Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping Comments

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 64 (Monday, April 5, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16442-16443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-8270]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

March 31, 1999.
    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.: 2110-003.
    c. Date Filed: June 26, 1998.
    d. Applicant: Consolidated Water Power Company.
    e. Name of Project: Stevens Point Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Wisconsin River, at river mile 236, in the town 
of Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin. There are three parcels of 
federal lands, partially inundated islands totaling about 15.6 acres, 
within the project boundary.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).

    h. Applicant Contact:
    Mr. Mark Anderson, Consolidated Water Power Company, P.O. Box 8050, 
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495-8050, (715) 422-3927.

    i. FERC Contact: Any questions on this notice should be addressed 
to Michael Spencer, E-mail address, michael.spencer@ferc.fed.us, or 
telephone (202) 219-2846.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: May 13, 1999.
    All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: 
David P. Boergers, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all 
intervenors filing documents with the Commission to serve a copy of 
that document on each person whose name appears 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. Status of environmental analysis: This application is not ready 
for environmental analysis at this time.
    l. Description of the Project: The project consists of the 
following existing facilities: (1) a 28-foot-high main dam comprised of 
1,889 feet of concrete gravity walls in four sections, a spillway 
section containing 15 Taintor gates, and a total of 4,090 feet of earth 
dikes, on both the east and west banks of the river; (2) an auxiliary 
2,000-foot-long concrete uncontrolled overflow spillway (Rocky Run) and 
associated 5,000 feet of earth dikes, located about 1.25 miles upstream 
of the main dam; (3) a 12-mile-long, 3,915-acre impoundment at the 
normal maximum water surface elevation of 1,087.4 feet msl, and a 
maximum storage capacity of 27,000 acre-feet; (4) a powerhouse integral 
with the dam containing six vertical Francis turbine units for a total 
installed capacity of 3,840 kW and an annual energy generation of 28.4 
GWh; (5) switchgear consisting of a single power transformer for the 
six units; and (6) appurtenant facilities.
    m. Locations of the application: A copy of the application is 
available for inspection and reproduction at the Commission's Public 
Reference Room, located at 888 First Street, NE., Room 2A, Washington, 
DC 20426, or by calling (202) 208-1371. This filing may be viewed on 
the web at www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm (call (202) 208-2222 
for assistance). A copy is also available for inspection and 
reproduction at the address shown in item h.
    n. Scoping Process: The Commission intends to prepare a multiple 
project Environmental Assessment (EA) for the proposed relicensing of 
the Stevens Point Project, Biron Project (FERC No. 2192), and 
Rhinelander Project (FERC No. 2161), 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 actions.

Scoping Meetings

    The Commission will hold joint scoping meetings for the Stevens 
Point and Biron Projects, one in the daytime and one in the evening, to 
help us identify the scope of issues to be addressed in the EA.
    The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency concerns, 
while the evening 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:

Daytime Meeting

    Wednesday, April 14, 1999, 1 p.m., Board Room, Plover Municipal 
Building, 2400 Post Road, Business Highway 51, Plover, Wisconsin.

Evening Meeting

    Wednesday, April 14, 1999, 7 p.m., Stevens Point Holiday Inn, 1501 
Northpoint Drive, Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
    To help focus discussions, we will distribute a Scoping Document 
(SD1) outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the EA to parties 
on the Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will be 
available at the scoping meetings.

Site Visit

    The applicant and Commission staff will conduct a project site 
visit on Wednesday, April 14, 1999. We will meet at the parking lot 
near the boat launch in Bukolt Park, off Bukolt Avenue, Stevens Point, 
at 9 a.m. If you would like to attend, please call Mark Anderson, 
Consolidated Water Power Company, at (715) 422-3927, no later than 
April 9, 1999.

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

[[Page 16443]]

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 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.
    The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and will become 
part of the formal record of the Commission's proceeding on the 
project. Individuals presenting statements at the meetings will be 
asked to sign in before the meeting starts and to identify themselves 
clearly for the record.
    Individuals, organizations and agencies with environmental 
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to 
assist the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed 
in the EA.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-8270 Filed 4-2-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M