feet, of which up to 
20,000 acre-feet is required for flood control purposes between 
November and June annually. The proposed project would utilize the 
existing intake structure in Prosser Creek Reservoir, the two 9.5-foot 
arched concrete conduits, and the discharge channel on the downstream 
side of the BOR Prosser Creek Dam. No modifications would be made to 
these existing structures.
    The proposed project would also consist of the following new 
structures: (1) An approximately 32-foot-wide by 62-foot-long by 33-
foot-high powerhouse located on the east side of the primary discharge 
channel outlet containing two Francis generating units, one smaller 
790-kilowatt unit and one larger 2.7-megawatt (MW) unit for a total 
rated capacity of 3.49 MW; (2) a pressure-rated, concrete, flow-control 
structure located at the end of the existing low-level outlet that 
would include control valves to regulate flows to the powerhouse or 
direct flows to the existing discharge channel during a powerhouse 
outage; (3) a 48-inch-diameter penstock that conveys water from the 
existing outlet structures to the powerhouse and directs flow to one or 
both of the generating units via a common header and control valves; 
(4) a 50-foot-long tailrace channel extending from the proposed 
powerhouse to meet the existing outlet channel; (5) a channel training 
wall leaving the powerhouse on the landside of the tailrace channel; 
(6) a 650-foot-long, 69-kilovolt (kV) transmission line and electrical 
substation to interconnect the proposed project to the existing, nearby 
69-kV transmission line; (7) and a small parking area at the 
powerhouse.
    Pyramid Lake proposes to develop the proposed project in 
conformance with the operation of Prosser Creek Dam by the Bureau of 
Reclamation under the terms of the Truckee River Operating Agreement 
(TROA) and would generate electricity using the existing flow releases 
under the terms of the TROA. Pyramid Lake does not propose to alter the 
timing, condition or the amount of releases from Prosser Creek 
Reservoir or impair any of the current functions supported by operation 
of this existing multi-purpose water resources project. The estimated 
annual generation of the Prosser Creek Hydroelectric Project would be 
7.4 gigawatt-hours.
    Applicant Contact: Donna Noel, Director of Natural Resources, 
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, P.O. Box 256, Nixon, Nevada 89424; phone: 
(775) 574-1000.
    FERC Contact: Quinn Emmering; phone: (202) 502-6382.
    Deadline for filing comments, motions to intervene, competing 
applications (without notices of intent), or notices of intent to file 
competing applications: 60 days from the issuance of this notice. 
Competing applications and notices of intent must meet the requirements 
of 18 CFR 4.36.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
comments, motions to intervene, notices of intent, and competing 
applications using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. Commenters can submit brief 
comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the 
eComment system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp. You 
must include your name and contact information at the end of your 
comments. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at

[[Page 8953]]

[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-14726-000.
    More information about this project, including a copy of the 
application, can be viewed or printed on the ``eLibrary'' link of 
Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp. 
Enter the docket number (P-14726) in the docket number field to access 
the document. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

    Dated: February 12, 2016.
 Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
 Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-03615 Filed 2-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P