[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 82 (Wednesday, April 29, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23432-23433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11314]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 2609-013]
Curtis/Palmer Hydroelectric Company and International Paper
Company; Notice of Application and Applicant Prepared Environmental
Assessment Accepted for Filing; Requesting Interventions and Protests;
Establishing Procedural Schedule and Final Amendment Deadline; and
Requesting Comments, Final Terms and Conditions, Recommendations and
Prescriptions
April 23, 1998.
Curtis/Palmer Hydroelectric Company and International Paper Company
(International Paper) have filed with the Commission an Applicant
Prepared Environmental Assessment and License Application for the
Curtis-Palmer Project No. 2609, located on the Hudson River, New York.
The Curtis/Palmer Project consists of two separate developments
with a total installed capacity of 58.8 MW. The existing facilities at
the Curtis Development include: (1) a 25 foot-high by 743 foot-long dam
constructed of concrete; (2) a 714 foot long spillway section topped by
46 inch-high wooden flash boards; (3) a 29 foot-long sluice gate
structure housing a gate measuring 11 feet wide by 13 feet high; (4) a
5.9 mile-long impoundment with a surface area of 390 acres at the
normal high water elevation of 548.8 feet NGVD, and a storage capacity
of 585 acre-feet at a drawdown of 1.5 feet; (5) a powerhouse intake
structure containing ten gate openings, each equipped with a sliding
headgate, plus three additional hydraulically operated gates located 35
feet downstream; (6) a powerhouse containing five turbine generators,
three with installed capacities of 2.8 MW each, and two with installed
capacities of 1.2 MW each, with a total hydraulic capacity of 6,500
cfs; and (7) a substation connected to a three-mile long, 13.8 kV
transmission line.
International Paper proposes to install an inflatable rubber
flashboard system at Curtis. Impoundment elevation and total hydraulic
capacity would remain unchanged.
The existing facilities at the Palmer Development (located 2,700
feet downstream of Curtis) include: (1) a 486 foot-long dam with
maximum height of 37 feet, comprised of a 346 foot-long spillway
section of two Ambursen type spillways topped with a 6 foot-high
inflatable rubber dam; (2) a 7 foot by 7 foot steel sluice gate located
within a concrete abutment forming the transition between the dam
spillway section and the forebay spillway section; (3) an impoundment
extending 2,700 feet upstream to the dam and powerhouse of the Curtis
development, with a surface area of 28 acres at a normal pond elevation
of 522.9 feet NGVD; (4) an intake structure constructed of reinforced
concrete containing 22 foot by 22.5 foot headgates located adjacent and
perpendicular to the forebay spillway; (5) two 20 foot diameter by 220
and 260 feet long, concrete encased steel penstocks extending from the
intake structure to the powerhouse; (6) a powerhouse containing two
generating units of equal size with installed capacities of 24 MW each,
with a total hydraulic capacity of 7,500 cfs; and (7) a substation
which transfers power to a Niagara Mohawk Power Company bus maintained
within.
Purpose of Notice
The purpose of this notice is to: (1) Inform all interested parties
that an applicant-prepared environmental assessment (APEA) and final
license application for the Curtis/Palmer Project has been filed with
the Commission on April 13, 1998, and are available for public
inspection; (2) inform all parties that the applications and APEA are
hereby accepted; (3) invite interventions and protests; (4) solicit
comments, final recommendations, terms and conditions, or prescriptions
on the final license application and APEA; and (5) identify an
approximate schedule and procedures that will be followed in processing
the application and APEA.
International Paper has used a Cooperative Team (Team) approach to
prepare the APEA for the Curtis/Palmer Project. The Team consists of
federal, state, and local agencies, non-governmental organizations, and
the public. The Team has been meeting since September 1995 to guide the
study process and prepare the APEA.
The Team has reached substantive agreement on most resource issues,
and a comprehensive settlement agreement has been drafted and signed by
most parties of the Team. Two Team members remain non-signatories to
the Settlement Agreement. Due to a disagreement on measures to assess
and protect downstream passage of resident fish, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and New York Rivers United do not concur with the
encompassing settlement Agreement, and its presentation by the
Applicant and Team as the preferred alternative. The Settlement
Agreement is reflected in the APEA as the preferred alternative.
Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment Process and Processing
Schedule
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EP Act) gives the Commission the
authority to allow the filing of an APEA with a license application.
The EP Act also directs the Commission to institute procedures,
including pre-application consultations, to advise applicants of
studies or other information foreseeably required by the Commission.
On April 23, 1996, the Director, Office of Hydropower Licensing,
waived or amended certain of the Commission's regulations to allow for
coordinated processing of the license application and preparation of an
APEA. Since then, the Commission has been working cooperatively in
advising the Team on studies or other information foreseeably required
by the Commission.
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping was conducted on
the project through scoping documents issued December 7, 1995 and April
19, 1996, and in public scoping meetings on January 12, 1996 and
February 8, 1996. A draft license application and preliminary APEA were
issued by the applicant for comment on October 3, 1997. The final
license application and APEA were filed with the Commission on April
13, 1998. The APEA includes
[[Page 23433]]
responses to all comments received on the preliminary APEA.
Commission staff have reviewed the APEA and license application and
have determined that the application is acceptable and no additional
information or studies are needed to prepare the Commission's
environmental assessment (EA). The deadline for the applicant to file
any final amendments to the application is June 8, 1998. Comments, as
indicated below, are now being requested from interested parties. Any
comments received will be addressed in a draft EA issued by Commission
by late summer, 1998. There will be a 30-day comment period on the
draft EA. A final EA is scheduled for the fall of 1998, or earlier.
Interventions and Protests
All intervention and protest filings must: (1) bear in all capital
letters the title ``MOTION TO INTERVENE''; (2) set forth in the heading
the name of the applicant and the project number of the application to
which the filing responses; (3) furnish the name, address, and
telephone number of the person intervening or protesting; and (4)
otherwise comply with the requirements of 18 CFR 385.2001 through
385.2005. All motions to intervene or protest must be received June 22,
1998. A copy of any motion to intervene or protest must be served on
the applicant.
Comments, Final Terms and Conditions, Recommendations and
Prescriptions
Interested parties have until June 22, 1998, to file with the
Commission, any comments, final terms and conditions, recommendations
and prescriptions for the Curtis/Palmer Hydroelectric Project. The
applicant will have 45 days following the notice period to respond. In
view of the high level of early involvement of the Cooperative Team, we
expect the majority of comments to reflect the agreement and preferred
alternative in the preliminary APEA.
Copies of the Application and APEA
A copy of the APEA and final license application is available for
review by contacting Stuart Field, International Paper, Hudson River
Mill, Pine Street, Corinth, New York 12822, or phone 518-654-3445.
Copies of these documents are also available for review in the
Commission's Public Reference Room.
Filing Requirements
Any comments, final terms and conditions, recommendations and
prescriptions should be filed by providing an original and 8 copies as
required by the Commission's regulations to: Secretary, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426.
In addition to the above copies, comments, interventions, final
terms and conditions, recommendations may also be submitted on a 3\1/
2\-inch diskette formatted for Windows-95 based computers to: Tom Dean,
Office of Hydropower Licensing, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
888 First St., NE, Room 61-47, Washington, D.C. 20426. For Macintosh
users, it would be helpful to save the documents in Macintosh word
processor format and then write them to files on a diskette formatted
for MS-DOS or Windows-95 machines.
Questions regarding this notice may be directed to Commission staff
Tom Dean at 202-219-2778.
David P. Boergers,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-11314 Filed 4-28-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M