03-10541. 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

April 23, 2003.

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.: 178-017.

c. Date filed: April 14, 2003.

d. Applicant: Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

e. Name of Project: Kern Canyon Project.

f. Location: On the Kern River, near the Town of Bakersfield, Kern County, California. The project occupies approximately 11.26 acres of public land located within the Sequoia National Forest.

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

h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Randal S. Livingston, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Power Generation, Mail Code N11E, P.O. Box 770000, San Francisco, CA 94177, [phone].

i. FERC Contact: Tim Looney, 202-502-6096 or [e-mail]

j. Cooperating agencies: We are asking Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies 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: June 13, 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 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. After logging into the e-Filing system, select “Comment on Filing” from the Filing Type Selection screen and continue with the filing process.

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

n. The Kern Canyon Project consists of: (1) An existing 150-foot-long and 23-foot-high dam; (2) an existing 3-acre reservoir having a usable capacity of 27-acre-feet; (3) a 1.58 mile long horseshoe shaped tunnel; (4) a 520-foot-long steel penstock varying in diameter from 96 inches to 90 inches; (5) a powerhouse containing one generating unit with an installed capacity of 9,540 kilowatts; (6) existing transmission facilities; and (7) appurtenant facilities. The project is estimated to generate an average of 67.6 gigawatt hours annually. The dam and existing project facilities are owned by the applicant.

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 “FERRIS” link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access the document. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support at [e-mail] or toll-free at 1 [phone], or for TTY, [phone]. A copy is also available for inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.

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.

p. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the CALIFORNIA 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.

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.

Issue Acceptance or Deficiency Letter—June 2003

Request Additional Information—June 2003

Issue Acceptance Letter—September 2003

Issue Scoping Document 1 for Comments—October 2003

Request Additional Information (if necessary)—December 2003

Issue Scoping Document 2—January 2004

Notice that application is ready for environmental analysis—January 2004

Notice of the availability of the draft EA—July 2004

Notice of the availability of the final EA—October 2004

Ready for Commission decision on the application—October 2004

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.