01-31085. Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission Soliciting Additional Study Requests and Establishing Procedures for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

December 11, 2001.

a. Type of Application: New Major License.

b. Project No.: P-401-027.

c. Date Filed: September 14, 2001.

d. Applicant: Indiana Michigan Power Company.

e. Name of Project: Mottville Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the St. Joseph River, in Mottville Township, St. Joseph County, Michigan. The project does not affect Federal lands.

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

h. Applicant Contact: J.F. Norris, Jr., American Electric Power Service Corporation, 1 Riverside Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215, [phone], or [e-mail].

i. FERC Contact: Lee Emery [phone] or [e-mail].

j. Deadline for filing additional study requests: January 31, 2002.

All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: Linwood A. Watson, Jr., Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. Additional study requests may be filed electronically via the Internet in lieu of paper. See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's Web site (http://www.ferc.gov) under the “e-filing” link.

The Commission's Rules of Practice require all interveners 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 intervener 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.

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

l. Description of Project: The existing Mottville Project consists of: (1) Two 17-foot high earth-filled embankments extending towards the center of the river from both riverbanks, (i) a west embankment that is 140 feet long and has a crest width of 15 feet and extends to the powerhouse, (ii) an east embankment that is 365 feet long and has a crest width of 8 feet and extends from the east riverbank to the spillway; (2) a 237-foot long, reinforced concrete spillway with 10 steel Taintor gates along the crest of the spillway, which are separated by 2.5-foot wide piers between Bays 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1.5-foot-wide piers between the remaining Bays, (i) Taintor gates are 22 feet wide and 13 feet high in Bays 1 and 2 and 22 feet wide and 7.5 feet high in Bays 3 through 10; (3) a combined powerhouse-intake structure, made of brick and concrete, that is 118 feet long, 28 feet wide, and 25 feet long; (4) 4 vertical shaft, single runner, propeller type generating units with an installed generating capacity of 420 kW each; (5) a 14.5-foot-long, 28-foot-wide, and 25-foot-long switchboard bay attached to the west end of the powerhouse; (6) a 50 horsepower, 460-volt, 3-phase air bubbler system; (7) a 15-ton overhead traveling crane; (8) a 20-foot-wide stilling basin extending across the length of the spillway; (9) a 12-inch thick, reinforced concrete spillway apron; (10) an inoperable 4-foot-wide by 150-foot-long concrete fishway with a slope of about 25 percent; (11) sets of angled steel intake trashracks that are 3-feet 2-inches wide by 14-feet-high with 3/8-inch steel bars with 4-inch spacing between the bars; (12) a five-mile-long, 378-acre reservoir with a gross storage capacity of 2,900-acre-feet at the normal operating pool surface elevation of 770.4 NGVD; (13) a three phase, 2.4/34.5 kV transformer; and (14) other appurtenant facilities. The applicant estimates that the total average annual generation would be 7,800 MWh. All generated power is sold to Indiana Michigan Power Company's customers.

m. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the MICHIGAN STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER (SHPO), as required by § 106, National Historic Preservation Act, and the regulations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 36, C.F.R., at 800.4.

n. 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 “RIMS” link—select “Docket #” and follow the instructions (call 202-208-2222 for assistance). A copy is also available for inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.

o. Pursuant to § 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 the date set in paragraph j of this notice and serve a copy of the request on the applicant.

p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will be processed according to the following milestones, some of which may be combined to expedite processing:

Notice of application has been accepted for filing

Notice of NEPA Scoping

Notice of application is ready for environmental analysis

Final amendments to the application must be filed with the Commission*

Notice of the availability of the draft NEPA document

Notice of the availability of the final NEPA document

Order issuing the Commission's decision on the application

* 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.,

Acting Secretary.