2019-14837. South Sutter Water District; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.

a. Type of Application: Major, new license.

b. Project No.: P-2997-031.

c. Date Filed: July 1, 2019.

d. Applicant: South Sutter Water District (SSWD).

e. Name of Project: Camp Far West Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: The existing hydroelectric project is located on the Bear River in Yuba, Nevada, and Placer Counties, California. The project, with the proposed project boundary modifications, would occupy a total of 2,674 acres. No federal or tribal lands occur within or adjacent to the project boundary or along the Bear River downstream of the project.

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).

h. Applicant Contact: Brad Arnold, General Manager, South Sutter Water District, 2464 Pacific Avenue, Trowbridge, California 95659.

i. FERC Contact: Quinn Emmering, [phone], [e-mail].

j. Cooperating Agencies: Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the environmental document should follow the instructions for filing such requests described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note the Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation of the environmental document cannot also intervene. See, 94 FERC ¶ 61,076 (2001).

k. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's regulations, if any resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person believes that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to form an adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the application on its merit, the resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person must file a request for a study with the Commission not later than 60 days from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of the request on the applicant.

l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status: August 30, 2019.

The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/​docs-filing/​efiling.asp. 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-2997-031.

m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this time.

n. The existing Camp Far West Hydroelectric Project operates to primarily provide water during the irrigation season, generate power, and meet streamflow requirements for the Bear River. The existing project includes: (1) A 185-foot-high, 40-foot-wide, 2,070-foot-long, zoned, earth-filled main dam; (2) a 45-foot-high, 20-foot-wide, 1,060-foot-long, earth-filled south wing dam; (3) a 25-foot-high, 20-foot-wide, 1,460-foot-long, earth-filled north wing dam; (4) a 15-foot-high, 20-foot-wide, 1,450-foot-long, earth-filled dike; (5) a 1,886-acre reservoir with a gross storage capacity of about 93,737 acre-feet at the normal maximum water surface elevation (NMWSE) of 300 feet; (6) an overflow spillway with a 15-foot-wide concrete approach apron, 300-foot-long ungated, ogee-type concrete structure, and a 77-foot-long downstream concrete chute with concrete sidewalls; (7) a 1,200-foot-long, unlined, rock channel that carries spill downstream to the Bear River; (8) a 22-foot-high, concrete, power intake tower with openings on three sides protected by steel trashracks; (9) a 760-foot-long, 8-foot-diameter concrete tunnel through the left abutment of the main dam that conveys water from the power intake to the powerhouse; (10) a steel-reinforced, concrete powerhouse with a 6.8-MW, vertical-shaft, Francis-type turbine, which discharges to the Bear River at the base of the main dam; (11) a 25-foot-4-inch-high, concrete, vertical intake tower with openings on three sides protected by steel trashracks that receives water for the outlet works; (12) a 350-foot-long, 48-inch-diameter steel pipe that conveys water from the intake structure to a valve chamber for the outlet works; (13) a 400-foot-long, 7.5-foot-diameter concrete-lined horseshoe tunnel that connects to the valve chamber; (14) a 48-inch-diameter, outlet valve with a 500-cubic-feet-per-second release capacity at NMWSE on the downstream face of the main dam that discharges directly into the Bear River; (15) a switchyard adjacent to the powerhouse; (16) two recreation areas with campgrounds, day-use areas, boat ramps, restrooms, and sewage holding ponds; (17) a recreational water system that includes two pumps in the reservoir that deliver water to a treatment facility that is piped to a 60,000-gallon storage tank to supply water to recreation facilities. The estimated average annual generation (2010 to 2017) is 22,637 megawatt-hours.

SSWD proposes to: (1) Raise the NMWSE of the project reservoir by 5 feet from an elevation of 300 feet to an elevation of 305 feet; (2) replace and restore several recreation facilities; (3) add an existing 0.25-mile road as a primary project road to access the powerhouse and switchyard; and (4) modify the project boundary to account for the removal of the 1.9-mile-long transmission line from the license in 1991, corrections based on current project operation and maintenance, and changes under the category of a contour 20 feet above the 300-ft NMWSE or proximity of 200-horizontal-feet from the 300-foot NMWSE.

o. 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.

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.

p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will be processed according to the following preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

Issue Notice of Acceptance—September 2019

Request Additional Information (if necessary)—September 2019

Issue Acceptance Letter—December 2019

Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments—January 2020

Hold Scoping Meeting—February 2020

Request Additional Information (if necessary)—April 2020

Issue Scoping Document 2—April 2020

Issue notice of ready for environmental analysis—April 2020

Commission issues EA, draft EA, or draft EIS—October 2020

Comments on EA or draft EA or draft EIS—November 2020

Initiate 10(j) process (if necessary)—December 2020

Commission issues final EA of final EIS—April 2021

Final amendments to the application must be filed with the Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice of ready for environmental analysis.

Dated: July 8, 2019.

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,

Deputy Secretary.