82 FR 47201 - Final 2018 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan and Call for Applications

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Western Area Power Administration

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 195 (October 11, 2017)

Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), a Federal power marketing agency of the Department of Energy, announces its Final 2018 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan and Call for Applications for an allocation of energy from the Olmsted Powerplant Replacement Project.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 11, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47201-47204]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-21934]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Western Area Power Administration


Final 2018 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan and Call for Applications

AGENCY: Western Area Power Administration, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of Final 2018 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan and Call for 
Applications.

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SUMMARY: Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), a Federal power 
marketing agency of the Department of Energy, announces its Final 2018 
Olmsted Power Marketing Plan and Call for Applications for an 
allocation of energy from the Olmsted Powerplant Replacement Project.

DATES: Applications and Applicant Profile Data are due December 11, 
2017 to be assured of consideration by WAPA.

ADDRESSES: Send applications to: Ms. Lynn Jeka, CRSP Manager, CRSP 
Management Center, Western Area Power Administration, 150 East Social 
Hall Avenue, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, UT 84111-1580. Applications may 
also be faxed to (801) 524-5017 or emailed to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Brent Osiek, Power Marketing 
Manager, (801) 524-5495; or Mr. Lyle Johnson, Public Utilities 
Specialist, (801) 524-5585. Written requests for information should be 
sent to CRSP Management Center, Western Area Power Administration, 150 
East Social Hall Avenue, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, UT 84111-1580; 
faxed to (801) 524-5017; or emailed to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The United States acquired the Olmsted 
Powerplant in 1990 through condemnation proceedings in order to secure 
the water rights associated with the Olmsted Powerplant deemed 
essential to the Central Utah Project (CUP). The CUP is a participating 
project of the Colorado River Storage Project. As part of the 
condemnation proceedings, PacifiCorp continued Olmsted operations until 
2015; after which time, the operation of the facility became the 
responsibility of the Bureau of Reclamation.
    The existing Olmsted Powerplant greatly exceeded its operational 
life, and a replacement facility was needed for the generation of power 
and preservation of associated non-consumptive water rights. On 
February 4, 2015, an Implementation Agreement (Agreement) for the 
Olmsted Powerplant Replacement Project (Project) was signed by Central 
Utah Water Conservancy District (District), the Department of the 
Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, and WAPA (Participants). The Agreement 
sets forth the responsibilities of the Participants and identifies 
funding of the Project. The District will construct, operate, maintain, 
and replace the Olmsted Powerplant and incidental facilities in 
connection with its CUP operations, including power generation.
    WAPA is responsible for marketing the Olmsted energy, which is 
anticipated to be first available in the summer of 2018. Power 
production will be incidental to the delivery of water and will only be 
available when water is present. Therefore, only energy, without 
capacity, will be available for marketing. It is expected that the 
annual energy production from the replacement Olmsted Powerplant will 
average around 27,000,000 kWh per year.

Response to Comments on the Olmsted Proposed Marketing Criteria

    WAPA received numerous comments on its Proposed 2018 Olmsted Power 
Marketing Plan during the comment period. WAPA reviewed and considered 
all comments received, and this section summarizes and responds to the 
comments received. For brevity, when it was possible to do so without 
affecting the meaning of the statements, the public comments below were 
paraphrased.
    Comment: Can WAPA explain how it determined the marketing area? How 
were certain Utah counties picked? Is it based on the Provo River 
drainage? Why

[[Page 47202]]

