[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 83 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23780-23781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-11458]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 2487-006]


John M. Skorupski; Notice of Site Visit and Scoping Meetings 
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969

April 24, 1998.
    On March 27, 1998, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) issued a letter accepting the John M. Skorupski's 
application for new license for the Hoosick Falls Hydro Project, 
located on the Hoosick River in Rensselaer County, New York.
    The purpose of this notice is to: (1) advise all parties as to the 
proposed scope of the staff's environmental analysis, including 
cumulative effects, and to seek additional information pertinent to 
this analysis; and (2) advise all parties of their opportunity for 
comment.

Scoping Process

    The Commission's scoping objectives are to:
    <bullet> Identify significant environmental issues;
    <bullet> Determine the depth of analysis appropriate to each issue;
    <bullet> Identify the resource issues not requiring detailed 
analysis; and
    <bullet> Identify reasonable project alternatives.
    The purpose of the scoping process is to identify significant 
issues related to the proposed action and to determine what issues 
should be addressed in the environmental document to be prepared 
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). The 
document entitled ``Scoping Document'' (SD) will be circulated shortly 
to enable appropriate federal, state, and local resource agencies, 
developers, Indian tribes, nongovernmental organizations (NGO's), and 
other interested parties to effectively participate in and contribute 
to the scoping process. SD provides a brief description of the proposed 
action, project alternatives, the geographic and temporal scope of a 
cumulative effects analysis, and a list of preliminary issues 
identified by staff.

Project Site Visit

    The applicant and the Commission staff will conduct a site visit of 
the Hoosick Falls Hydro Project on May 19, 1998, at 1:00 p.m. They will 
meet at the project powerhouse, located off Rt. 22, north of Hoosick 
Falls. All interested individuals, NGO's and agencies are invited to 
attend. All participants are responsible for their own transportation. 
For more details, interested parties should contact Mr. Douglas Clark, 
the applicant contact, at (518) 794-8613, prior to the site visit date.

Scoping Meetings

    The Commission staff will hold scoping meetings on May 18 and 19, 
1998, in preparation for completing an Environmental Assessment (EA), 
under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for relicensing the 
Hoosick Falls Project.
    Commission staff will hold the scoping meetings in the vicinity of 
the Hoosick Falls Project: one evening meeting and one morning meeting. 
The evening will focus on receiving input from the public, whereas the 
afternoon meeting will focus on resource agency concerns. We invite all 
interested agencies, NGOs, and individuals to attend one or both of the 
meetings, and to assist staff in identifying the scope of environmental 
issues that should be analyzed in the EA. The times and locations of 
these meetings are shown below.

Evening Scoping Meeting

    Date: May 18, 1998.
    Time: 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.
    Place: Hoosick Falls Town Hall, 80 Church St., Hoosick Falls, NY 
12090, (518) 686-4571.

Morning Scoping Meeting

    Date: May 19, 1998.
    Time: 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.
    Place: Hoosick Falls Town Hall, 80 Church St., Hoosick Falls, NY 
12090, (518) 686-4571.
    To help focus discussions, we will distribute a Scoping Document 
(SD) outlining the areas to be addressed at the meetings to the parties 
on the Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD also will be 
available at the scoping meetings.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EA; (2) 
solicit from the meeting participants all available information, 
especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; (3) encourage 
statements on environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA, 
including opinions in favor of, or in opposition to, the staff's 
preliminary list of issues; (4) determine the depth of analysis for 
issues addressed in the EA; and (5) identify resource issues that will 
not require detailed analysis in the EA.
    The scoping meetings will be recorded by a court reporter, and all 
statements (oral and written) will become part of the Commission's 
public record for the project. Before each meeting starts, all 
individuals who attend, especially those individuals that intend to 
make statements during the meeting, will be asked to sign in and 
clearly identify themselves for the record prior to speaking. Time 
allotted for presentations will be determined by staff based on the 
length of the meetings and the number of people wanting to speak. All 
individuals wishing to speak will be provided at least five minutes to 
present their views.
    Interested parties who choose not to speak, or are unable to attend 
the scoping meetings, may provide written comments and information to 
the Commission until June 1, 1998. Written comments and information 
should be submitted to the Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426.
    The first page of all filings should indicate ``Hoosick Falls 
Project, FERC No. 2487-006'' at the top of the page. All filings sent 
to the Secretary of the Commission should contain an original and eight 
copies. Failure to file an original and eight copies may result in 
appropriate staff not receiving the benefit of your comments in a 
timely manner. Furthermore, participants in this proceeding are 
reminded that if they file comments with the Commission, they must 
serve a copy of

[[Page 23781]]

their filing to the parties on the Commission's service list.
    For further information, please contact John Costello at (202) 219-
2914.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-11458 Filed 4-29-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M