Notice of Scoping Meeting and Site Visit, ND Soliciting Scoping Comments

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 64 (Monday, April 5, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16443-16444]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-8272]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meeting and Site Visit, ND Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

March 30, 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.: 2161-006
    c. Date Filed: June 26, 1998
    d. Applicant: Rhinelander Paper Company
    e. Name of Project: Rhinelander Hydroelectric Project
    f. Location: On the Wisconsin River, at river mile 357, in the 
townships of Tomahawk, Newbold, Pine Lake, and Pelican, Oneida County, 
Wisconsin. There are no federal lands located within the project area.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contacts:

    Mr. Bruce Olson, Utility Superintendent, Rhinelander Paper Company, 
515 West Davenport Street, Rhinelander, Wisconsin 54501, (715) 369-
4244.

    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 15, 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 the 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 main dam comprised of 370 feet of 
earth embankments, in two sections to the left and right of a spillway 
section containing two 10.7-foot-wide steel roller gates; (2) a 965-
foot-long power canal, with a single 26-foot-wide Taintor gate spillway 
structure located downstream of a 14-gate canal inlet structure, 
located adjacent to the right embankment of the dam; (3) an 8.5-mile-
long, 3,576-acre impoundment with a normal water surface elevation of 
1,555.45 feet above mean sea level (msl), and a normal storage capacity 
of 21,500 acre-feet; (4) a brick powerhouse located at the downstream 
end of the power canal, containing three horizontal Francis turbine 
units for a total installed capacity of 2,120 kilowatts (kW) and an 
average annual energy production of 10.692 gigawatt-hours (GWh); (5) 
switchgear connections with the adjacent paper mill; 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 Rhinelander Project, Stevens Point Project (FERC No. 2110), and 
Biron Project (FERC No. 2192), 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 scoping meetings, 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

    Friday, April 16, 1999, 9 a.m., Best Western Claridge Inn, 70 North 
Stevens

[[Page 16444]]

St., Highway 17 North, Rhinelander, Wisconsin.

Evening Meeting

    Thursday, April 15, 1999, 7 p.m., Best Western Claridge Inn, 70 
North Stevens St., Highway 17 North, Rhinelander, 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 Thursday, April 15, 1999. We will meet at the guard desk in 
the Rhinelander Paper Company lobby, 515 West Davenport Street, at 1 
p.m. If you would like to attend, please call Bruce Olson, Rhinelander 
Paper Company, at 715-369-4244, 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 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. 99-8272 Filed 4-2-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M