Notice2023-05543
White Pine Waterpower, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission, Requesting Cooperating Agencies, and Soliciting Additional Study Requests
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Published
March 20, 2023
Issuing agencies
Energy DepartmentFederal Energy Regulatory Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 53 (Monday, March 20, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 53 (Monday, March 20, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16623-16625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05543]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 14851-003]
White Pine Waterpower, 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.: 14851-003.
c. Date Filed: February 27, 2023.
d. Submitted By: rPlus Hydro, LLLP, on behalf of White Pine
Waterpower, LLC (White Pine Waterpower).
e. Name of Project: White Pine Pumped Storage Project.
f. Location: The project would be located approximately 8 miles
northeast of the City of Ely, in White Pine County, Nevada. The project
would occupy 1,095.76 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Bureau
of Land Management.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: Greg Copeland, Program Manager for rPlus
Hydro, LLLP. Address: White Pine Waterpower, LLC c/o rPlus Hydro, LLLP,
201 S Main St., Suite 2100, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111. Phone: (801)
759-2223.
i. FERC Contact: Evan Williams, (202) 502-8462 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#93f6e5f2fdbde4fafffffaf2fee0d3f5f6e1f0bdf4fce5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="026774636c2c756b6e6e6b636f7142646770612c656d74">[email protected]</span></a>.
j. Determination under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation
Act (FAST-41): On February 27, 2023, the project sponsor submitted a
FAST-41 Initiation Notice to the Federal Permitting Improvement
Steering Council for the proposed project. On March 13, 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
Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nevada Division of Environmental
Protection, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Nevada Department of
Conservation and Natural Resources, and Nevada State Historic
Preservation Office as the relevant agencies under (1) above. With this
notice, we invite the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 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
[[Page 16624]]
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: March 27,
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: April 28,
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#bff9faedfcf0d1d3d6d1daeccacfcfd0cdcbffd9dacddc91d8d0c9"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9ddbd8cfded2f3f1f4f3f8cee8ededf2efe9ddfbf8effeb3faf2eb">[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: White Pine Pumped Storage Project (P-
14851-003).
n. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
o. The proposed pumped storage project would involve constructing
the following new facilities: (1) a 5,695-foot-long lined compacted
rock-fill dam that would create a 46.8-acre upper reservoir that would
be lined with an impermeable polyvinylchloride liner to reduce leakage
and would be surrounded by a 10-foot-high wildlife and security fence;
(2) a 6,629-foot-long compacted earth-fill embankment dam that would
create a 62.8-acre lower reservoir that would be lined with an
impermeable liner to reduce leakage and would be surrounded by a 10-
foot-high wildlife and security fence; (3) a water conveyance system
connecting the upper and lower reservoirs that consists of the
following structures: (a) an ungated vertical inlet/outlet bellmouth-
type structure located at the bottom of the upper reservoir with a 65-
foot-deep conical transition to provide flow into a 20-foot-diameter,
2,260-foot-high reinforced concrete-lined vertical headrace shaft; (b)
a 20-foot-diameter, 240-foot-long horizontal steel-lined high-pressure
headrace tunnel; (c) three 11-foot-diameter, 134- to 200-foot-long
steel-lined underground penstocks, each with a turbine main inlet valve
just upstream of each pump-turbine unit; (d) three 13-foot-diameter,
352- to 448-foot-long steel-lined draft tube tunnels of, that
transition to concrete-lined tunnels of unknown length, downstream of
the transformer cavern; (e) a 22-foot-diameter, 7,610-foot-long
concrete-lined tailrace tunnel that terminates at the inlet/outlet
structure; and (f) an approximately 92.5-foot-wide intake/outlet
structure with trashracks, designed as a horizontal fan-shaped
diffusor, that extends more than 100 feet from the tailrace tunnel and
