23432 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 82 /Wednesday, April 29, 1998 / Notices

amount of short-term debt instruments,

with maturity dates of not later than

September 30, 2001.

Comment date: May 18, 1998, in

accordance with Standard Paragraph E

at the end of this notice.

Standard Paragraph

E. Any person desiring to be heard or

to protest said filing should file a

motion to intervene or protest with the

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.

20426, in accordance with Rules 211

and 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.211

and 18 CFR 385.214). All such motions

or protests should be filed on or before

the comment date. Protests will be

considered by the Commission in

determining the appropriate action to be

taken, but will not serve to make

protestants parties to the proceeding.

Any person wishing to become a party

must file a motion to intervene. Copies

of these filings are on file with the

Commission and are available for public

inspection.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–11350 Filed 4–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Project No. 2609–013]

Curtis/Palmer Hydroelectric Company

and International Paper Company;

Notice of Application and Applicant

Prepared Environmental Assessment

Accepted for Filing; Requesting

Interventions and Protests;

Establishing Procedural Schedule and

Final Amendment Deadline; and

Requesting Comments, Final Terms

and Conditions, Recommendations

and Prescriptions

April 23, 1998.

Curtis/Palmer Hydroelectric Company

and International Paper Company

(International Paper) have filed with the

Commission an Applicant Prepared

Environmental Assessment and License

Application for the Curtis-Palmer

Project No. 2609, located on the Hudson

River, New York.

The Curtis/Palmer Project consists of

two separate developments with a total

installed capacity of 58.8 MW. The

existing facilities at the Curtis

Development include: (1) a 25 foot-high

by 743 foot-long dam constructed of

concrete; (2) a 714 foot long spillway

section topped by 46 inch-high wooden

flash boards; (3) a 29 foot-long sluice

gate structure housing a gate measuring

11 feet wide by 13 feet high; (4) a 5.9

mile-long impoundment with a surface

area of 390 acres at the normal high

water elevation of 548.8 feet NGVD, and

a storage capacity of 585 acre-feet at a

drawdown of 1.5 feet; (5) a powerhouse

intake structure containing ten gate

openings, each equipped with a sliding

headgate, plus three additional

hydraulically operated gates located 35

feet downstream; (6) a powerhouse

containing five turbine generators, three

with installed capacities of 2.8 MW

each, and two with installed capacities

of 1.2 MW each, with a total hydraulic

capacity of 6,500 cfs; and (7) a

substation connected to a three-mile

long, 13.8 kV transmission line.

International Paper proposes to install

an inflatable rubber flashboard system at

Curtis. Impoundment elevation and

total hydraulic capacity would remain

unchanged.

The existing facilities at the Palmer

Development (located 2,700 feet

downstream of Curtis) include: (1) a 486

foot-long dam with maximum height of

37 feet, comprised of a 346 foot-long

spillway section of two Ambursen type

spillways topped with a 6 foot-high

inflatable rubber dam; (2) a 7 foot by 7

foot steel sluice gate located within a

concrete abutment forming the

transition between the dam spillway

section and the forebay spillway

section; (3) an impoundment extending

2,700 feet upstream to the dam and

powerhouse of the Curtis development,

with a surface area of 28 acres at a

normal pond elevation of 522.9 feet

NGVD; (4) an intake structure

constructed of reinforced concrete

containing 22 foot by 22.5 foot

headgates located adjacent and

perpendicular to the forebay spillway;

(5) two 20 foot diameter by 220 and 260

feet long, concrete encased steel

penstocks extending from the intake

structure to the powerhouse; (6) a

powerhouse containing two generating

units of equal size with installed

capacities of 24 MW each, with a total

hydraulic capacity of 7,500 cfs; and (7)

a substation which transfers power to a

Niagara Mohawk Power Company bus

maintained within.

Purpose of Notice

The purpose of this notice is to: (1)

Inform all interested parties that an

applicant-prepared environmental

assessment (APEA) and final license

application for the Curtis/Palmer Project

has been filed with the Commission on

April 13, 1998, and are available for

public inspection; (2) inform all parties

that the applications and APEA are

hereby accepted; (3) invite interventions

and protests; (4) solicit comments, final

recommendations, terms and

conditions, or prescriptions on the final

license application and APEA; and (5)

identify an approximate schedule and

procedures that will be followed in

processing the application and APEA.

International Paper has used a

Cooperative Team (Team) approach to

prepare the APEA for the Curtis/Palmer

Project. The Team consists of federal,

state, and local agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and the

public. The Team has been meeting

since September 1995 to guide the study

process and prepare the APEA.

The Team has reached substantive

agreement on most resource issues, and

a comprehensive settlement agreement

has been drafted and signed by most

parties of the Team. Two Team

members remain non-signatories to the

Settlement Agreement. Due to a

disagreement on measures to assess and

protect downstream passage of resident

fish, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

and New York Rivers United do not

concur with the encompassing

settlement Agreement, and its

presentation by the Applicant and Team

as the preferred alternative. The

Settlement Agreement is reflected in the

APEA as the preferred alternative.

Applicant Prepared Environmental

Assessment Process and Processing

Schedule

The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EP

Act) gives the Commission the authority

to allow the filing of an APEA with a

license application. The EP Act also

directs the Commission to institute

procedures, including pre-application

consultations, to advise applicants of

studies or other information foreseeably

required by the Commission.

On April 23, 1996, the Director, Office

of Hydropower Licensing, waived or

amended certain of the Commission’s

regulations to allow for coordinated

processing of the license application

and preparation of an APEA. Since then,

the Commission has been working

cooperatively in advising the Team on

studies or other information foreseeably

required by the Commission.

