Document ID: FERC-2008-0775-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement: Nevada Irrigation District
Posted Date: 2008-06-02T04:00Z

[Federal Register: June 2, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 106)]
[Notices]               
[Page 31457-31458]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02jn08-64]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2266-096; Project Nos. P-2310-173 and P-2784-003]

 
Nevada Irrigation District; Pacific Gas and Electric Company; 
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and 
Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Requesting Scoping 
Comments

May 22, 2008.
    Take notice that the following three hydroelectric applications 
have been filed with Commission and are available for public 
inspection:
    a. Type of Applications: Notices of Intent to File License 
Application for a New License and Pre-Application Documents.
    b. Project Nos: P-2266-096, P-2310-173, P-2784-003.
    c. Date Filed: April 11, 2008.
    d. Applicants: Nevada Irrigation District (P-2266-096); Pacific Gas 
and Electric Company (P-2310-173, P-2784-003).
    e. Names of Projects: Yuba-Bear Project (P-2266-096), Drum-
Spaulding Project (P-2310-173), Rollins Transmission Line Project (P-
2784-003).
    f. Location: The Yuba-Bear Project is located on the west slope of 
the Sierra Nevada on the Middle Yuba River, Canyon Creek, Fall Creek, 
Rucker Creek and Bear River, in Nevada, Placer and Sierra counties, 
California. A large portion of the project is located on the Tahoe 
National Forest. Some of the project is located on federally owned land 
managed by the Bureau of Land Management as part of the Sierra Resource 
Management Area.
    The Drum-Spaulding Project is located on the west slope of the 
Sierra Nevada, on the South Yuba River, Bear River, North Fork of the 
North Fork of the American River and tributaries to the Sacramento 
River basin, in Nevada and Placer counties, California. A large portion 
of the project is located on federal-owned lands managed by the Forest 
Service as part of the Tahoe National Forest. Small portions of the 
project occupy lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and the 
Bureau of Reclamation.
    The Rollins Transmission Line Project is located in Nevada and 
Placer counties, California, near the Bear River and the town of 
Colfax. The project extends from the Rollins Powerhouse switchyard 
approximately 3,800 feet to PG&E's Drum-Grass Valley-Weimar 
transmission line. The project occupies a total of 5.38 acres, all of 
which is under private ownership.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contacts: Yuba-Bear Project--Ron Nelson, General 
Manager, Nevada Irrigation District, 1036 West Main Street, Grass 
Valley, CA 95945, (530) 271-6824, or e-mail nelson@nid.dst.ca.us.
    Drum Spaulding Project--Steve Peirano, Relicensing Project Manager, 
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 245 Market Street, Room 1103, P.O. 
Box 770000, San Francisco, CA 94177-0001 (415) 973-4481, or e-mail 
slp2@pge.com.
    Rollins Transmission Line Project--Forrest Sullivan, Senior Project 
Manager, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, 5555 Florin-Perkins Road, 
Building 500, Sacramento, CA 95826. Tel: (916) 386-5580, or e-mail 
frs3@pge.com.
    i. FERC Contact: John Mudre, (202) 502-8902, or 
john.mudre@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: August 11, 2008.

[[Page 31458]]

    All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with: 
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure require all 
intervenors 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 intervenor 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.
    Scoping comments may be filed electronically via the Internet in 
lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filings. 
See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's 
Web site (http://www.ferc.gov) under the ``e-Filing'' link.
    k. The applications are not ready for environmental analysis at 
this time.
    l. The Yuba-Bear Project consists of four developments--Bowman, 
Dutch Flat, Chicago Park, and Rollins--which, in total, include: 13 
main dams with a combined gross storage capacity of 207,865 acre-feet 
of water; four water conduits; five diversion dams; four powerhouses 
with a combined installed capacity of 79.32 megawatts; one 9.0-mile-
long, 60-kilovolt transmission line; and appurtenant facilities and 
structures, including recreation facilities.
    The Drum-Spaulding Project consists of 10 developments: Spaulding 
No. 3; Spaulding No. 1 and No. 2; Drum No. 1 and No. 2; Dutch Flat No. 
1; Halsey; Wise; Newcastle; Deer Creek; Alta; and Wise No. 2. In the 10 
developments there are 29 reservoirs with a combined gross storage 
capacity of 154,388 acre-feet of water; 6 major water conduits; 12 
powerhouses with a combined authorized installed capacity of 192.5 
megawatts, 7 transmission lines; and appurtenant facilities and 
structures, including recreation facilities.
    The Rollins Transmission Line Project consists of a single circuit 
wood pole line extending from the Rollins Powerhouse switchyard 
approximately 3,800 feet to PG&E's Drum-Grass Valley-Weimar 
transmission line. The project is within a 40-foot-wide corridor. The 
project also includes an access road that is 1,867 feet in length, with 
project widths between 20 and 60 feet.
    m. Copies of all three applications are 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 documents. For assistance, contact 
FERC Online Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or toll-free at 1-
866-208-3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659. Copies are also available for 
inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.
    You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/
esubscription.asp to be notified via e-mail of new filings and 
issuances related to these or other pending projects. For assistance, 
contact FERC Online Support.
    n. Scoping Process
    Pursuant to NEPA, we intend to prepare an environmental impact 
statement (EIS) for the projects, which would be used by the Commission 
to determine whether, and under what conditions, to issue new 
hydropower licenses for the projects. To support and assist our 
environmental review, we are beginning the public scoping process to 
ensure that all pertinent issues are identified and analyzed. Because 
these three projects are located in the same watersheds and have the 
same license expiration dates, NID and PG&E have decided, to the extent 
practical, to cooperate and coordinate on their relicensing efforts. 
Our multi-project EIS will allow for a comprehensive and coordinated 
review of the environmental effects of the proposed projects and 
alternatives. The scoping meetings and site visits discussed below will 
address all three projects.

Scoping Meetings

    Commission staff will hold two public scoping meetings in the 
vicinity of the projects. A daytime meeting will focus on resource 
agency concerns and an evening meeting will focus on the public's 
views. We invite all interested agencies, Indian tribes, NGOs, and 
individuals to attend one or both of the meetings to assist staff in 
identifying the scope of environmental issues that should be analyzed 
in the EIS.
    The times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Daytime Scoping Meeting

    Date and Time: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 9 a.m. (PST).
    Location: Auburn Holiday Inn Hotel, 120 Grass Valley Highway, 
Auburn, California.

Evening Scoping Meeting

    Date and Time: Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 7 p.m. (PST).
    Location: Gold Miners Inn Holiday Inn Express Hotel, 121 Bank 
Street, Grass Valley, California.
    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to 
be addressed in the EIS are being distributed on this date to the 
parties on the Commission's mailing list under separate cover. 
Commission's mailing list. Copies of the 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).

Site Visit

    The licensees and Commission staff have scheduled a visit of some 
of the projects' facilities on Tuesday, June 17, Wednesday, June 18, 
and Thursday, June 19, 2008, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at or about 
5 p.m. Participants should meet by the start time as follows: (1) On 
June 17 at the Discovery Trail in Bear Valley; (2) on June 18 at the 
Alta Service Center; and (3) on June 19 at the Halsey Forebay. 
Participants are responsible for their own transportation; four-wheel-
drive vehicles are recommended. Anyone interested in attending the site 
visit should contact Mr. James Lynch at (916) 564-4214, by June 3, 
2008.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EIS; 
(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 EIS, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in 
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource 
issues to be addressed in the EIS; 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 meeting and to 
assist the staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed 
in the EIS.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
 [FR Doc. E8-12139 Filed 5-30-08; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-P