were Davis, Weber, Morgan, and Summit counties included?
    Response: Because of the small amount of energy available from the 
Project, the marketing area was limited to the Utah counties in the 
vicinity of the powerplant in order to avoid costly transmission and to 
ensure that entities receiving an allocation would benefit from the 
energy while at the same time creating a marketing area sufficiently 
large enough to ensure wide-spread use of the Federal resource.
    Comment: Would there be a benefit to WAPA if a group of eligible 
applicants were to work together and submit a combined application with 
a recommended allocation?
    Response: WAPA will not discourage a combined application. However, 
WAPA will consider the loads and resources of the entities 
participating in a combined application in the same way it would 
consider individual applications.
    Comment: The marketing plan states that ``priority'' will be given 
to the plant operator, which is the Central Utah Water Conservancy 
District (District). The commenter supported this ``priority or 
preference'' to the District and asked if there are other criteria to 
be considered by WAPA in giving another utility a similar priority or 
preference.
    Response: There are no other circumstances that will create 
priority.
    Comment: Priority should be given to the District as the operator 
of the Olmsted Powerplant.
    Response: Thank you for your comment.
    Comment: Were applicants expected to apply for an allocation on or 
before the March 2, 2017, date or will there be another process or 
timetable to apply for an allocation? Will there be other details about 
the application process, or will a simple statement of interest as a 
ready, willing, and able utility be sufficient?
    Response: Details about how to apply for an allocation are provided 
in this Notice. Applicants will be asked to complete WAPA's Applicant 
Profile Data form.
    Comment: It would be beneficial if WAPA could expedite the Olmsted 
Power Marketing Plan process so the awarded entities would have 
sufficient time to complete the details on transmission and 
distribution services, scheduling, and reserves for delivery of the 
Olmsted Powerplant energy.
    Response: WAPA will work to complete this process as quickly as 
possible while meeting public process requirements.
    Comment: One commenter, as the representative for its members who 
are also participants in the CRSP, noted it does not have any major 
issues with the plan.
    Response: Thank you for your comment.
    Comment: One commenter expressed concern that WAPA would ``take 
into consideration all existing Federal hydropower allocations an 
applicant is currently receiving when determining the Olmsted 
allocation.'' The commenter proposed that allocations be proportionate 
to other existing Federal allocations.
    Response: In order to assure widespread use for Federal power 
resources, WAPA will consider the percentage of a customer's total load 
currently being met with Federal power through other allocations the 
customer may have. Applicants with larger proportions of load served 
with Federal power may, therefore, receive a relatively smaller 
percentage allocation of Olmsted energy and vice versa.
    Comment: One commenter asked for clarification of the specific 
marketing criteria and administrative discretion referred to under 
Reclamation Law and further stated: ``We assume these marketing 
criteria and administrative discretion includes the responsibilities 
and contributions of the parties referred to in the Olmsted 
Implementation and Funding Agreements and the responsibilities and 
contributions in these agreements pertain more specifically for this 
Project and should be considered with more priority.''
    Response: WAPA's Administrator has discretion to provide 
allocations of electricity pursuant to the body of legislation known as 
Reclamation Law. No other marketing commitments are made; however, WAPA 
did provide that the District would receive priority in receiving an 
allocation.
    Comment: A commenter expressed support for the marketing area 
identified in the Federal Register Notice (FRN) and asked if the 
District, whose headquarters are in the marketing area, can serve not 
only its facilities within the boundaries of the marketing plan but 
also those that extend beyond the marketing area. The commenter 
suggested that the marketing plan allow it to serve its loads located 
within Uintah and Duchesne counties with Olmsted energy.
    Response: Any allocations will be based on loads that are within 
the marketing area.
    Comment: A separate ratesetting process is required. It is critical 
that the rate action be completed in a timely manner so that it could 
be ready to receive energy before it is generated in 2018. It is 
imperative for the marketing of the energy from Olmsted Powerplant that 
the rate methodology be competitive in the current power supply market 
but also sufficient to reimburse the District for the OM&R of the 
Project.
    Response: WAPA intends to have the ratesetting process proceed 
concurrently with the completion of the Marketing Plan process.
    Comment: Several comments were received supporting WAPA's proposal 
to allocate customers a percentage of the energy produced annually and 
pay the proportional percentage of the Project's annual operation and 
maintenance expenses.
    Response: WAPA appreciates the support of its proposed rate 
methodology.
    Comment: One commenter stated, ``it makes excellent sense to offer 
this non-dispatchable resource as a percentage of the total energy 
available.''
    Response: Thank you for your comment.
    Comment: A commenter claimed it should receive priority for an 
allocation from Olmsted because it established a vested interest in the 
facilities as it expended funds many years ago in an unsuccessful 
attempt to obtain a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (FERC) to operate the Olmsted Powerplant. Its effort was 
abandoned when the Olmsted facilities were to be acquired by the 
Federal government.
    Response: Under Reclamation Law, the expenditure of funds trying to 
obtain a FERC license to operate the Olmsted Powerplant does not 
establish a priority for an allocation from any future power 
generation.
    Comment: What is the ``marketing criteria'' under Reclamation Law 
and can this be described?
    Response: WAPA markets Federal hydropower through the authority 
given it by the body of law known as Reclamation Law including, but not 
limited to, the Acts of Congress approved June 17, 1902 (32 Stat. 388); 
the Reclamation Act of 1939, dated August 4, 1939 (53 Stat. 1187); the 
Department of Energy Organization Act, dated August 4, 1977 (91 Stat. 
565); the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Pub. L. 102-486); and Acts 
amendatory or supplementary to the foregoing Acts. Marketing Criteria 
are developed through a public process and are set forth in this 
Notice.

