

[Federal Register: August 20, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 160)]
[Notices]               
[Page 46458-46459]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20au07-54]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[P-2242-078]

 
Eugene West and Electric Board; Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric 
Project; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting 
Scoping Comments

August 10, 2007.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with Commission and is available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 2242-078.
    c. Date filed: November 24, 2006.
    d. Applicant: Eugene Water and Electric Board.
    e. Name of Project: Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the McKenzie River in Lane and Linn Counties, near 
McKenzie Bridge, Oregon. The project occupies approximately 560 acres 
of the Willamette National Forest.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)--825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Randy L. Berggren, General Manager, Eugene 
Water and Electric Board, 500 East 4th Avenue, P.O. Box 10148, Eugene, 
OR 97440, (541) 484-2411.
    i. FERC Contact: Bob Easton, (202) 502-6045 or 
robert.easton@ferc.gov.

    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: October 12, 2007.
    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. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The Carmen-Smith Hydroelectric Project consists of two 
developments,

[[Page 46459]]

the Carmen development and the Trail Bridge development. The Carmen 
development includes:
    (1) A 25-foot-high, 2,100-foot-long, and 10-foot-wide earthen 
Carmen diversion dam with a concrete weir spillway, (2) a 11,380-foot-
long by 9.5-foot-diameter concrete Carmen diversion tunnel located on 
the right abutment of the spillway, (3) a 235-foot-high, 1,100-foot-
long, and 15-foot-wide earthen Smith diversion dam with a gated Ogee 
spillway, (4) a 7,275-foot-long by 13.5 foot-diameter concrete-lined 
Smith power tunnel, (5) a 1,160-foot-long by 13-foot-diameter steel 
underground Carmen penstock, (6) a 86-foot-long by 79-foot-wide Carmen 
powerhouse, (7) two Francis turbines each with a generating capacity of 
52.25 megawatts (MW) for a total capacity of 104.50 MW, (8) a 19-mile, 
115-kilovolt (kV) transmission line that connects the Carmen powerhouse 
to the Bonneville Power Administration's Cougar-Eugene transmission 
line; and (9) appurtenant facilities.
    The Trail Bridge development includes: (1) A 100-foot-high, 700-
foot-long, and 24-foot-wide earthen Trail Bridge dam section with a 
gated Ogee spillway, (2) a 1,000-foot-long and 20-foot-wide emergency 
spillway section, (3) a 300-foot-long by 12-foot-diameter concrete 
penstock at the intake that narrows to a diameter of 7 feet, (4) a 66-
foot-long by 61-foot-wide Trail Bridge powerhouse, (5) one Kaplan 
turbine with a generating capacity of 9.975 MW; and (6) a one-mile, 
11.5-kV distribution line that connects the Trail Bridge powerhouse to 
the Carmen powerhouse.
    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

    Commission staff will conduct one agency scoping meeting and one 
public scoping 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: September 13, 2007, Time : 9 a.m. to noon (PST),
    Place: Midgleys Building Meeting Room,
    Address: 500 East 4th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon (The Midgleys Building 
Meeting Room is located at the corner of East 4th Avenue and High 
Street, adjacent to the EWEB office located at 409 High Street).
Public Scoping Meeting
    Date: September 13, 2007,
    Time: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (PST),
    Place: Midgleys Building Meeting Room,
    Address: 500 East 4th Avenue, Eugene, Oregon (see above).

    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 meetings or may be viewed on the internet at http://www.ferc.gov
 using the ``eLibrary'' link (see item m above).


Site Visit

    EWEB and Commission staff will visit the Carmen-Smith Project on 
September 12, 2007. All participants interested in seeing the project 
should meet at EWEB's Offices at 500 East 4th Street, Eugene, Oregon at 
8 a.m. or meet at the informal parking area across Highway 126 from the 
Trail Bridge Dam at 9:30 a.m. Anyone with questions about the site 
visit (or needing directions) should contact Karen Lee at (541) 341-
8514 or karen.lee@eweb.eugene.or.us. Those individuals planning to 
participate in the site visit should notify Ms. Lee of their intent, no 
later than September 6, 2007.

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.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7-16249 Filed 8-17-07; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
