15746 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 52 / Friday, March 16, 2012 / Notices 

Issued in Washington, DC on March 12, 

2012. 

LaTanya R. Butler, 

Acting Deputy Committee Management 

Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6415 Filed 3–15–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 2179–043] 

Merced Irrigation District; Notice of 

Application Tendered for Filing With 

the Commission and Establishing 

Procedural Schedule for Licensing and 

Deadline for Submission of Final 

Amendments 

Take notice that the following 

hydroelectric application has been filed 

with the Commission and is available 

for public inspection. 

a. Type of Application: New License. 

b. Project No.: 2179–043. 

c. Date Filed: February 27, 2012. 

d. Applicant: Merced Irrigation 

District (MID). 

e. Name of Project: Merced River 

Hydroelectric Project. 

f. Location: The existing project is 

located on the Merced River in Merced 

and Mariposa counties, California. The 

project would occupy 3,152.9 acres of 

federal land managed by the Bureau of 

Land Management. 

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power 

Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)–825(r). 

h. Applicant Contact: Merced 

Irrigation District, P.O. Box 2288, 

Merced, CA 95344; Telephone (209) 

722–5761. 

i. FERC Contact: Matt Buhyoff, (202) 

502–6824 or matt.buhyoff@ferc.gov. 

j. This application is not ready for 

environmental analysis at this time. 

k. The Project Description: 

The project consists of two 

developments: 

New Exchequer Development—(1) 

New Exchequer Dam—a 490 feet-high 

dam with a crest length of 1,220 feet and 

a crest elevation of 879 feet; (2) an ogeetype concrete spillway located about 

one mile north of New Exchequer dam 

in a saddle; (3) an earth and rock dike 

62-feet-high and 1,500-feet-long, located 

in a saddle about 0.75 mile north of 

New Exchequer Dam; (4) Lake 

McClure—a reservoir formed by New 

Exchequer dam with normal maximum 

water surface elevation of 867 feet above 

mean sea level, a gross storage capacity 

of 1,024,600 acre-feet, a surface area of 

7,110 acres, and a shoreline length of 

about 82 miles; (5) a diversion facility 

composed of an intake, tunnel and 

penstock; (6) a 94.5 feet-long, 108-inchdiameter steel pipe from New 

Exchequer power tunnel to Merced 

River north of New Exchequer 

powerhouse; (7) a semi-outdoor, aboveground, concrete powerhouse located at 

the base of New Exchequer dam on the 

south side of Merced River; (8) a 

switchyard located adjacent to New 

Exchequer Powerhouse and; (9) four 

developed recreation facilities (McClure 

Point, Barrett Cove, Horseshoe Bend, 

and Bagby) with 515 camping units, 4 

boat launch facilities, boat rentals, 

showers, 28 comfort stations, 3 

swimming lagoons, 2 marinas, gas and 

oil service stations, 186 water-electrical 

campsite hookups, washers and dryers, 

117 picnic units and fish cleaning 

stations. 

McSwain Development—(1) McSwain 

Dam—located 6.3 River Miles 

downstream from New Exchequer dam, 

McSwain is an 80 feet-high 

embankment structure, with a crest 

length of 1,620 feet and a crest elevation 

of 425 feet; (2) an ungated concrete 

overflow spillway located in a flat ridge 

on the southeast side of McSwain dam. 

The spillway includes two sections: a 

150-feet-long section with a crest 

elevation at 402 feet, and a 475-feet-long 

section with a crest elevation at 400 feet; 

(3) McSwain Reservoir—a 4.8 mile long 

reservoir with a normal maximum water 

surface elevation at 400 feet above mean 

sea level, a gross storage capacity of 

9,730 acre-feet of water, a surface area 

of 310 acres, and a shoreline length of 

about 12.5 miles; (4) a diversion facility 

composed of an intake, conduit and 

penstock; (5) a 160 feet-long, 96-inch 

diameter steel pipe from the McSwain 

power tunnel intake to Merced River 

north of McSwain powerhouse. The 

bypass releases directly into Pacific Gas 

and Electric Company’s (PG&E) Merced 

Falls reservoir (P–2467); (6) an outdoor, 

above-ground, concrete powerhouse 

located at the base of McSwain dam on 

the north side of the Merced River. The 

Powerhouse releases directly into 

PG&E’s Merced Falls reservoir; (7) a 

switchyard located adjacent to McSwain 

powerhouse, and; (8) one developed 

recreation facility with 99 camping 

units, 1 boat launch facility, boat 

rentals, showers, 5 comfort stations, a 

swimming lagoon, marina, gas and oil, 

65 water-electrical campsite hookups, 

washers and dryers, 48 picnic units, a 

concession store, and fish cleaning 

stations. 

The Merced River Project has a 

dependable capacity of 103.5 MW and 

an annual average generation of 

approximately 385 gigawatt-hours. MID 

is not proposing any structural changes 

to the project. However, MID is 

proposing to remove from the project, 

but retain in operation outside the 

license, seven water delivery facilities, 

which function, in part, to deliver water 

to a wildlife refuge. MID is also 

proposing capital improvements to 

recreation areas at 5 existing recreation 

sites, as well as the development of a 

new non-motorized recreation area 

along the west shore of Lake McClure. 

l. Locations of the Application: A 

copy of the application is available for 

review at the Commission in the Public 

Reference Room or may be viewed on 

the Commission’s Web site at http:// 

www.ferc.gov 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 Online 

Support at 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or tollfree at 1–866–208–3676, or for TTY, 

(202) 502–8659. A copy is also available 

for inspection and reproduction at the 

address in item (h) above. 

m. You may also register online at 

http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ 

esubscription.asp to be notified via 

email of new filings and issuances 

related to this or other pending projects. 

For assistance, contact FERC Online 

Support. 

n. Procedural Schedule: The 

application will be processed according 

to the following preliminary Hydro 

Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the 

schedule may be made as appropriate. 

Milestone Target date 

Notice of Acceptance/Notice 

of Ready for Environmental Analysis (when 

FERC approved studies 

are complete).

November 

2013. 

Filing of recommendations, 

preliminary terms and 

conditions, and fishway 

prescriptions.

January 2014. 

Commission issues Draft EA 

or EIS.

July 2014. 

Comments on Draft EA or 

EIS.

August 2014. 

Modified Terms and Conditions.November 

2014. 

Commission Issues Final 

EA or EIS.

February 2015. 

o. 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 12, 2012. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6402 Filed 3–15–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

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