[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 248 (Wednesday, December 27, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66967-66968]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-31287]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Project No. 11516-000-MI]
Commonwealth Power Company; Notice not Ready for Environmental
Analysis Notice Requesting Interventions and Protests, and Notice of
Scoping Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
December 20, 1995.
On October 25, 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(Commission) issued a letter accepting the Commonwealth Power Company's
application for the Irving Hydroelectric Project, located on the
Thornapple River in Barry County, Michigan.
The Irving Dam's principal project features would consist of an
existing 6-foot-high gravity-earth filled dam, an existing reservoir
with a surface area of 25 acres at a maximum pool elevation of 738.5
feet USGS and a storage capacity of 100 acre-feet, a 1,200-foot-long
head race canal, and a powerhouse containing one generating unit with a
rated capacity of 600 Kw. The project would have an average annual
generation of 1,800,000 Kwh. The project site is owned by Commonwealth
Power Company.
The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time. A public notice will be issued in the future indicating its
readiness for environmental analysis and soliciting comments,
recommendations, terms and conditions, or prescriptions on the
application and the applicant's reply comments.
The purpose of this notice is to: (1) Invite interventions and
protests; (2) advise all parties as to the proposed scope of the
staff's environmental analysis, including cumulative effects, and to
seek additional information pertinent to this analysis; and (3) advise
all parties of their opportunity for comment.
Interventions and Protests
All filings must: (1) Bear in all capital letters the title
``PROTEST,'' ``MOTION TO INTERVENE,'' ``NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE
COMPETING APPLICATION,''or ``COMPETING APPLICATION;'' (2) set forth in
the heading the name of the applicant and the project number of the
application to which the filing responds; (3) furnish the name,
address, and telephone number of the person protesting or intervening;
and (4) otherwise comply with the requirements of 18 C.F.R. 385.2001
through 385.2005. Agencies may obtain copies of the application
directly from the applicant. Any of these documents must be filed by
providing the original and the number of copies required by the
Commission's regulations to: Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, D.C. 20426.
An additional copy must be sent to: Director, Division of Project
Review, Office of Hydropower Licensing, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, at the above address. A copy of any protest or motion to
intervene must be served upon each representative of the applicant
specified in the particular application.
All filings for any protest or motion to intervene must be received
60 days from the issuance date of this notice.
Scoping Process
The Commission's scoping objectives are to:
identify significant environmental issues;
determine the depth of analysis appropriate to each issue;
identify the resource issues not requiring detailed
analysis; and
identify reasonable project alternatives.
[[Page 66968]]
The purpose of the scoping process is to identify significant
issues related to the proposed action and to determine what issues
should be covered in the environmental document pursuant to the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The document entitled
``Scoping Document I'' (SDI) will be circulated shortly to enable
appropriate federal, state, and local resource agencies, developers,
Indian tribes, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and other
interested parties to effectively participate in and contribute to the
scoping process. SDI provides a brief description of the proposed
action, project alternative, the geographic and temporal scope of a
cumulative effects analysis, and a list of preliminary issues
identified by staff.
The Commission will decide, based on the application, and agency
and public comments to scoping, whether licensing the Irving
Hydroelectric Project constitutes a major federal action significantly
impacting the quality of the human environment. The Commission staff
will not hold scoping meetings unless the Commission decides to prepare
an environmental impact statement, or the response to SDI warrants
holding such meetings.
Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental
expertise and concerns are encouraged to comment on SDI and assist the
staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed.
All filings should contain an original and 8 copies. Failure to
file an original and 8 copies may result in appropriate staff not
receiving the benefit of your comments in a timely manner. See 18 CFR
4.34(h). In addition, commentors may submit a copy of their comments on
a 3\1/2\-inch diskette formatted for MS-DOS based computers. In light
of our ability to translate MS-DOS based materials, the text need only
be submitted in the format and version that it was generated (i.e., MS
Word, WordPerfect 5.1/5.2, ASCII, etc.). It is not necessary to
reformat word processor generated text to ASCII. For MacIntosh users,
it would be helpful to save the documents in Macintosh word processor
format then write them to files on a diskette formatted for MS-DOS
machines. All comments should be submitted to the Office of the
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street,
N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, and should show the following captions on
the first page: Irving Hydroelectric Project, FERC No. 11516.
Further, interested persons are reminded of the Commission's Rules
of Practice and Procedures, requiring parties or interceders (as
defined in 18 CFR 385.2010) to file documents on each person whose name
is on the official service list for this proceeding. See CFR 4.34(b).
The Commission staff will consider all written comments and may
issue a Scoping Document II (SDII). SDII will include a revised list of
issues, based on the scoping process.
For further information regarding the scoping process, please
contact Ms. Julie Bernt, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office
of Hydropower Licensing, 888 First Street NE., Washington, D.C. 20426
at (202) 219-2814.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-31287 Filed 12-26-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M