Final Olmsted Power Marketing Plan

    WAPA will apply the following criteria to applicants seeking an 
allocation of energy under the Final 2018 Olmsted Power Marketing Plan:
    1. Contract Term: To gain actual generation data and operating

[[Page 47203]]

experience, the term of the contract will be limited. Service is 
expected to begin on July 1, 2018, or as soon as the Project is 
declared commercially operable; and the contract term will be effective 
through September 30, 2024.
    2. Marketing Area: Due to the relatively small size of the resource 
and its operating characteristics, eligible applicants must be 
preference entities in accordance with section 9(c) of the Reclamation 
Project Act of 1939 (43 U.S.C. 485h(c)) and located within the 
following counties in Utah: Davis, Morgan, Salt Lake, Summit, Utah, 
Weber, and Wasatch.
    3. Delivery Point: 12.47-kV bus at PacifiCorp's Hale Substation or 
another substation as agreed by WAPA.
    4. Transmission: Any associated transformation/transmission beyond 
the Delivery Point is the sole responsibility of the applicant. 
Applicants must have the necessary arrangements for transmission and/or 
distribution service in place by April 1, 2018.
    5. Eligible Applicants: WAPA will provide allocations only to 
preference entities in the marketing area. WAPA, through the public 
process, will determine the amount of energy, if any, to allocate in 
accordance with the marketing criteria and administrative discretion 
under Reclamation Law. Priority will be given to the District as the 
operator of the Olmsted Powerplant.
    6. Resource Pool: WAPA will take into consideration all existing 
Federal hydropower allocations an applicant is currently receiving when 
determining each allocation. Allocations of Olmsted energy will be 
determined solely by WAPA. Applicants who receive an allocation will be 
allocated a percentage of the annual energy output of the Powerplant.
    7. Preference Entities: Preference will be given to entities in 
accordance with section 9(c) of the Reclamation Project Act of 1939, 43 
U.S.C. 485h(c), as amended and supplemented, including municipalities, 
rural cooperatives, and political subdivisions including irrigation or 
other districts, municipalities, and other governmental organizations 
that have electric utility status by April 1, 2018; and, Federally 
recognized Native American tribes as defined in the Indian Self 
Determination Act of 1975, 25 U.S.C. 5304, as amended. ``Electric 
utility status'' means that the entity has responsibility to meet load 
growth, has a distribution system, and is ready, willing, and able to 
purchase Federal power from WAPA on a wholesale basis.
    8. Ready, Willing, and Able: Eligible applicants must be ready, 
willing, and able to receive and distribute or use energy from WAPA. 
Ready, willing, and able means the applicant has the facilities needed 
to receive power or has made the necessary arrangements for 
transmission and/or distribution service, and its power supply 
contracts with third parties permit the delivery of WAPA's power.
    9. Rates and Payment: A proposed ratesetting methodology will be 
published in a separate FRN.

Call for Applications for Power

    This Notice formally requests applications from eligible entities 
seeking to purchase Federal power from Olmsted. WAPA is requesting that 
its Applicant Profile Data (APD) form be used to provide a uniform 
basis for evaluating applications. APD forms are available upon request 
or may be accessed online at www.wapa.gov/PowerMarketing/Documents/Applicant-Profile-Data-form.pdf. See the ADDRESSES section for where to 
send applications. To be considered, entities must submit an 
application to the Western Area Power Administration, CRSP Management 
Center, as requested below. To ensure full consideration for all 
applicants, WAPA reserves the right not to consider applications 
submitted before publication of this Notice or after the deadline 
specified in the DATES section.

