[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 179 (Monday, September 18, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 63949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20113]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2333-094]


Rumford Falls Hydro LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment

    On September 29, 2022, Rumford Falls Hydro LLC (RFH) filed an 
application for a new major license for the 44.5-megawatt Rumford Falls 
Hydroelectric Project (Rumford Falls Project; FERC No. 2333). The 
application was supplemented on March 30 and June 9, 2023. The Rumford 
Falls Project is located on the Androscoggin River in the Town of 
Rumford, Oxford County, Maine. No Federal or Tribal lands occur within 
or adjacent to the project boundary.
    In accordance with the Commission's regulations, on June 26, 2023, 
Commission staff issued a notice that the project was ready for 
environmental analysis (REA Notice). Based on the information in the 
record, including comments filed on the REA Notice, staff does not 
anticipate that licensing the project would constitute a major Federal 
action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. 
Therefore, staff intends to prepare a draft and final Environmental 
Assessment (EA) on the application to relicense the Rumford Falls 
Project.
    The EA will be issued and circulated for review by all interested 
parties. All comments filed on the EA will be analyzed by staff and 
considered in the Commission's final licensing decision.
    The application will be processed according to the following 
schedule. Revisions to the schedule may be made as appropriate.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Milestone                           Target date
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commission issues draft EA................  January 2024.
Comments on draft EA......................  March 2024.
Commission issues final EA................  August 2024.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 The Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ) regulations under 40 CFR
  1501.10(b)(1) require that EAs be completed within 1 year of the
  Federal action agency's decision to prepare an EA. This notice
  establishes the Commission's intent to prepare a draft and final EA
  for the Rumford Falls Project. Therefore, in accordance with CEQ's
  regulations, the final EA must be issued within 1 year of the issuance
  date of this notice.

    Any questions regarding this notice may be directed to Ryan Hansen 
at (202) 502-8074 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#681a110906460009061b0d06280e0d1a0b460f071e"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="85f7fce4ebabede4ebf6e0ebc5e3e0f7e6abe2eaf3">[email protected]</span></a>.

    Dated: September 12, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-20113 Filed 9-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


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