82 FR 60386 - City of Radford; Notice Soliciting Scoping Comments

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 243 (December 20, 2017)

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 243 (Wednesday, December 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60386-60387]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-27370]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 1235-017]


City of Radford; Notice 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: Subsequent Minor License.
    b. Project No.: 1235-017.
    c. Date filed: May 30, 2017.
    d. Applicant: City of Radford.
    e. Name of Project: Municipal Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Little River near the City of Radford in 
Montgomery and Pulaski Counties, Virginia. The project does not affect 
federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Tim Logwood, Director of Electric Utilities 
for the City of Radford, 701 17th Street Radford, VA 24141; Telephone 
(540) 731-3641.
    i. FERC Contact: Allyson Conner, (202) 502-6082 or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: 30 days from the issuance 
date of this notice.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
scoping comments using the Commission's

[[Page 60387]]

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 [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-1235-017.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice 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. Project Description. The existing Municipal Hydroelectric 
Project consists of: (1) A 293-foot-long, 58-foot-high reinforced 
concrete slab and buttress dam that includes: (a) A south non-overflow 
section; (b) an overflow bulkhead section; (c) an eight-bay spillway 
section each with a steel tainter gate; (d) a powerhouse intake 
section; and (e) a north non-overflow section; (2) a 77-acre 
impoundment with a gross storage capacity of 562 acre-feet at a normal 
pool elevation of 1,772 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 
(NGVD29) and a net storage capacity of 220 acre-feet between elevations 
1,768 and 1,772 feet; (3) a 20-foot, 3-inch-wide intake section with 
angled steel trash racks (3-inch by 5/16th-inch trash rack bars spaced 
2.5 inches on center) and a steel roller type head gate; (4) a 27-foot-
long steel-lined penstock in concrete that transitions from a 13.5-
foot-wide, 11-foot-high entrance to an 8-foot-diameter conveyance to 
the turbine scroll case; (5) a 30-foot-long, 28-foot-wide, and 62-foot-
high powerhouse containing a single 1,185-kilowatt turbine-generator 
unit; (6) a 2.7-mile-long transmission line connected to the grid; and 
(7) appurtenant facilities.
    The City of Radford proposes to revise its exhibit G to include 
transmission facilities composed of only three, 560-foot-long, 4.16-kV 
overhead conductors that transmit power to a switched disconnect/
interconnection with the local distribution grid. The City of Radford 
states that the formerly licensed transmission line now serves to 
distribute power to other sources along its length and is no longer 
part of the project.
    The City of Radford operates the project in both run-of-river and 
peaking modes. For the period 1984 through 2013, the project's average 
annual generation was about 4,550 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 website 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.
    n. 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.
    o. Scoping Process. The Commission staff intends to prepare an 
Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Municipal Hydroelectric 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.
    Commission staff issued Scoping Document 1 (SD1) on September 1, 
2017 and held scoping meetings on October 2-3, 2017 and an 
environmental site review on October 2, 2017. Because some entities may 
not have received proper notice of the issuance of SD1 and the scoping 
meetings, we are providing an additional 30-day comment period on 
Scoping Document 2, which will be issued concurrently with this notice, 
for entities to provide comments, recommendations, and information.
    Copies of SD1 and this SD2 outlining the subject areas to be 
addressed in the EA were distributed to the parties on the Commission's 
mailing list. Copies of SD1 and SD2 may be viewed on the web 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, call 1-866-208-3676 or for TTY, (202) 502-
8659.

    Dated: December 14, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-27370 Filed 12-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P