Applicant Profile Data Application

    The content and format of the APD form are outlined below. 
Applicants must provide all requested information, or the most 
reasonable available estimate, or should indicate ``not applicable'' if 
they have no information to be considered for a requested item. WAPA is 
not responsible for errors in data or missing pages. All items of 
information in the APD form should be answered as if prepared by the 
entity seeking the allocation. The APD form includes the following:
    1. Applicant: (a) Applicant's (entity requesting a new allocation) 
name and address. (b) Person(s) representing applicant: Please provide 
the name, title, address, telephone and fax numbers, and email address 
of such person(s). (c) Type of organization: For example, Federal or 
state agency, irrigation district, municipality, Native American tribe, 
public utility district, or rural electric cooperative. (d) Parent 
organization of applicant, if any. (e) Name of members or suballottees, 
if any. (f) Applicable law under which the organization was 
established. (g) Applicant's geographic service area. If available, 
submit a map of the service area, and indicate the date prepared. (h) 
Describe the entity/organization that will interact with WAPA about 
contract and billing matters. (i) The amount of power the applicant is 
requesting to be provided by WAPA.
    2. Loads: (a) If applicable, number and type of customers served in 
one of the last 3 calendar years including calendar years 2014, 2015, 
or 2016; e.g., residential, commercial, industrial, military base, 
agricultural. (b) The actual monthly maximum demand (in kilowatts) and 
energy use (in kilowatthours) experienced in one of the last 3 calendar 
years including calendar years 2014, 2015, or 2016. (c) For Native 
American tribe applicants, if actual demand and energy data are not 
available, provide estimated monthly demand (in kilowatts) with a 
description of the method and basis.
    3. Resources: (a) A list of current Federal power supplies. For 
each supply, provide the amount of capacity received from that power 
supply and its location. (b) Status of power supply contract(s), 
including a contract termination date. Indicate whether power supply is 
on a firm basis or some other type of arrangement.
    4. Transmission: (a) Point of delivery: Olmsted energy will be 
delivered at PacifiCorp's Hale Substation at 12.7-kV or another 
substation as agreed by WAPA. (b) Transmission arrangement: Describe 
the applicant's transmission arrangements necessary to deliver power to 
the requested points of delivery beyond WAPA's transmission system. (c) 
Provide a brief explanation of the applicant's ability to receive and 
use, or receive and distribute, Federal power as of April 1, 2018.
    5. Other Information: The applicant may provide any other 
information pertinent to receiving an allocation.
    6. Signature: The signature and title of an appropriate official 
who is able to attest to the validity of the APD and who is authorized 
to submit the request for an allocation is required.

WAPA's Consideration of Applications

    Upon receiving the APD, WAPA will verify that the applicant meets 
the eligibility criteria and that the application contains all 
information requested in the APD form. WAPA may request, in writing, 
additional information from any applicant whose APD is determined to be 
deficient. The applicant will have 15 calendar days from the date on 
WAPA's letter of request to provide the information. If WAPA determines 
the applicant does not meet the eligibility criteria, WAPA will send a 
letter explaining why the applicant did not qualify. If the applicant 
has met the eligibility criteria, WAPA will determine the amount of

[[Page 47204]]

power, if any, to allocate in accordance with the marketing criteria. 
WAPA will send a draft contract to the applicant that identifies the 
terms and conditions of the offer and the amount of power allocated to 
the applicant.

Availability of Information

    The APD form and documents developed or retained by WAPA during 
this public process will be available, by appointment, for inspection 
and copying at the CRSP Management Center, located at 150 East Social 
Hall Avenue, Suite 300, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Procedural Requirements

Environmental Compliance

    In compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 
1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321-4347), the Council on Environmental Quality 
Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and DOE NEPA Regulations (10 CFR 
1021), WAPA issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) on 
January 13, 2017. The FONSI and other NEPA compliance documentation may 
be found at https://www.wapa.gov/regions/CRSP/environment/Pages/environment.aspx.

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601, et 
seq., requires a Federal agency to perform a regulatory flexibility 
analysis whenever the agency is required by law to publish a general 
notice of proposed rulemaking for any proposed rule unless the agency 
can certify that the rule will not have a significant economic impact 
on a substantial number of small entities. In defining the term 
``rule,'' the RFA specifies that a ``rule'' does not include ``a rule 
of particular applicability relating to rates [and] services . . . or 
to valuations, costs or accounting, or practices relating to such rates 
[and] services . . . .'' 5 U.S.C. 601. WAPA has determined that this 
action relates to rates or services offered by WAPA and, therefore, is 
not a rule within the purview of the RFA.

Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, 94 Stat. 
2812, WAPA received approval from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB), under control number 1910-5136, to collect customer information 
through WAPA's Applicant Profile Data in order to allocate Federal 
hydropower.

Determination Under Executive Order 12866

    WAPA has an exemption from centralized regulatory review under 
Executive Order 12866; accordingly, no clearance of this notice by the 
Office of Management and Budget is required.

    Dated: August 18, 2017.
Mark A. Gabriel,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2017-21934 Filed 10-10-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P