[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 130 (Friday, July 5, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35207-35208]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-17072]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Project No. 11437-001-NC]


Hydro Matrix Partnership, Ltd.; Notice Ready for Environmental 
Analysis, Notice Requesting Interventions, Protests, and Comments, and 
Notice of Scoping Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 
1969

June 28, 1996.
    On June 21, 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) issued a letter accepting Hydro Matrix Partnership, Ltd.'s 
application for the Jordan Hydroelectric Project located at the U.S. 
Army, Corps of Engineers Jordan Dam on the Haw River in Chatham County, 
North Carolina.
    The Jordan Hydroelectric Project's principal project features would 
consist of 80 small turbine generator units installed in two modules 
placed in slots on the intake tower. Each generator would have a rated 
capacity of 100 kW for a total rated capacity of 8,000 kW. The project 
would have an average annual generation of 38 GWh. The project site is 
owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
    The purpose of this notice is to: (1) Invite interventions and 
protests; (2) 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 (3) advise 
all parties of their opportunity for comment.
    The application is ready for environmental analysis at this time, 
and the Commission is requesting comments, reply comments, 
recommendations, terms and conditions, and prescriptions.

Interventions, Protests, and Comments

    All filings must: (1) Bear in all capital letters the title 
``PROTEST,'' ``MOTION TO INTERVENE,'' NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE 
COMPETING APPLICATION,'' OR ``COMPETING APPLICATION,'' ``COMMENTS,'' 
``REPLY COMMENTS,'' ``RECOMMENDATIONS,'' ``TERMS AND CONDITIONS,'' OR 
``PRESCRIPTIONS;'' (2) set forth in the heading the name of the 
applicant and the project number of the application to which the filing 
responds; (3) furnish the name, address, and telephone number of the 
person protesting or intervening; and (4) otherwise comply with the 
requirements of 18 CFR 385.2001 through 385.2005. Agencies may obtain 
copies of the application directly from the applicant. Any of these 
documents must be filed by providing the original and the number of 
copies required by the Commission's regulations to: Secretary, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, DC 
20426.
    An additional copy must be sent to: Director, Division of Project 
Review, Office of Hydropower Licensing, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, at the above address. A copy of any protest or motion to 
intervene must be served upon each representative of the applicant 
specified in the particular application.
    All filings for any protest or motion to intervene must be received 
60 days from the issuance date of this notice.
    The Commission directs, pursuant to section 4.34(b) of the 
regulations (see order No. 533 issued May 8, 1991, 56 FR 23108 (May 20, 
1991)), that all comments, recommendations, terms and conditions and 
prescriptions concerning the application be filed with the Commission 
within 60 days from the issuance date of this notice. All reply 
comments must be filed with the Commission within 105 days from the 
date of this notice.
    Anyone may obtain an extension of time for these deadlines from the 
Commission only upon a showing of good cause or extraordinary 
circumstances in accordance with 18 CFR 385.2008.

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 covered in the environmental document pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. The document entitled 
``Scoping document I'' (SDI) will be circulated shortly to enable 
appropriate federal, state, and local resource agencies, developers, 
Indian tribes, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other 
interested parties to effectively participate in and contribute to the 
scoping process. SDI provides a brief description of the proposed 
action, project alternative, and the geographic and temporal scope of a 
cumulative effects analysis, and a list of preliminary issues 
identified by staff.
    The Commission will decide, based on the application, and agency 
and public comments to scoping, whether licensing the Jordan 
Hydroelectric Project constitutes a major federal action significantly 
impacting the quality of the human environment. The Commission staff 
will not hold scoping meetings unless the Commission decides to prepare 
an environmental impact statement, or the response to SDI warrants 
holding such meetings.
    Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental 
expertise and concerns are encouraged to comment on SDI and assist the 
staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed.
    All filings should contain an original and 8 copies. Failure to 
file an original and 8 copies may result in appropriate staff not 
receiving the benefit of your comments in a timely manner. See 18 CFR 
4.34(h). In addition, commentors may submit a copy of their comments on 
a 3\1/2\-inch diskette formatted for MS-DOS based computers. In light 
of our ability to translate MS-DOS based materials, the text need only 
be submitted in the format and version that it was generated (i.e., MS 
Word, WordPerfect 5.1/5.2, ASCII, etc.). It is not necessary to 
reformat word processor generated text to ASCII. For Macintosh users, 
it would be helpful to save the documents in Macintosh word processor 
format then write them to files on a diskette formatted for MS-DOS 
machines. All comments should be submitted to the Office of the 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, 
N.E., Washington, DC 20426, and should show the following captions on 
the first page: Jordan Hydroelectric Project, FERC No. 11437-001.
    Further, interested persons are reminded of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedures, requiring

[[Page 35208]]

parties or interceders (as defined in 18 CFR 385.2010) to file 
documents on each person whose name is on the official service list for 
this proceeding. See CFR 4.34(b).
    The Commission staff will consider all written comments and may 
issue a Scoping Document II (SDII). SDII will include a revised list of 
issues, based on the scoping process.
    For further information regarding the scoping process, please 
contact Ms. Julie Bernt, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office 
of Hydropower Licensing, 888 First Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20426 
at (202) 219-2814.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-17072 Filed 7-3-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M