National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA) scoping was conducted on the

project through scoping documents

issued December 7, 1995 and April 19,

1996, and in public scoping meetings on

January 12, 1996 and February 8, 1996.

A draft license application and

preliminary APEA were issued by the

applicant for comment on October 3,

1997. The final license application and

APEA were filed with the Commission

on April 13, 1998. The APEA includes
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 82 /Wednesday, April 29, 1998 / Notices 23433

responses to all comments received on

the preliminary APEA.

Commission staff have reviewed the

APEA and license application and have

determined that the application is

acceptable and no additional

information or studies are needed to

prepare the Commission’s

environmental assessment (EA). The

deadline for the applicant to file any

final amendments to the application is

June 8, 1998. Comments, as indicated

below, are now being requested from

interested parties. Any comments

received will be addressed in a draft EA

issued by Commission by late summer,

1998. There will be a 30-day comment

period on the draft EA. A final EA is

scheduled for the fall of 1998, or earlier.

Interventions and Protests

All intervention and protest filings

must: (1) bear in all capital letters the

title ‘‘MOTION TO INTERVENE’’; (2) set

forth in the heading the name of the

applicant and the project number of the

application to which the filing

responses; (3) furnish the name,

address, and telephone number of the

person intervening or protesting; and (4)

otherwise comply with the requirements

of 18 CFR 385.2001 through 385.2005.

All motions to intervene or protest must

be received June 22, 1998. A copy of any

motion to intervene or protest must be

served on the applicant.

Comments, Final Terms and

Conditions, Recommendations and

Prescriptions

Interested parties have until June 22,

1998, to file with the Commission, any

comments, final terms and conditions,

recommendations and prescriptions for

the Curtis/Palmer Hydroelectric Project.

The applicant will have 45 days

following the notice period to respond.

In view of the high level of early

involvement of the Cooperative Team,

we expect the majority of comments to

reflect the agreement and preferred

alternative in the preliminary APEA.

Copies of the Application and APEA

A copy of the APEA and final license

application is available for review by

contacting Stuart Field, International

Paper, Hudson River Mill, Pine Street,

Corinth, New York 12822, or phone

518–654–3445. Copies of these

documents are also available for review

in the Commission’s Public Reference

Room.

Filing Requirements

Any comments, final terms and

conditions, recommendations and

prescriptions should be filed by

providing an original and 8 copies as

required by the Commission’s

regulations to: Secretary, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 888 First

Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426.

In addition to the above copies,

comments, interventions, final terms

and conditions, recommendations may

also be submitted on a 31⁄2-inch diskette

formatted for Windows-95 based

computers to: Tom Dean, Office of

Hydropower Licensing, Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission, 888 First St.,

NE, Room 61–47, Washington, D.C.

20426. For Macintosh users, it would be

helpful to save the documents in

Macintosh word processor format and

then write them to files on a diskette

formatted for MS–DOS or Windows-95

machines.

Questions regarding this notice may

be directed to Commission staff Tom

Dean at 202–219–2778.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–11314 Filed 4–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

Notice of Extension of Comment

Period for Proceeding Pursuant to

Reserved Authority To Determine

Whether Modification to License Are

Appropriate

April 23, 1998.

Take notice that the following

hydroelectric applications has been

filed with the Commission and is

available for public inspection:

a. Type of Action: Notice of extension

of comment period for proceeding

pursuant to reserved authority to

determine whether modifications to

license are appropriate.

b. Project No: 4718–010.

c. Licensee Issued: December 8, 1982.

d. Licensee: Southern New Hampshire

Hydroelectric Development

Corporation.

e. Name of Project: Cocheco Falls.

f. Location: Cocheco River, Dover,

New Hampshire.

g. Authorization: Article 11 of the

project.

h. Licensee Contact: Mr. John

Webster, Southern New Hampshire

Hydroelectric Development

Corporation, P.O. Box 178, South

Berwick, ME 03908.

i. FERC Contact: Robert Grieve (202)

219–2655.

j. Comment Date: June 11, 1998.

k. Description of Proceeding: The

comment period for the March 9, 1998

notice of the proceeding initiated by the

Commission to determine if reserved

authority under article 11 of the project

license should be used to require

modifications to the project is extended

to June 11, 1998.

1. This notice also consists of the

following standard paragraphs: B, C1,

and D2.

B. Comments, Protests, or Motions to

Intervene—Anyone may submit

comments, a protest, or a motion to

intervene in accordance with the

requirements of Rules of Practice and

Procedure, 18 CFR 385.210, .211, .214.

In determining the appropriate action to

take, the Commission will consider all

protests or other comments filed, but

only those who file a motion to

intervene in accordance with the

Commission’s Rules may become a

party to the proceeding. Any comments,

protests, or motions to intervene must

be received on or before the specified

comment date for the particular

applications.

C1. Filing and Service of Responsive

Documents—Any filings must bear in

all capital letters the title

‘‘COMMENTS’’,

‘‘RECOMMENDATIONS FOR TERMS

AND CONDITIONS’’, ‘‘PROTEST’’, OR

‘‘MOTION TO INTERVENE’’, as

applicable, and the Project Number of

the particular application to the which

the filing refers. Any of the abovenamed documents must be filed by

providing the original and the number

of copies provided by the Commission’s

regulations to: The Secretary, Federal

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888

First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.

20426. A copy of any motion to

intervene must also be served upon each

representative of the Applicant

specified in the particular application.

D2. Agency Comments—Federal,

state, and local agencies are invited to

file comments on the described

application. A copy of the application

may be obtained by agencies directly

from the Applicant. If an agency does

not file comment within the time

specified or filing comments, it will be

presumed to have no comments. One

copy of any agency’s comments must

also be sent to the Applicant’s

representatives.

David P. Boergers,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–11307 Filed 4–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M