[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 113 (Thursday, June 12, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33745-33746]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-13700]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 14616-000]
Oregon State University; Notice of Scoping Meeting and Soliciting
Scoping Comments for an Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment
Using the Alternative Licensing Process
a. Type of Filing: Notice of Intent to File License Application and
Pre-Application Document for an Original License.
b. Project No.: 14616-000.
c. Applicant: Oregon State University.
d. Name of Project: Pacific Marine Energy Test Center South Energy
Test Site.
e. Location: Pacific Ocean approximately six nautical miles off the
coast of Newport, Oregon on the Outer Continental Shelf.
f. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
g. Applicant Contact: Belinda Batten, Oregon State University, 350
Batcheller Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331; (541) 737-9492; email at
[email protected].
h. FERC Contact: Jim Hastreiter at (503) 552-2760; or email at
[email protected].
i. Deadline for filing scoping comments: August 4, 2014.
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
comments 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
[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-14616-000.
j. The proposed project would consist of: (1) Four offshore test
berths; (2) a maximum of 20 wave energy conversion (WEC) devices with a
maximum total installed capacity of 20 megawatts; (2) various WEC
devices including point absorbers, oscillating water column,
overtopping, attenuator, and ``other'' types that utilize a combination
of technology designs; (3) various anchoring systems including gravity
based anchors, drag anchors, and embedment anchors, consisting of
steel, concrete, or a mixture of steel and concrete; (4) single- or 3-
point mooring systems consisting of chain, steel cables, or synthetic
materials; (5) mooring infrastructure including surface buoys,
subsurface floats, and chain, wire or rope, as catenary, tendon or
bridle lines; (6) subsea connectors; (7) buried subsea transmission
cables converging in a nearshore conduit; (8) an onshore cable landing
connecting to a power monitoring and conditioning facility; (9) grid-
interconnection at Central Lincoln Public Utility District substation;
and (10) appurtenant facilities.
k. Scoping Process:
Oregon State University (OSU) intends to utilize the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission's (Commission) alternative licensing process
(ALP). Under the ALP, OSU will prepare an Applicant Prepared
Environmental Assessment (APEA) and license application for the Pacific
Marine Energy Test Center South Energy Test Site.
OSU expects to file with the Commission, the APEA and the license
application for the Pacific Marine Energy Test Center South Energy Test
Site Project by December 2015. Although the Commission's intent is to
prepare an EA, there is the possibility that an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) will be required. Nevertheless, this meeting will
satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, irrespective of whether an EA or
EIS is issued by the Commission.
The purpose of this notice is to inform you of the opportunity to
participate in the upcoming scoping meetings and environmental site
review identified below, and to solicit your scoping comments.
[[Page 33746]]
Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review
OSU and the Commission staff will hold two scoping meetings, one in
the daytime and one in the evening, to help us identify the scope of
issues to be addressed in the APEA.
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 environmental issues that should be analyzed in the
APEA. The times and locations of these meetings and environmental site
review are as follows:
Daytime Meeting
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
1:00 p.m.
Hatfield Marine Science Center
Guin Library (Seminar Room)
2121 SE Marine Science Drive
Newport, Oregon 97365
Evening Meeting
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
7:00 p.m.
Hatfield Marine Science Center
Visitor Center Auditorium
2030 SE Marine Science Drive
Newport, Oregon 97365
Environmental Site Review
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Ona Beach State Park
Day Use Beach Parking Lot (west of Hwy. 101)
Oregon Coast Highway
Waldport, Oregon 97376
Please notify Brenda Langley at [email protected] or
(541) 737-6138 by June 25, 2014, if you plan to attend the site visit.
To help focus discussions, Scoping Document 1 (SD1) was mailed by
OSU on June 5, 2014, outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the
APEA, to the parties on the mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will
be available at the scoping meetings. OSU will file SD1 with the
Commission and the document will be available for review at the
Commission in the Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the
Commission's Web site 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.
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
[email protected].
Based on all written comments received, a Scoping Document 2 (SD2)
may be issued. SD2 will include a revised list of issues, based on the
scoping sessions.
Objectives
At the scoping meetings, OSU and Commission staff will: (1)
Summarize the environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis
in the APEA; (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 APEA, including viewpoints in opposition to,
or in support of, the OSU and Commission staff's preliminary views; (4)
determine the resource issues to be addressed in the APEA; and (5)
identify those issues that require a detailed analysis, as well as
those issues that do not require a detailed analysis.
Procedures
The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and will become
part of the formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project.
Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to
assist OSU in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in the
APEA.
Dated: May 5, 2014.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2014-13700 Filed 6-11-14; 8:45 am]
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