Notice2022-10780
Village of Swanton, Vermont; 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 Amendments
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Published
May 19, 2022
Issuing agencies
Energy DepartmentFederal Energy Regulatory Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 97 (Thursday, May 19, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 97 (Thursday, May 19, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30477-30478]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-10780]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 2547-095]
Village of Swanton, Vermont; 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 Amendments
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.: 2547-095.
c. Date Filed: April 29, 2022.
d. Applicant: Village of Swanton, Vermont (Village).
e. Name of Project: Highgate Falls Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: On Missisquoi River in Franklin County, Vermont. The
project does not occupy any federal land.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: Reginald R. Beliveau, Jr., Manager--Village
of Swanton, 120 First Street, Swanton, Vermont 05488; call at (802)
868-3397; email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#106272757c7966757165506367717e647f7e3e7e7564"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6c1e0e0900051a090d192c1f1b0d0218030242020918">[email protected]</span></a>.
i. FERC Contact: Amy Chang at (202) 502-8250, or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d293bfabfc91bab3bcb592b4b7a0b1fcb5bda4"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8ccde1f5a2cfe4ede2ebcceae9feefa2ebe3fa">[email protected]</span></a>.
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: June 28, 2022.
[[Page 30478]]
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status
using the Commission's eFiling system at <a href="https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx">https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx</a>. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#d1979483929ebfbdb8bfb482a4a1a1bea3a591b7b4a3b2ffb6bea7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2c6a697e6f6342404542497f595c5c435e586c4a495e4f024b435a">[email protected]</span></a>, (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper copy.
Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to:
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via
any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville,
MD 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and docket
number on the first page: Highgate Falls Hydroelectric Project (P-2547-
095).
m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
n. Project Description: The existing project consists of: (1) A dam
about 670 feet long comprised of: (i) A 235-foot-long earth-filled
embankment on the west bank; (ii) a 174-foot-long concrete intake
structure; (iii) a 226-foot-long ogee-shaped concrete spillway section
with a 15-foot-high pneumatic crest gate and a maximum crest elevation
of 190.0 foot National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29) when
fully inflated; and (iv) a 35-foot-long concrete abutment on the east
bank; (2) an impoundment with a storage capacity of 3,327 acre-feet at
an elevation of 190.0 feet NGVD29; (3) a 509-foot-long, 10.5-foot-wide,
and 10.5-foot-high concrete conduit connecting to a 243-foot-long, 12-
foot-diameter steel penstock that conveys flow from the intake
structure to the main powerhouse; (4) a surge tank; (5) a concrete and
masonry main powerhouse containing two 1,000-kilowatt (kW), one 2,800-
kW, and one 6,000-kW vertical Francis turbine-generators; (6) a 75-
foot-long, 5-foot-diameter steel penstock conveying flow from the
intake structure to a 710-kW crossflow turbine-generator located within
a secondary concrete powerhouse; (7) an outdoor substation; and (8)
appurtenant facilities. The project creates an approximately 1,100-
foot-long bypassed reach of the Missisquoi River between the dam and
the powerhouse discharge.
The current license requires the project operate as a run-of-river
facility such that outflow approximates inflow between March 31 and
June 1. From June 1 through March 30, the Village operates the project
as a peaking facility by generating electricity during daily peak
demand periods. When peaking, the Village limits the daily impoundment
drawdown to 30 inches or less from the full pond elevation of 190 feet
NGVD29. The current license also requires a minimum flow release of 200
cubic feet per second (cfs) or inflow, whichever is less, to the
Missisquoi River downstream of the powerhouse, including 35 cfs from
the dam to the bypassed reach. The average annual generation of the
project was approximately 39,442 megawatt-hours from 2013 through 2020.
The applicant proposes modify current project operations to: (1)
Operate the project in run-of-river mode from March 31 through June 15,
and during periods when inflow is 400 cfs or less; (2) limit
impoundment drawdowns during peaking operation to 18 to 24 inches,
instead of 30 inches under current operation; (3) refill the
impoundment within 8 hours of each drawdown for peaking operation; (4)
continue to provide a minimum flow of 200 cfs downstream of the
powerhouse, including the following minimum flows to the bypassed
reach: 150 cfs in April and May, 70 cfs in June, and 35 cfs from July
through March; (5) develop a freshwater mussel plan for relocating
mussels when the impoundment is lowered to 186 feet NGVD 29 or less for
prolonged periods of time; (6) develop a plan for protecting horn-
leaved riverweed downstream of the Swanton Dam ledges, which are
located approximately 7 miles downstream of the powerhouse; (7) provide
aesthetic flows of 1 to 3 inches of spill over the dam during certain
holidays; (8) improve an existing parking area to accommodate 5 to 7
cars for recreation users; (9) develop a plan to provide access for
hand-carry water craft to the impoundment and downstream of the
project; and (10) develop an historic properties management plan to
protect historic properties.
The applicant also proposes to: (1) Conduct a post-licensing
evaluation of the feasibility of using the existing downstream Swanton
Dam canal works for upstream fish passage; (2) develop a recreational
maintenance and enhancement plan to guide regular maintenance
activities at recreation facilities; (3) install a warning system to
alert recreation users to increases in flow in the bypassed reach and
downstream of the powerhouse; and (4) install an electric vehicle
charging station for five vehicles using electricity produced by the
hydroelectric plant.
o. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this notice, as well
as other documents in the proceeding (e.g., license application) via
the internet through the Commission's Home Page (<a href="http://www.ferc.gov">http://www.ferc.gov</a>)
using the ``eLibrary'' link. Enter the docket number excluding the last
three digits in the docket number field to access the document (P-
2547). For assistance, contact FERC at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#0a4c4f584945646663646f597f7a7a65787e4a6c6f7869246d657c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="41070413020e2f2d282f24123431312e333501272433226f262e37">[email protected]</span></a> or
call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
You may also register online at <a href="https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx">https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx</a> 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: 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) June 2022
Request Additional Information June 2022
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments September 2022
Request Additional Information (if necessary) October 2022
Issue Acceptance Letter October 2022
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary) November 2022
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis November 2022
q. 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: May 13, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-10780 Filed 5-18-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
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