Notice2023-02643
Black Canyon Hydro, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission, Requesting Cooperating Agencies, and Soliciting Additional Study Requests
Primary source
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Published
February 8, 2023
Issuing agencies
Energy DepartmentFederal Energy Regulatory Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 26 (Wednesday, February 8, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 26 (Wednesday, February 8, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8278-8279]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02643]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 14787-004]
Black Canyon Hydro, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for
Filing With the Commission, Requesting Cooperating Agencies, and
Soliciting Additional Study Requests
Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
a. Type of Filing: Original major license.
b. Project No.: 14787-004.
c. Date Filed: January 18, 2023.
d. Submitted By: rPlus Hydro, LLLP, on behalf of Black Canyon
Hydro, LLC (Black Canyon Hydro).
e. Name of Project: Seminoe Pumped Storage Project.
f. Location: The project would be located at the Bureau of
Reclamation's Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River in Carbon
County, Wyoming, approximately 35 miles northeast of Rawlings, Wyoming.
The project would occupy 820.62 acres of land managed by the Bureau of
Land Management and 52.89 acres managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C.791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: Lars Dorr, Program Manager for rPlus Hydro,
LLLP, Address: Black Canyon Hydro, LLC c/o rPlus Hydro, LLLP, 201 S
Main St., Suite 2100, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111. Phone: (801) 456-
1575; (858) 925-3743.
i. FERC Contact: Michael Tust at (202) 502-6522; or email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#274a4e444f46424b0953525453674142554409404851"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d0bdb9b3b8b1b5bcfea4a5a3a490b6b5a2b3feb7bfa6">[email protected]</span></a>.
j. Determination under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation
Act (FAST-41): On January 19, 2023, the project sponsor submitted a
FAST-41 Initiation Notice to the Federal Permitting Improvement
Steering Council for the proposed project. On February 2, 2023,
Commission staff determined that the proposed project qualifies as a
covered project under FAST-41, as is defined in 42 U.S.C. 4370m(6).
k. Cooperating agencies: Under 42 U.S.C. 4370m-2(a)(2)(A), as the
lead agency, the Commission is required to: (1) identify all federal
and non-federal agencies and governmental entities likely to have
financing, environmental review, authorization, or other
responsibilities with respect to the project; and (2) invite all
federal agencies under (1) to become a cooperating or participating
agency, as appropriate. Commission staff have identified the Bureau of
Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Western Area Power Administration,
Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Wyoming Game & Fish
Department, and Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office as the
relevant agencies under (1) above. With this notice, we invite the
Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Western Area Power
Administration to be cooperating agencies under (2) above. Under 42
U.S.C. 4370m-2(a)(3)(A), each invited federal agency above will be
designated as a cooperating agency unless the agency responds in
writing to the Commission and the Executive Director of the Federal
Permitting Improvement Steering Council within 14 days of this notice
stating that the agency: (1) has no jurisdiction or authority with
respect to the proposed project; or (2) does not intend to exercise
authority related to, or submit comments on, the proposed project.
The federal agencies invited to cooperate above and any other
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 filing instructions described in item m 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).
l. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's
regulations, if any resource agency, Native-American 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, Native-American 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.
m. Deadline under 42 U.S.C. 4370m-2(a)(2)(B) for responses from the
specific federal agencies invited to cooperate in item k: February 16,
2023.
Deadline for filing additional study requests and deadline for
agencies, other than the specific federal agencies invited to cooperate
in item k, to file requests for cooperating agency status: March 19,
2023.
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#a4e2e1f6e7ebcac8cdcac1f7d1d4d4cbd6d0e4c2c1d6c78ac3cbd2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="185e5d4a5b57767471767d4b6d6868776a6c587e7d6a7b367f776e">[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,
Maryland 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and
docket number on the first page: Seminoe Pumped Storage Project (P-
14787-004).
n. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
o. The proposed pumped storage project would use the Bureau of
Reclamation's Seminoe Reservoir as its lower reservoir and the
following existing facilities: an approximately 3.35-mile-long
maintenance road for accessing the upper reservoir site and an
approximately 0.5-mile-long maintenance road adjacent to the eastern
shoreline of Seminoe Reservoir that would be used for accessing
facilities connected to Seminoe Reservoir. Both of these roads are
[[Page 8279]]
currently used to maintain Western Area Power Administration
transmission lines and would be modified to accommodate larger
construction vehicles. The project would also involve constructing the
following new facilities: (1) a 8,498-foot-long roller-compacted
concrete water-retaining structure that would create a 114-acre upper
reservoir which would be lined to reduce leakage and would be
surrounded by a 10-foot-high chain and rail security fence; (2) a 200-
foot-long concrete ogee emergency spillway incorporated into the upper
reservoir capable of directing emergency spill flows down a stepped
spillway into a stilling basin and then down a natural gulley and into
the Bureau of Reclamation's Kortes Reservoir; (3) a water conveyance
tunnel system connecting the new upper reservoir with Seminoe Reservoir
that consists of the following structures: (a) a 2,756-foot-long D-
shaped concrete-lined belowground headrace tunnel; (b) a 615-foot-long
steel aboveground conduit section across a gully that is supported by
concrete piers; (c) a 30-foot-diameter, 1,225-foot-long concrete-lined
belowground vertical shaft; (d) a 30-foot-diameter, 123-foot-long
concrete-lined belowground high pressure tunnel connected to a manifold
and three separate 17-foot-diameter concrete and steel-lined
belowground penstocks with lengths of 330 feet, 247 feet, and 165 feet;
(e) three concrete and steel-lined 17.5-foot-diameter belowground draft
tube extensions with lengths of 140 feet, 103 feet, and 85 feet
connected to a manifold; (f) a 36-foot-diameter, 232-foot-long
belowground surge chamber; and (g) a 31-foot-diameter, 4,070-foot-long
belowground tailrace tunnel; (4) a 460-foot-long, 80-foot-wide, 142-
foot-high belowground powerhouse containing three 324-megawatt Francis
pump-turbines and three generator-motors; (5) three busbar galleries
approximately 170-feet-long leading to a 413-foot-long, 71-foot-wide,
113-foot-high belowground transformer cavern containing three-phase
step-up transformers and a switchgear switchyard; (6) two 500-kilovolt
circuits connecting from the switchgear through a 765-foot-long
belowground tunnel to a vertical cable shaft that emerges aboveground;
(7) two separate 30-mile-long, 500-kilovolt overhead transmission lines
that connect to the grid at the existing Aeolus substation; (8) a new
40-foot-wide bridge crossing over the Seminoe Dam tailrace on the North
Platte River that connects Morgan Creek Road on the left side of the
river to a main access tunnel portal on the right side of the river to
provide access to the powerhouse; (9) two other secondary tunnels for
accessing the lower reservoir intake and surge shaft; and (10)
appurtenant facilities. Additionally, two existing Western Area Power
Administration transmission lines that currently cross the new upper
reservoir site would be relocated.
The water used to initially fill the new upper reservoir and
provide make-up water would come from Seminoe Reservoir. The initial
volume of water necessary to fill the upper reservoir is estimated to
be 13,300 acre-feet and would be filled over a two- to four-week
period. It is estimated that the project would need approximately 272
acre-feet of water each year to replenish water lost through
evaporation and seepage. Once the upper reservoir is filled,
approximately 10,800 acre-feet could be cycled between the upper
reservoir and Seminoe Reservoir each day. The project is designed to
generate electricity on demand for up to 9.7 hours each day at the
maximum generating capacity. The estimated annual generation is 2,916
gigawatt-hours per year.
p. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an
opportunity to view and/or print the contents 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. For assistance, contact
FERC at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#296f6c7b6a66474540474c7a5c5959465b5d694f4c5b4a074e465f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="31777463727e5f5d585f54624441415e434571575443521f565e47">[email protected]</span></a> or call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or
TYY, (202) 502-8659.
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.
q. Procedural schedule: Consistent with the requirements in FAST-
41, a procedural schedule for processing the license application will
be developed in consultation with the relevant agencies and
subsequently posted to the docket.
r. 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: February 2, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-02643 Filed 2-7-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
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