2017-27370. 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 [phone].

i. FERC Contact: Allyson Conner, [phone] or [e-mail].

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 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 [e-mail], [phone] (toll free), or [phone] (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, [phone].

Dated: December 14, 2017.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.