1258 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 7 / Wednesday, January 10, 2018 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 14850–000] 

Covington Mountain Hydro, LLC.; 

Notice of Preliminary Permit 

Application Accepted for Filing and 

Soliciting Comments, Motions To 

Intervene, and Competing Applications 

On July 3, 2017, the Covington 

Mountain Hydro, LLC, filed an 

application for a preliminary permit, 

pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal 

Power Act (FPA), proposing to study the 

feasibility of the Bison Peak Pumped 

Storage Project (Bison Peak Project or 

project) to be located in the Tehachapi 

Mountains south of Tehachapi, Kern 

County, California. The sole purpose of 

a preliminary permit, if issued, is to 

grant the permit holder priority to file 

a license application during the permit 

term. A preliminary permit does not 

authorize the permit holder to perform 

any land-disturbing activities or 

otherwise enter upon lands or waters 

owned by others without the owners’ 

express permission. 

The proposed project would be a 

closed-loop pumped storage project 

with an upper reservoir and the 

applicant has proposed three 

alternatives for the placement of a lower 

reservoir, termed South, Law, and 

Horsethief. Water for the initial fill of 

either of the alternatives would be 

obtained from local water agency 

infrastructure via a route that would be 

identified during studies. 

A 35-foot ring dam and a perimeter of 

4,900 feet would form the project’s 

upper reservoir. The upper reservoir 

would have a total storage capacity of 

1,300 acre-feet and a surface area of 20 

acres at an elevation of 7,890 feet mean 

sea level (msl). The upper reservoir 

would be connected to one of the three 

proposed lower reservoir alternatives as 

described below. 

The South lower reservoir alternative 

would consist of the following: (1) The 

upper reservoir; (2) a 19-acre lower 

reservoir at 4,920 feet msl created by a 

dam with a crest height of 160 feet, crest 

length of 610 feet, and a storage capacity 

of 1,300 acre-feet; (3) a 9.1-foot 

diameter, 9,700-foot-long penstock from 

the upper reservoir that bifurcates 

creating an additional 6.5-foot diameter, 

700-foot-long penstock; (4) an 

underground powerhouse with three 

120-megawatt (MW) reversible pumpturbines and a surface powerhouse with 

a single 120-MW Pelton turbine; (5) an 

intake/tailrace facility; and (6) 

appurtenant facilities. The estimated 

annual generation of the South lower 

reservoir alternative would be about 

1,051 gigawatt-hours. 

The Law lower reservoir alternative 

would consist of the following: (1) The 

upper reservoir; (2) a 19-acre lower 

reservoir at 5,370 feet msl created by a 

dam with a crest height of 145 feet, crest 

length of 750 feet, and a storage capacity 

of 1,300 acre-feet; (3) a 9.5-foot 

diameter, 9,900-foot-long penstock from 

the upper reservoir that bifurcates 

creating an additional 6.7-foot diameter, 

1,300-foot-long penstock; (4) an 

underground powerhouse with three 

110-MW reversible pump-turbines and a 

surface powerhouse with a single 110- 

MW Pelton turbine; (5) an intake/ 

tailrace facility; and (6) appurtenant 

facilities. The estimated annual 

generation of the Law lower reservoir 

alternative would be about 963 gigawatthours. 

The Horsethief lower reservoir 

alternative would consist of the 

following: (1) The upper reservoir; (2) a 

18-acre lower reservoir at 5,940 feet msl 

created by a dam with a crest height of 

150 feet, crest length of 750 feet, and a 

storage capacity of 1,300 acre-feet; (3) a 

9.5-foot-diameter, 9,000-foot-long 

penstock from the upper reservoir; (4) a 

mostly underground powerhouse with 

two 180-MW reversible pump-turbines; 

(5) an intake/tailrace facility; and (6) 

appurtenant facilities. The estimated 

annual generation of the Horsethief 

lower reservoir alternative would be 

about 788.4 gigawatt-hours. 

All alternatives would include a 220- 

kilovolt transmission line with a length 

of 10 to 12 miles. 

Applicant Contact: Matthew Shapiro, 

Covington Mountain Hydro, LLC., 1210 

West Franklin St., #2, Boise, ID 83702; 

phone: (208) 246–9925. 

FERC Contact: Jim Fargo; phone: (202) 

502–6095. 

Deadline for filing comments, motions 

to intervene, competing applications 

(without notices of intent), or notices of 

intent to file competing applications: 60 

days from the issuance of this notice. 

Competing applications and notices of 

intent must meet the requirements of 18 

CFR 4.36. 

The Commission strongly encourages 

electronic filing. Please file comments, 

motions to intervene, notices of intent, 

and competing applications using the 

Commission’s eFiling system at http://

www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. 

Commenters can submit brief comments 

up to 6,000 characters, without prior 

registration, using the eComment system 

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

ecomment.asp. You must include your 

name and contact information at the end 

of your comments. For assistance, 

please contact FERC Online Support at 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, (866) 

208–3676 (toll free), or (202) 502–8659 

(TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, please 

send a paper copy to: Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 888 First Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20426. The first page of 

any filing should include docket 

number P–14850–000. 

More information about this project, 

including a copy of the application, can 

be viewed or printed on the eLibrary 

link of Commission’s website at http:// 

www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp. 

Enter the docket number (P–14850) in 

the docket number field to access the 

document. For assistance, contact FERC 

Online Support. 

Dated: January 4, 2018. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00282 Filed 1–9–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9972–88–ORD] 

Environmental Laboratory Advisory 

Board Meeting Dates and Agenda 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice of teleconference and 

face-to-face meetings. 

The Environmental Protection 

Agency’s (EPA) Environmental 

Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB) 

holds teleconference meetings the third 

Wednesday of each month at 1:00 p.m. 

ET and two face-to-face meetings each 

calendar year. For 2018, teleconference 

only meetings will be February 21; 

March 21; April 18; May 16; June 20; 

July 18; September 19; October 17; 

November 21; and December 19 to 

discuss the ideas and views presented at 

the previous ELAB meetings, as well as 

new business. Items to be discussed by 

ELAB over these coming meetings 

include: (1) Issues in continuing the 

expansion of national environmental 


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