Document ID: FERC-2013-1192-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Environmental Assessments; Availability, etc.: Elk Rapids Hydroelectric Project, Antrim County, MI; Hydroelectric License Application
Posted Date: 2013-09-06T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 173 (Friday, September 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54884-54885]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21667]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3030-019]

Antrim County; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental 
Assessment and Notice of Scoping Meeting and Environmental Site Review 
and Soliciting Scoping Comments

    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: Subsequent license.
    b. Project No.: P-3030-019.
    c. Date filed: December 21, 2012.
    d. Applicant: Antrim County.
    e. Name of Project: Elk Rapids Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Elk River in the village of Elk Rapids in 
Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Kalkaska counties, Michigan. The project 
does not affect federal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)--825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: William Stockhausen, Elk Rapids Hydroelectric 
Power, LLC, 218 West Dunlap Street, Northville, MI 48167; or at (248) 
349-2833.
    i. FERC Contact: Lee Emery at (202) 502-8379 or by email at 
lee.emery@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: October 21, 2013.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
scoping comments 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-
8650(TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, please send a paper copy to: 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426. The first page of any filing should include 
docket number P-3030-019.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all 
interveners filing documents with the Commission to serve a copy of 
that document on each person on the official service list for the 
project. Further, if an intervener files comments or documents with the 
Commission relating to the merits of an issue that may affect the 
responsibilities of a particular resource agency, they must also serve 
a copy of the document on that resource agency.
    k. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The existing Elk Rapids Hydroelectric Project is located on the 
Elk River in Antrim, Grand Traverse, and Kalkaska counties, Michigan. 
The project consists of: (1) two impoundments, the 2,560-acre Skegemog 
Lake and the 7,730-acre Elk Lake; (2) a 121-foot-long, 52-foot-high, 
26-foot-wide existing powerhouse that spans the main channel of the Elk 
River, with an operating head of 10.5 feet, (3) a 24-foot-high, one-
story superstructure; (4) a substructure that includes the

[[Page 54885]]

intakes and turbine pits, which are about 13-foot-high; (5) a 13-foot-
high concrete foundation located below the substructure that 
incorporates the draft tubes; (6) four intake bays, each 22-feet wide 
with sliding head gates at the powerhouse wall; (7) two Francis 
turbines, each with an installed capacity of 350 kilowatts; (8) intake 
trash racks having a 1.75-inch clear bar spacing; (9) a 14-foot wide 
overflow spillway located about 400 feet south of the powerhouse, which 
consists of two adjacent concrete drop structures, each with 7-foot-
long stop logs to control the lake level, with each drop structure 
leading to a 62.5-foot-long by 4.5-foot diameter culvert that passes 
under Dexter Street; (10) two turbine gates used to spill excess water 
through the two intake bays that do not contain turbines and generating 
units; (11) a 4,160-kilovolt (kV) line that extends about 30 feet from 
the powerhouse to a 20-foot by 30-foot substation enclosure; (12) a 50-
foot-long underground 12.5-kV transmission line to connect the project 
substation to the local utility distribution lines; and (13) other 
appurtenant facilities.
    The project operates in a run-of-river mode and the water surface 
elevation is maintained at 590.8 feet Elk Rapids dam gage datum from 
April 15 through November 1 and at 590.2 feet Elk Rapids dam gage datum 
from November 1 through April 15. The average annual generation is 
about 2,422 megawatt-hours.
    Antrim County is not proposing any new construction or any changes 
in existing project operations.
    m. A copy of the application is available for review at the 
Commission in the Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the 
Commission's Web site 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. For assistance, contact 
FERC Online Support. A copy is also available for inspection and 
reproduction at the address in item h above.
    You may also register online at http:[sol][sol]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.
    n. Scoping Process. The Commission intends to prepare an 
environmental assessment (EA) on the project in accordance with the 
National Environmental Policy Act. The EA will consider both site-
specific and cumulative environmental impacts and reasonable 
alternatives to the proposed action.

Scoping Meetings

    FERC staff will conduct one agency scoping meeting and one public 
meeting. The agency scoping meeting will focus on resource agency and 
non-governmental organization (NGO) concerns, while the public scoping 
meeting is primarily for public input. All interested individuals, 
organizations, and agencies are invited to attend one or both of the 
meetings, and to assist the staff in identifying the scope of the 
environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. The times and 
locations of these meetings are as follows:

Agency Scoping Meeting

    Date: Thursday, September 19, 2013.
    Time: 10:00 a.m. (local time).
    Place: Elk Rapids Governmental Center, Village Council Chamber.
    Address: 315 Bridge Street, Elk Rapids, Michigan 49629.

Public Scoping Meeting

    Date: Thursday, September 19, 2013.
    Time: 7:00 p.m. (local time).
    Place: Elk Rapids Police Department, Old Council Chamber.
    Address: 321 Bridge Street, Elk Rapids, Michigan 49629.
    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to 
be addressed in the EA were distributed to the parties on the 
Commission's mailing list. Copies of SD1 will be available at the 
scoping meeting or may be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov 
using the ``eLibrary'' link (see item m above).

Environmental Site Review

    The applicant and FERC staff will conduct a project Environmental 
Site Review beginning at 1:00 p.m. (local time) on September 19, 2013. 
All interested individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to 
attend. All participants should meet at the south entrance to the Elk 
River Project powerhouse located on the west side of Dexter Street, 
between Dam Road and Harbor Drive, in Elk Rapids, Michigan. All 
participants are responsible for their own transportation to the site. 
Anyone with questions about the Environmental Site Review should 
contact Mr. Mark Stone of Antrim County at (231) 533-6265.

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 from experts and the public on issues that should be 
analyzed in the EA, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the EA; and (5) identify those issues that 
require a detailed analysis, as well as those issues that do not 
require a detailed analysis.

Procedures

    The meetings are recorded by a stenographer and become part of the 
formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project.
    Individuals, organizations, and agencies with environmental 
expertise and concerns are encouraged to attend the meetings and to 
assist the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed 
in the EA.

    Dated: August 29, 2013.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-21667 Filed 9-5-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P