Document ID: FERC-2022-1615-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Application: Briar Hydro Associates
Posted Date: 2022-12-20T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 243 (Tuesday, December 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77827-77828]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27587]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3240-040]

Briar Hydro Associates; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing 
With the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and 
Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a 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.: 3240-040.
    c. Date Filed: November 30, 2022.
    d. Applicant: Briar Hydro Associates.
    e. Name of Project: Rolfe Canal Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Contoocook River, in the City of Concord, 
Merrimack County New Hampshire. No federal lands are located within the 
project boundary.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r)
    h. Applicant Contact: Andrew J. Locke, Essex Hydro Associates, LLC, 
55 Union Street, Boston, MA 02108; (617) 357-0032, email_
[email protected]
    i. FERC Contact: Jeanne Edwards at (202) 502-6181; or 
[email protected].
    j. Cooperating agencies: Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies 
with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to 
environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the 
environmental

[[Page 77828]]

document should follow the instructions for filing such requests 
described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note the 
Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation of 
the environmental document cannot also intervene. See, 94 FERC ] 61,076 
(2001).
    k. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's 
regulations, if any resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person believes 
that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to 
form an adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the 
application on its merit, the resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person 
must file a request for a study with the Commission not later than 60 
days from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of 
the request on the applicant.
    l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for 
cooperating agency status: January 29, 2023.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status 
using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support 
at [email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 
502-8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper 
copy. Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed 
to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent 
via any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, 
Rockville, Maryland 20852. All filings must clearly identify the 
project name and docket number on the first page: Rolfe Canal Project 
(P-3240-040).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The Rolfe Canal Project diverts water from the York Dam into the 
Rolfe Canal and consists of the following existing facilities: (1) York 
impoundment with a surface area of 50-acres, at elevation of 342.5 feet 
National Geodetic Vertical Datum 1929 (NGVD29); (2) a 300-foot-long, 
10-foot-high diversion dam (York Dam); (3) a 50-foot-wide concrete 
gated intake structure; (4) a 7,000-foot-long, 75-foot-wide, and 9-
foot-deep power canal; (5) an additional impoundment (created by York 
Dam at the end of the power canal) with surface area of 3-acres, at 
elevation of 342.5 feet NGVD29, and a negligible storage capacity; (6) 
a 130-foot-long, 17-foot-high granite block intake dam; (7) a 950-foot-
long underground penstock; (8) a 32-foot-wide by 90-foot-long, concrete 
powerhouse containing one Kaplan turbine-generating unit with a 
capacity of 4.285 megawatts; (9) a 1,200-foot-long tailrace; (10) 
transmission facilities consisting of a three-phase 4.16/34.5- kilovolt 
(kV) transformer; and a 34.5-kV, 650-foot-long transmission line; and 
(11) other appurtenances. The project has a 4,000-foot-long bypassed 
reach.
    The project operates in a run-of-river mode with a minimum flow of 
338 cubic feet per second (cfs), or inflow, whichever is less, into the 
York impoundment, a minimum flow of 50 cfs into the York bypass, and a 
minimum flow of 5 cfs into a historic channel that bypasses the 
penstock. The project had an average annual generation of 19,585,884 
kilowatt-hours between 2014 and 2018. Briar Hydro proposes to increase 
the minimum flow into the York bypass to 100 cfs.
    o. Copies of the application may be viewed on the Commission's 
website 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 (P-3240). For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support at [email protected] or call toll-free, (866) 
208-3676 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
    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.
    p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will 
be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions 
to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary) February 2023
Request Additional Information (if necessary) March 2023
Issue Acceptance Letter May 2023
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments May 2023
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary) August 2023
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis August 2023

    q. 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: December 14, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-27587 Filed 12-19-22; 8:45 am]
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