Document ID: FERC-2010-0319-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review, etc.: Reedsport OPT Wave Park Project et al.
Posted Date: 2010-03-10T05:00Z

[Federal Register: March 10, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 46)]
[Notices]               
[Page 11169-11171]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10mr10-83]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 12713-002]

 
Reedsport OPT Wave Park Project; Reedsport OPT Wave Park; LLC 
Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting 
Scoping Comments

March 1, 2010.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: Original Minor License.
    b. Project No.: 12713-002.
    c. Date filed: February 1, 2010.
    d. Submitted by: Reedsport OPT Wave Park, LLC.
    e. Name of Project: Reedsport OPT Wave Park Project.

[[Page 11170]]

    f. Location: Pacific Ocean in state waters about 2.5 miles off the 
coast near Reedsport, in Douglas County, Oregon. The project would 
occupy about 5 acres of federal lands in the Siuslaw National Forest 
(Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area).
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Philip Pellegrino, Reedsport OPT Wave 
Park, LLC, 1590 Reed Road, Pennington, New Jersey 08534; (609) 730-
0400.
    i. FERC Contact: Jim Hastreiter at (503) 552-2760 or 
james.hastreiter@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: May 10, 2010.
    All documents may be filed electronically via the Internet. See 18 
CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's Web 
site (http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ferconline.asp) under the 
``eFiling'' link. For a simpler method of submitting text only 
comments, click on ``Quick Comment.'' For assistance, please contact 
FERC Online Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov; call toll-free at 
(866) 208-3676; or, for TTY, contact (202) 502-8659. Although the 
Commission strongly encourages electronic filing, documents may also be 
paper-filed. To paper-file, mail an original and eight copies to: 
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 
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 Project facilities would include 10 OPT PowerBuoy wave-
powered generating units attached to seabed anchors, tendon lines, 
subsurface floats, and catenary mooring lines. The PowerBuoy units 
would be deployed in an array of three to four rows oriented parallel 
to the shore and would occupy about 0.25 square mile of the Pacific 
Ocean. Each PowerBuoy would have a maximum diameter of 36 feet, extend 
29.5 feet above the water surface, and have a draft of 115 feet.
    A power/fiber optic cable would exit the bottom of each PowerBuoy, 
descending to the seabed in a lazy ``S'' shape with subsurface floats 
attached to the cable and a clump weight at the seabed. The 10 
PowerBuoy units would be connected to a single Underwater Substation 
Pod (USP) via power/fiber-optic lines. The USP would be about 6 feet in 
diameter and 15 feet in length, and would rest on the seabed below the 
PowerBuoys, held in place with pre-cured concrete ballast blocks. A 
submarine transmission cable, buried in the seabed to a depth of 3 to 6 
feet, would extend from the USP to an existing wastewater discharge 
pipe. The submarine cable would extend through the wastewater pipe to 
an underground vault, which would be constructed at the existing turn-
around at the end of Sparrow Park Road, immediately inland of the sand 
dunes. At the vault, the subsea transmission cable would exit the 
effluent pipe, transition to an underground cable, and reenter the 
effluent pipe.
    The underground transmission cable would continue within the 
effluent pipe eastward for approximately 3 miles, where it would 
connect to the Douglas Electric Cooperative transmission line at a 
proposed shore station. The shore station would consist of a 100- to 
200-square foot building.
    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 at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or toll-free at 1-
866-208-3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659. A copy is 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 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 daytime scoping meeting and one evening 
scoping meeting. The daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource 
agency and non-governmental organization concerns, while the evening 
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:

Evening Scoping Meeting:
    Date and Time: Wednesday, April 7, 2010, at 7 p.m. (PST),
    Location: Reedsport High School, 2260 Longwood Drive, Reedsport, 
Oregon 97467.
Daytime Scoping Meeting:
    Date and Time: Thursday, April 8, 2010, at 2 p.m. (PST),
    Location: Salem Conference Center, Croisan Room, 200 Commercial 
Street SE., Salem, Oregon 97301.
    Copies of the Scoping Document outlining the subject areas to be 
addressed in the EA were distributed to the parties on the Commission's 
mailing list. Copies of the Scoping Document 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 p.m. (PST) on April 7, 2010. All interested 
individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. All 
participants should meet at the Reedsport City Hall at 451 Winchester 
Avenue, Reedsport, Oregon 97467. All participants are responsible for 
their own transportation to the site. Please notify George Wolff, 
Reedsport OPT Wave Park, LLC at (609) 730-0400, ext. 238 or 
gwolff@oceanpowertech.com by March 25, 2010, if you plan to attend the 
environmental site review.

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.

[[Page 11171]]

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 EA.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-4995 Filed 3-9-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P