[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 104 (Tuesday, May 30, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34464-34465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-13410]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments

May 24, 2000.
    Take notice that the Commission intends to hold scoping meetings 
for the following hydroelectric application which has been filed with 
the Commission:
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 2589-024.
    c. Date filed: July 29, 1999.
    d. Applicant: Marquette Board of Light and Power.
    e. Name of Project: Marquette Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Dead River, near the City of Marquette, 
Marquette County, Michigan. The project would not utilize federal 
lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 USC 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. David E. Hickey, Marquette Board of Light 
and Power, 2200 Wright Street, Marquette, MI 49855, (906) 228-0322.
    i. FERC Contact: Lee Emery, (202) 219-2779.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: July 6, 2000.
    All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: 
David P. Boergers, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all 
intervenors filing documents with the Commission to serve a copy of 
that document on each person whose name appears on the official service 
list for the project. Further, if an intervenor files comments or 
documents with the Commission relating to the merits of an issue that 
may affect the responsibilities of a particular resource agency, they 
must also serve a copy of the document on that resource agency.
    k. Status of environmental analysis: This application is not ready 
for environmental analysis at this time.
    l. Description of Project: The Marquette Project consists of two 
separate developments: the No. 2 (Forestville) development and the No. 
3 (Tourist Park) development. The No. 2 development, which is 
immediately downstream of the Dead River Project's McClure facility, 
consists of the following existing facilities: (1) a 202-foot-long, 62-
foot-high concrete-capped Cyclopean masonry dam comprising: (a) a 197-
foot-long concrete retaining wall, (b) a 75-foot-long training wall, 
and (c) a 33-foot-wide intake for the penstock. The masonry dam, which 
functions as an uncontrolled spillway during extremely high flows, has 
a spillway crest elevation of 771.0 feet NGVD. It is founded on, and 
anchored to, the bedrock; (2) one 90-inch-diameter, wood-stave penstock 
that is approximately 4,200 feet long and conveys water from the intake 
structure to a concrete surge tank; (3) two 440-foot-long, 78-inch-
diameter steel penstocks that convey water from the surge tank to 
Powerhouse No. 2; (4) Powerhouse No. 2, a 40-foot by 96-foot reinforced 
concrete and brick structure that contains two turbines, with a 
combined capacity of 3.2 MW; (5) a 110-acre reservoir; and (6) 
appurtenant facilities.
    The No. 3 development consists of the following existing 
facilities: (1) a dam that includes (looking from left to right 
downstream): (a) a 37-foot-long spillway left dike that has a crest 
elevation of 642.82 feet and a reinforced concrete core wall with a top 
elevation of 641.84; (b) a concrete ogee uncontrolled spillway that is 
80 feet long and has a crest elevation of 638.84 feet (its maximum 
height is 21 feet above the streambed); (c) a spillway section that 
contains two 10-foot-high by 10-foot-wide Taintor gates (rollway crest 
beneath gates is at elevation 629.84) and electric hoists; (d) a 758-
foot-long spillway right dike that has a crest elevation of 642.84 feet 
and a reinforced concrete wall (crest width 13.5 feet); and (e) a 
reinforced concrete intake structure that has a single 20-foot-wide by 
17-foot-high bay, inclined trash racks, and a horizontally hinged gate 
with a dedicated electric hoist; (2) one 8-foot-diameter, 150-foot-long 
steel penstock that is supported on 9 reinforced-concrete pedestals and 
conveys water from the intake to the No. 3 Powerhouse; (3) Powerhouse 
No. 3, a 28-foot by 40-foot reinforced-concrete and brick structure 
containing one 700 kW vertical generating unit; (4) a 100-acre 
reservoir; and (5) appurtenant facilities.
    m. Locations of the application: A copy of the application is 
available for inspection and reproduction at the Commission's Public 
Reference Room, located at 888 First Street, NE, Room 2A, Washington, 
DC 20426, or by calling (202) 208-1371. The application may be viewed 
on the web at http://www.ferc.fed.us/online/rims.htm (call 202-208-2222 
for assistance). A copy is also available for inspection and 
reproduction at the address in item h above.
    n. Scoping Process
    The Commission staff held public scoping meetings for the Dead 
River Project (P-10855), located upstream of the Marquette Project, on 
October 29 and 30, 1996. Based on the stuff's preliminary analysis of 
the issues, the staff is proposing to prepare a Multiple Project 
Environmental Assessment (MPEA) for the Marquette Project and the Dead 
River Project. The staff believes that combining both the projects into 
one environmental document would provide the best approach for 
analyzing potential cumulative environmental effects associated with 
both projects located relatively close to one another on the Dead 
River.

Scoping Meetings

    The Commission will hold scoping meetings, one in the daytime and 
one in the evening, to identify the scope of issues to be addressed in 
the MPEA.

[[Page 34465]]

    The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency concerns, 
while the evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input. All 
interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to 
attend one or both of the meetings, and to assist the staff in 
identifying the scope of the environmental issues that should be 
analyzed in the MPEA. The times and locations of these meetings are as 
follows:

Daytime Meeting
    Date: June 6, 2000
    Time: 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
    Place: Cadillac/Brule Room
    Don H. Bottum University Center
    Northern Michigan University
    540 West K Avenue
    Marquette, MI 24855
Evening Meeting
    Date: June 6, 2000
    Time: 7 p.m.-10 p.m.
    Place: Brule Room
    Don H. Bottom University Center
    Northern Michigan University
    540 West K Avenue
    Marquette, MI 24855
    To help focus discussions, we will distribute a Scoping Document 
(SDI) outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the MPEA to the 
parties on the Commission's distribution list. Copies of the SDI also 
will be available at the scoping meetings.

Site Visit

    The applicant and Commission staff will conduct a project site 
visit on Tuesday, June 6, 2000 starting at 1:30 p.m. We will meet in 
the Board Room of Marquette Board of Light and Power, located at 2200 
Wright Street in Marquettte, MI. Those who wish to attend the site 
visit should contact Lee Emery of FERC at (202) 219-2779 or Mike 
Headrick of Harza Engineering Company at (312) 831-3038 on or before 
June 1, 2000.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the MPEA; 
(2) solicit from the meeting participants all available information, 
especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage 
statements from experts and the public on issues that should be 
analyzed in the MPEA, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the MPEA; and (5) identify those issues that 
require a detail analysis, as well as those issues that do not require 
a detailed analysis.
    The meetings will be recorded by a stenographer and will become 
part of the formal record of the Commission's proceeding on the 
project. Individuals presenting statements at the meetings will be 
asked to sign in before the meeting starts and to identify themselves 
clearly for the record.
    Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental 
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to 
assist the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed 
in this MPEA.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 00-13410 Filed 5-26-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M