2022-15164. Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With The Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for ...

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

a. Type of Application: New Major License.

b. Project No.: 2853-073.

c. Date filed: June 30, 2022.

d. Applicant: Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (Montana DNRC).

e. Name of Project: Broadwater Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the Missouri River near the town of Toston in Broadwater County, Montana. The project occupies approximately two acres of federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management..

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

h. Applicant Contact: David Lofftus, Hydro Power Program Manager, Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, 1424 9th Avenue, P.O. Box 201601, Helena, Montana 59620; Phone at [phone]; or email at [e-mail] .

i. FERC Contact: Ingrid Brofman at [phone], or [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 29, 2022.

The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status using the Commission's eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/​FERCOnline.aspx . For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [e-mail], [phone] (toll free), or [phone] (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper copy. Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and docket number on the first page: Broadwater Hydroelectric Project (P-2853-073).

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

n. Project Description: The existing Broadwater Hydroelectric Project consists of: (1) a 705-foot-long, 24-foot-high concrete gravity dam with a 360-foot-long spillway containing seven inflatable rubber gates capable of raising the dam's crest elevation by 11 feet; (2) a 275-acre, 9-mile-long reservoir; (3) a 160-foot long rock jetty that extends upstream into the reservoir that serves to separate inflow to the powerhouse from the headworks of the non-project irrigation canal adjacent to the dam; (4) an intake integral with the powerhouse and covered by two inclined trashracks, each 20 feet wide and 40 feet high, with a clear bar spacing of 3 inches; (5) a 160-foot-long, 46-foot-wide, 64-foot high powerhouse containing a single Kaplan turbine with a rated capacity of 9.66 megawatts; (6) a 100-kilovolt, 2.8-mile-long transmission line; and (6) appurtenant facilities.

The project is operated in a run-of-river mode and generates an estimated average of 40,669 megawatt-hours per year.

o. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the Federal Register , the Commission provides all interested persons an opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this notice, as well as other documents in the proceeding ( e.g., license application) via the internet through the Commission's Home Page ( 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 (P-2853). For assistance, contact FERC at [e-mail] or call toll-free, [phone] or [phone] (TTY).

You may also register online at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/​FERCOnline.aspx 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: The application will be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary): August 2022.

Request Additional Information (if needed): August 2022.

Issue Acceptance Letter and Notice: November 2022.

Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments: December 2022.

Issue Scoping Document 2: February 2023.

Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis: February 2023.

q. 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 11, 2022.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.