Document ID: FERC-2015-1268-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Environmental Assessments; Availability, etc.: PacifiCorp
Posted Date: 2015-09-25T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 186 (Friday, September 25, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57800-57801]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-24381]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 1744-039]

PacifiCorp; Notice of Scoping Meeting and Soliciting Scoping 
Comments for an Applicant Prepared Environmental Assessment Using the 
Alternative Licensing Process

    a. Type of Application: Alternative Licensing Process.
    b. Project No.: 1744-039.
    c. Applicant: PacifiCorp.
    d. Name of Project: Weber Hydroelectric Project.
    e. Location: On the Weber River, in Weber, Davis, and Morgan 
Counties, Utah. The project occupies 11.4 acres of United States lands 
administered by the U.S. Forest Service.
    f. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    g. Applicant Contact: Eve Davies, PacifiCorp, 1407 West North 
Temple, Ste. 110, Salt Lake City, UT 84116; (801) 220-2245; email: 
eve.davies@pacificorp.com.
    h. FERC Contact: Claire McGrath at (202) 502-8290; or email at 
claire.mcgrath@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: November 6, 2015.

    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
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-1744-039.
    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. The existing project consists of: (1) The Weber diversion dam 
with an overall length of 114 feet and crest elevation of 4,798 feet 
mean sea level (ms)l, consisting of a 27-foot-high, 79-foot-long 
concrete section, two radial gates approximately 29 feet long, and a 
35-foot-long intake structure on the Weber River; (2) a 3-foot by 18-
foot non-operative fish passage structure that is used to pass minimum 
flows through a calibrated slide gate opening; 3) an impoundment with 
surface area of 8.4 acres at elevation 4,798 msl and total storage of 
approximately 42 acre-feet; (4) a 9,107-foot-long, 5-foot to 6.3-foot 
diameter steel penstock partially encased in concrete beginning at the 
intake and terminating at the powerhouse on the Weber River; (5) a 
powerhouse with one 3,850 kW generating unit operating under a head of 
185 feet and producing a 30-year average annual energy output of 16,932 
MWh; (6) a discharging pipe returning turbine flows into the Weber 
River at the powerhouse; and (7) a 77-foot-long, 46-kV transmission 
line which connects to the Weber substation. PacifiCorp proposes to 
build a new fish passage structure at the edge of the existing 
diversion dam in an area that currently has graded, unvegetated soil.

l. Scoping Process

    PacifiCorp intends to utilize the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission's (Commission) alternative licensing process (ALP). Under 
the ALP, PacifiCorp will prepare an Applicant Prepared Environmental 
Assessment (APEA) and license application for the Weber Hydroelectric 
Project.
    PacifiCorp expects to file with the Commission, the APEA and the 
license application for the Weber Hydroelectric Project by February 21, 
2018. Although PacifCorp's intent is to prepare an EA, there is the 
possibility that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be 
required. Nevertheless, this meeting will satisfy the NEPA scoping 
requirements, irrespective of whether an EA or EIS is issued by the 
Commission.
    The purpose of this notice is to inform you of the opportunity to 
participate in the upcoming scoping meetings identified below, and to 
solicit your scoping comments.

Scoping Meetings

    PacifiCorp and the Commission staff will hold two scoping meetings, 
one in the daytime and one in the evening, to help us identify the 
scope of issues to be addressed in the APEA.
    The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency concerns, 
while the evening scoping meeting is

[[Page 57801]]

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 environmental issues that should be 
analyzed in the APEA. The times and locations of these meetings are as 
follows:

Daytime Meeting

Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 1:00 p.m. (MDT), Ben Lomond Suites, 2510 
Washington Blvd., Ogden, Utah 84401.

Evening Meeting

Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 7:00 p.m. (MDT), Ben Lomond Suites, 2510 
Washington Blvd., Ogden, Utah 84401.

    To help focus discussions, Scoping Document 1 was mailed in 
September 2015, outlining the subject areas to be addressed in the APEA 
to the parties on the mailing list. Copies of the SD1 also will be 
available at the scoping meetings. SD1 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.
    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.
    Based on all written comments received, a Scoping Document 2 (SD2) 
may be issued. SD2 will include a revised list of issues, based on the 
scoping sessions.

Environmental Site Review

    PacifiCorp and the Commission staff will conduct a project 
Environmental Site Review beginning at 9:00 a.m. (MDT) on Wednesday, 
October 7, 2015. All interested individuals, organizations, and 
agencies are invited to attend; however, anyone planning to attend 
should notify Miriam Hugentobler at miriam.hugentobler@gmail.com by 
September 21, 2015. All participants should meet at the Weber 
Hydroelectric Project recreation site parking lot (see SD1 for 
directions). All participants are responsible for their own 
transportation to the site.

Objectives

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

    Dated: September 3, 2015.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-24381 Filed 9-24-15; 8:45 am]
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