2019-13825. Chittenden Falls Hydropower, Inc.; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final ...

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

a. Type of Application: Subsequent Minor License.

b. Project No.: 3273-024.

c. Date Filed: May 31, 2019.

d. Applicant: Chittenden Falls Hydropower, Inc.

e. Name of Project: Chittenden Falls Hydropower Project.

f. Location: On Kinderhook Creek, near the Town of Stockport, Columbia County, New York. The project does not occupy federal land.

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

h. Applicant Contact: Mark Boumansour, Chief Operating Officer, Gravity Renewables, Inc., 1401 Walnut Street, Suite 420, Boulder, CO 80302; [phone]; email— mark@ gravityrenewables.com and/or Celeste N. Fay, Regulatory Manager, Gravity Renewables, Inc., 5 Dartmouth Drive, Suite 104, Auburn, NH 03032; [phone]; email—[e-mail].

i. FERC Contact: Monir Chowdhury at [phone]; or email at [e-mail].

j. Cooperating agencies: Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the environmental document should follow the instructions for filing such requests described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note the Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation of the environmental document cannot also intervene. See, 94 FERC ¶ 61,076 (2001).

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: July 30, 2019.

The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/​docs-filing/​efiling.asp. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [e-mail], [phone] (toll free), or [phone] (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, please send a paper copy to: Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. The first page of any filing should include docket number P-3273-024.

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

n. The Chittenden Falls Project consists of the following existing facilities: (1) An approximately 4-foot-high, 320-foot-long overflow concrete gravity dam, topped with 2-foot-high wooden flashboards, and having a dam crest elevation of 59.6 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29); (2) a reservoir with a surface area of about 18 acres and a storage capacity of 63 acre-feet at a normal pool elevation of 61.6 feet NGVD29; (3) an 8-foot-wide, 22-foot-long intake structure on the east side of the dam connecting to an 8-foot-wide, 118-foot-long concrete and wooden power canal; (4) a 7.5-foot-diameter, 45-foot-long steel penstock that conveys water from the power canal to a powerhouse on the east side of the dam containing two turbine-generator units with a total rated capacity of 453 kilowatts (kW); (5) an 8-foot-wide, 10-foot-long intake structure on the west side of the dam connecting to a 6-foot-diameter, 62-foot-long steel penstock; (6) a powerhouse on the west side of the dam containing a single turbine-generator unit with a rated capacity of 300 kW; (7) two 40-foot-long, 480-volt generator leads connecting the east powerhouse to a transformer yard and a 400-foot-long, 2,300-volt generator lead connecting the west powerhouse to the transformer yard; and (8) appurtenant facilities.

The Chittenden Falls Project is operated in a run-of-river mode with an estimated average annual generation of 2,300 megawatt-hours between 2012 and 2018.

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 “eLibrary” 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. 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 email of new filings and issuances related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary)—July 2019

Request Additional Information—July 2019

Issue Acceptance Letter—October 2019

Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments—November 2019

Request Additional Information (if necessary)—January 2020

Issue Scoping Document 2—February 2020

Issue notice of ready for environmental analysis—February 2020

Commission issues EA—August 2020

Comments on EA—September 2020

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.

Dated: June 13, 2019.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.