isolates the lower reservoir from the tailrace tunnel by a pair of
10.5-foot by 25-foot stoplogs in slots extending down from the intake/
outlet structure; (4) a 367-foot-long, 83-foot-wide, 191-foot-high
underground powerhouse cavern containing three 333-megawatt Francis
pump-turbines and three generator-motors; (5) a 300-foot-long, 62-foot-
wide, 93-foot-high underground transformer cavern containing three-
phase step-up transformers connected to the powerhouse cavern by three
busbar tunnels of unknown dimensions; (6) three 345-kilovolt
underground circuits connecting from the unit transformers in the
transformer cavern through a 4,950-foot-long, 24-foot-diameter, D-
shaped cable tunnel to the new switchyard; (7) a 400-foot-long by 370-
foot-wide fenced outdoor switchyard where the circuits would be
combined into a single 345-kilovolt transmission line; (8) a 25-mile-
long, 345-kilovolt overhead transmission line that connects to the grid
at the existing NV Energy Robinson Summit substation (the point of
interconnection); (9) a 5,108-foot-long 30-foot-diameter, D-shaped
shotcrete-lined main access tunnel to provide access to the powerhouse
and transformer caverns; (10) six other secondary access tunnels for
accessing the transformer and powerhouse caverns (4 tunnels), the
tailrace, and the headrace; (11) access roads, including: (a) 4,872-
foot-long lower reservoir perimeter road; (c) a 572-foot-long
switchyard access road; (d) a 37,300-foot-long, permanent, dual-lane
paved upper reservoir access road; (e) a 6,200-foot-long upper
reservoir perimeter road; and (f) an unknown number of access roads for
transmission line access; (12) a gated, signed, and signaled railroad
crossing for construction vehicle traffic across the active Nevada
Northern Railway HiLine track; (13) a permanent, approximately
1,005,000-cubic-yard spoil disposal site; (14) an unknown number of
temporary explosives storage facilities of unknown dimensions; and (15)
appurtenant facilities. A new, alternative upper reservoir access road
is being considered that would utilize an approximately 3.5-mile long,
permanent, dual-lane paved roadway that would connect the proposed
upper reservoir location to White Pine County Road 29 (NV-486), through
the Duck Creek Range and across Duck Creek. Additionally, a gated,
signed, and signaled railroad crossing for construction vehicle traffic
across the currently inactive Nevada Northern Railway Mainline track is
also being considered, if the track is reactivated.
The project would also utilize existing portions of unknown lengths
of U.S. highway 93 and an existing unimproved, unpaved vehicle track as
the proposed western access road, and an unknown number of existing
access roads and tracks of unknown length to access the proposed
transmission line and temporary explosives storage facilities.
Additionally, an unknown number of existing power distribution lines
would need to be re-routed and upgraded before construction of the
project to avoid impacts as a result of lower reservoir construction
and to facilitate crossings at the western access road. Further, an
unidentified ridge road of unknown length would need to be rerouted to
bypass construction and permanent facilities. NV Energy would also need
to design and construct a new bay at the Robinson Summit Substation for
the interconnection of the project.
The water used for construction, to initially fill the new lower
reservoir, and to provide make-up water would come from four new
groundwater wells in the Steptoe Valley, located to the south of the
lower reservoir. The initial volume of water necessary to fill the
[[Page 16625]]
lower reservoir is estimated to be 5,000 acre-feet and would be filled
over a 12- to 18-month period. It is estimated that the project would
need approximately 560 acre-feet of water each year to replenish water
lost through seepage, leakage, and evaporation. Once the lower
reservoir is filled, approximately 4,082 acre-feet could be cycled
between the lower reservoir and upper reservoir each day. The project
is designed to generate electricity on demand for up to 8 hours each
day at the maximum generating capacity. The estimated annual generation
is 2,400 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#4b0d0e190804252722252e183e3b3b24393f0b2d2e3928652c243d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="73353621303c1d1f1a1d16200603031c010733151601105d141c05">[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: March 13, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-05543 Filed 3-17-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
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