03-18935. Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission; Soliciting Additional Study Requests; Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

July 2, 2003.

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

a. Type of Application: New Major License.

b. Project No.: P-2183-035.

c. Date filed: June 2, 2003.

d. Applicant: Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA).

e. Name of Project: Markham Ferry Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the Grand (Neosho) River, in Mayes County, Oklahoma. This project would not use federal lands.

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

h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Robert W. Sullivan, Assistant General Manager, Risk Management & Regulatory Compliance, GRDA, P.O. Box 409, Vinita, Oklahoma 74301; (918)-256-5545.

i. FERC Contact: John Ramer, [e-mail], [phone].

j. Cooperating Agencies: We are asking Federal, state, and local agencies and Indian tribes with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to environmental issues to cooperate with us in the preparation of the environmental document. Agencies who would like to request cooperating status should follow the instructions for filing comments described in item k below.

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 factual basis for 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 after the application filing and serve a copy of the request on the applicant.

l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status: August 1, 2003.

All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: Magalie R. Salas, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.

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.

Additional study requests may be filed electronically via the Internet in lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's Web site (http://www.ferc.gov) under the “e-Filing” link.

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

n. Project Description: The Markham Ferry Hydroelectric Project consists of the following existing facilities: (1) The 3,744-foot-long by about 90-foot-high Robert S. Kerr dam, which includes an 824-foot-long gated spillway, topped with 17, 40-foot-long by 27-foot-high, steel Taintor gates and two 80-ton capacity traveling gate hoists; (2) the 15-mile-long Lake Hudson, which has a surface area of 10,900 feet, 200,300 acre-feet of operating storage, and 444,500 acre-feet total of flood storage capacity; (3) the 6,200-foot-long by 45-foot-high Salina Dike; (4) a concrete powerhouse containing four 35 horsepower Kaplan turbines with a total maximum hydraulic capacity of 28,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) and four generating units with a total installed generating capacity of 108,000 kilowatts (kW), and producing an average of 257,107,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) annually; (5) one unused 110-kilovolt (kV) transmission line; and (6) appurtenant facilities. The dam and existing project facilities are owned by GRDA.

o. A copy of the application is on file with the Commission and is available for public inspection. This filing may also be viewed on the Web at http://www.ferc.gov using the “FERRIS” link—select “Docket #” and follow the instructions. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [e-mail] or toll free at [phone] or for TTY, contact [phone]. A copy is also available for inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.

p. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/​esubscribenow.htm to be notified via e-mail of new filings and issuances related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

q. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), as required by § 106, National Historic Preservation Act, and the regulations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 36 CFR 800.4.

r. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will be processed according to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made as appropriate. The Commission staff proposes to issue one environmental assessment rather than issue a draft and final EA. Comments, terms and conditions, recommendations, prescriptions, and reply comments, if any, will be addressed in an EA issued in early 2005.

Issue Acceptance or Deficiency Letter: November 2003.

Issue Scoping Document: April 2004.

Notice that application is ready for environmental analysis: August 2004.

Notice of the availability of the EA: February 2005.

Ready for Commission decision on the application: May 2005.

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.

Magalie R. Salas,

Secretary.