Notice2025-08364

Santa Clara Valley Water District; Notice of Revised Procedural Schedule for Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Surrender of Exemption

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Published
May 13, 2025

Issuing agencies

Energy DepartmentFederal Energy Regulatory Commission

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 91 (Tuesday, May 13, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 91 (Tuesday, May 13, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Page 20297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-08364]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 5737-032]


Santa Clara Valley Water District; Notice of Revised Procedural 
Schedule for Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Surrender 
of Exemption

    On February 20, 2024, and supplemented on May 20, May 28, July 2, 
July 3, 2024, and February 7 and March 7, 2025, Santa Clara Valley 
Water District (Valley Water) filed an application with the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) to retrofit the 
Anderson Dam and to surrender the exemption for the Anderson Dam 
Project No. 5737 (Project) \1\ located on Coyote Creek, in Santa Clara 
County, California. The surrender of the exemption and the retrofit of 
the dam are collectively referred to as the Project.
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    \1\ Santa Clara Valley Irrigation District, 28 FERC ] 62,276 
(1984).
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    On October 17, 2024, Commission staff issued a notice of intent to 
prepare a draft and final EIS to evaluate the effects of the retrofit 
and environmental impacts that could result whenever it considers the 
issuance of a surrender order.\2\ The notice included Commission 
staff's planned schedule for completion of the final EIS for the 
Project, which is based on an issuance of the draft EIS in May 2025, 
opening a 45-day public comment period.
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    \2\ For tracking purposes under the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA), the unique identification number for documents 
relating to this environmental review is EISX-019-20-000-1727256582.
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    On January 14, 2024, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 
filed a letter requesting a 90-day extension of time (from January 23, 
2025 to April 23, 2025) to complete formal consultation under the 
Endangered Species Act (ESA) and consultation on essential fish habitat 
(EFH) under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 
Act for the Project. On January 22, 2025, Valley Water agreed to the 
requested extension of time. In a February 4, 2025 letter, the 
Commission granted the extension of time request to file the biological 
opinion by April 23, 2025. On February 7, 2025, the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, the cooperating agency for the purposes of complying with 
NEPA, recommended that the extension should be granted. On April 25, 
2025 NMFS again requested an extension of time and again Valley Water 
agreed to the requested extension of time. In an April 29, 2025 letter, 
the Commission granted the extension of time request to file the 
biological opinion by May 30, 2025. In order to ensure a complete 
analysis of Project impacts from the biological opinion, the Commission 
is duly modifying the schedule to complete the draft and final EIS and 
surrender order.
    The revised schedule is shown below:

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                 Milestone                           Target date
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Issue Draft EIS...........................  September 12, 2025.
Issue Final EIS...........................  February 6, 2026.
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    This notice identifies the Commission's anticipated schedule for 
issuance of the final order for the Project, which serves as the 
Commission's record of decision. We currently anticipate issuing a 
final order for the Project no later than:

Issuance of the Surrender Order May 21, 2026

    If a schedule change becomes necessary, an additional notice will 
be provided so that the relevant agencies are kept informed of the 
Project's progress. After the final EIS is issued, the Commission will 
make a decision on the proposal.
    Any questions regarding this notice may be directed to Holly Frank 
at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#157d7a79796c3b7367747b7e55737067763b727a63"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1a7275767663347c687b74715a7c7f6879347d756c">[email&#160;protected]</span></a> or (202) 502-6833 or David Rudisail at 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#076366716e63297572636e74666e6b476162756429606871"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="dcb8bdaab5b8f2aea9b8b5afbdb5b09cbab9aebff2bbb3aa">[email&#160;protected]</span></a> or (202) 502-6376.

    Dated: May 7, 2025.
Carlos D. Clay,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2025-08364 Filed 5-12-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


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