Document ID: FERC-2016-1532-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Environmental Reviews: Moriah Hydro Corp.
Posted Date: 2016-11-14T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 219 (Monday, November 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79468-79469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-27253]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 12635-002]

Moriah Hydro Corporation; Notice of Scoping Meetings 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: Original Major License.
    b. Project No.: P-12635-002.
    c. Date filed: February 13, 2015.
    d. Applicant: Moriah Hydro Corporation.
    e. Name of Project: Mineville Energy Storage Project.
    f. Location: The project would be located in an abandoned 
subterranean mine complex \1\ in the town of Moriah, Essex County, New 
York. No federal lands are occupied by project works or located within 
the project boundary.
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    \1\ The existing mine complex is composed of the interconnected 
Old Bed, Bonanza open pit, and Harmony mines.
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    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: James A. Besha, President, Moriah Hydro 
Corporation, c/o Albany Engineering Corporation, 5 Washington Square, 
Albany, New York 12205, (518) 456-7712.
    i. FERC Contact: Chris Millard (202) 502-8256 or 
christopher.millard@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: January 7, 2016.
    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-
8659 (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-12635-002.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedures 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.
    k. This application has been accepted for filing, but is not ready 
for environmental analysis at this time.
    l. The proposed project consists of: (1) An upper reservoir located 
within the upper portion of the mine between elevations 495 and 1,095 
feet above mean seal level (msl), with a surface area of 4 acres and a 
storage capacity of 2,448 acre-feet; (2) a lower reservoir in the lower 
portion of the mine between elevations -1,075 and -1,555 feet msl, with 
a surface area of 5.1 acres and a storage capacity of 2,448 acre-feet; 
(3) a 14-foot-diameter and 2,955-foot-long upper reservoir shaft 
connecting the upper reservoir to the high-pressure penstock located 
below the powerhouse chamber floor; (4) a 14-foot-diameter and 2,955-
foot-long lower reservoir shaft connecting the lower reservoir and the 
lower reservoir ventilation tunnel; (5) two 6-foot-diameter emergency 
evacuation shafts located between the powerhouse chamber and the 
electrical equipment chamber; (6) a 25-foot-diameter main shaft 
extending 2,955 feet from the surface down to the powerhouse chamber; 
(7) 15-foot-diameter high- and low-pressure steel penstocks embedded 
beneath the powerhouse chamber floor; (8) a 320-foot-long by 80-foot-
wide powerhouse chamber, containing 100 reversible pump-turbine units, 
each with a nameplate generating capacity of 2.4 megawatts; (9) a 274-
foot-long by 36-foot-wide underground electrical equipment chamber 
adjacent to the powerhouse chamber; (10) an inclined electrical tunnel 
connecting the electrical equipment chamber to a new 115-kilovolt (kV) 
substation constructed adjacent to an existing single circuit 115-kV 
transmission line located about one horizontal mile from the 
underground powerhouse chamber; and (11) appurtenant facilities. The 
project would operate as a closed-loop system to meet energy demands 
and grid control requirements. The project would have an average annual 
generation of 421 gigawatt-hours (GWh). The average pumping power used 
by the project would be 554 GWh.
    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.
    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.
    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.

[[Page 79469]]

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: Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Place: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Region 
5 Sub-Office, Conference Room A
Address: 232 Golf Course Road, Warrensburg, New York 12885

Public Scoping Meeting

Date: Thursday, December 8, 2016
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Place: Moriah Central School Auditorium
Address: Moriah Central School, 39 Viking Lane, Port Henry, New York 
12974

    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 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).

Environmental Site Review

    The Applicant and FERC staff will conduct a project Environmental 
Site Review beginning at 2:00 p.m. on December 8, 2016. All interested 
individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. All 
participants should meet at the informal parking area of the Moriah 
Highway Department at 30 Joyce Rd, Mineville, New York. Anyone with 
questions about the Environmental Site Review should contact Wendy 
Carey, consultant for Moriah Hydro Corporation at (518) 456-7712.

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 will be 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 EA.

    Dated: November 4, 2016.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-27253 Filed 11-10-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P