02-20827. Notice of Application Tendered for Filing with the Commission, Soliciting Additional Study Requests, and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

August 12, 2002.

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.: 2720-036.

c. Date Filed: July 29, 2002.

d. Applicant: City of Norway, Michigan.

e. Name of Project: Sturgeon Falls Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the Menominee River in Dickinson County, Michigan and Marinette County, Wisconsin. The project does not utilize lands of the United States.

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

h. Applicant Contact: Ray Anderson, City Manager, City of Norway, City Hall, 915 Main Street, Norway, Michigan 49870, [phone].

i. FERC Contact: Patti Leppert [phone], or [e-mail].

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 adequate 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 from the date of this notice and serve a copy of the request on the applicant.

l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status: September 30, 2002.

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 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 documents on that resource agency.

Additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status may be filed electronically via the Internet in lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filings. 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. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this time.

n. Description of Project: The existing project consists of: (1) a 270-foot-long concrete dam with spillway equipped with a 16.7-foot-high by 24-foot-wide Taintor gate and a 16.7-foot-high by 16-foot-wide Taintor gate; (2) a 126.5-foot-long concrete head-works structure; (3) a 400-acre impoundment with a normal pool elevation of 829.8 feet NGVD; (4) a 300-foot-long, 60-foot-wide power canal leading to; (5) a powerhouse containing four generating units with a total installed capacity of 5,136 kilowatts; (6) a 300-foot-long, 7.2-kV transmission line; and (7) appurtenant facilities.

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 “FERRIS” link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access the document. For assistance, call [phone] or for TTY [phone]. A copy is also available for inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.

p. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the Wisconsin and Michigan State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO), as required by Section 106 of the National Preservation Act and the regulations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 36 CFR 800.4.

Note:

The above paragraph initiating consultation with the SHPOs may be unnecessary if that language was included in the pre-filing notice requesting preliminary terms and conditions.

q. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application should be processed according to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made as appropriate. Because the issues in this relicensing have been resolved prior to the final license application being filed, the staff does not anticipate issuing a draft environmental assessment (EA). Rather, comments, terms and conditions, recommendations, prescriptions, and reply comments, if any, will be addressed in an EA issued in the fall of 2003.

Issue Deficiency Letter—October 2002

Issue Acceptance letter—January 2003

Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments—February 2003

Request Additional Information—April 2003

Issue Scoping Document 2, if necessary—May 2003

Notice of application is ready for environmental analysis—May 2003

Notice of the availability of the EA—November 2003

Ready for Commission's decision on the application—November 2003

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.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Deputy Secretary.