E5-4736. Alternatives Unlimited, Inc.; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission, Soliciting Additional Study Requests, and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Licensing and Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

August 23, 2005.

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

a. Type of Application: Exemption From Licensing.

b. Project No.: P-12608-000.

c. Date Filed: August 15, 2005.

d. Applicant: Alternatives Unlimited, Inc.

e. Name of Project: Alternatives Hydro Power Project

f. Location: On the Mumford River in the Town of Northbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts. The project does not utilize lands of the United States.

g. Filed Pursuant to: Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, 16 U.S.C. 2705, 2708.

h. Applicant Contact: Kathleen D. Hervol, Beals and Thomas, Inc., Reservoir Corporate Center, 144 Turnpike Road (Road 9), Southborough, MA 01772-6232, [phone].

i. FERC Contact: Stefanie Harris, [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 l 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 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: October 14, 2005.

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 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 at (http://www.ferc.gov) under the “eFiling” link.

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

n. Description of Project: The Alternatives Hydro Power Project consists of: (1) The existing 127-foot-long by 15.5-foot-high Ring Shop Dam consisting of a concrete 9.5-foot-high spillway topped with 2.5-foot-high flashboards, a waste gate, and two inlet structures located at the north and south ends of the spillway; (2) a 2-acre reservoir with a normal full pond elevation of 285.1 feet above mean sea level; (3) a restored 8-foot-wide head gated intake structure; (4) a new 23-foot by 6-foot metal service platform (to be enclosed for a future powerhouse) located at the south side of the dam containing three generating units with a total installed capacity of 45 kilowatts; and (5) appurtenant facilities. The restored project would have an average annual generation of 340 megawatt-hours.

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 Web site at http://www.ferc.gov using the “eLibrary” link. Enter the docket number excluding the three digits in the docket number field to access the document. 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.

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

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

q. 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. Staff intents to give at least 30 days for entities to comment on the EA, and will take into consideration all comments received on the EA before final action is taken on the license application.

Issue Acceptance Letter or Deficiency Letter—October 2005

Issue Scoping Document—February 2006

Notice of application is ready for environmental analysis—April 2006

Notice of the availability of the EA—October 2006

Ready for Commission's decision on the application—December 2006

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.