
[Federal Register: October 16, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 199)]
[Notices]               
[Page 53227]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16oc09-49]                         


[[Page 53227]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2144-038]

 
City of Seattle; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With 
the Commission and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Licensing and 
Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

October 8, 2009.

    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 2144-038.
    c. Date Filed: September 29, 2009.
    d. Applicant: City of Seattle.
    e. Name of Project: Boundary Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The existing project is located on the Pend Oreille 
River in Pend Oreille County, Washington. The project currently 
occupies 920.87 acres of Federal land managed by the U.S. Forest 
Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Agent Contact: Jorge Carrasco, Superintendent, Seattle City 
Light, 700 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3200, Seattle, WA 98124-4023; (206) 615-
1091.
    i. FERC Contact: David Turner (202) 502-6091.
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. Project Description: The existing project consists of: (1) A 
concrete arch dam with a crest elevation of 2,004 feet NGVD (North 
American Vertical Datum), a structural height of 340 feet, a thickness 
ranging from 8 feet at the crest to 32 feet at the base, and a crest 
length of 508 feet, with a total length, including the spillways, of 
740 feet; (2) two 50-feet-wide spillways fitted with 45-feet-high 
radial gates, one on each abutment, which have a combined maximum 
capacity of 108,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at a forebay water 
surface elevation of 1994 feet NGVD; (3) seven 21-foot-high by 17-foot-
wide, low-level vertical fixed-wheel sluice gates that provide an 
additional discharge capacity of 252,000 cfs, for a total discharge 
capacity at the dam of 360,000 cfs; (4) a 17.5-mile-long, 1,794-acre 
reservoir at a normal full pool elevation of 1,994 feet NGVD with 
87,913 acre-feet of gross storage; (5) power intake facilities 
excavated on the left abutment area consisting of an approximately 300-
foot-wide by 800-foot-long forebay, a trash rack structure across the 
entrance to the forebay, and the portal face with six 30-foot-wide by 
34-foot-high horseshoe-shaped tunnels extending to intake gate 
chambers; (6) six 315-feet-long penstocks lead from each of the intake 
gates to one of the six turbine-generator units in the power plant; (7) 
an underground power plant comprised of a 76-feet wide by 172-feet-high 
by 477-feet-long machine hall; (8) two 204,506-horsepower (hp) Francis 
turbines, with 158.4-megawatt (MW) generators, two 204,506-hp Francis 
turbines, with 161.5-MW generators, and two 259,823-hp Francis 
turbines, with 200-MW generators for a total authorized generating 
capacity of 1,003 MW; (9) six draft tubes that discharge water into the 
tailrace immediately below the dam; (10) six horseshoe-shaped 
transformer bays; (11) six individual three-phase, 230-kilovolt (kV) 
transmission lines up the vertical face of the left abutment of the dam 
to six pairs of transmission towers on top of the abutment; and (12) 
appurtenant equipment. The applicant proposes to install new high 
efficiency turbines in Units 55 and 56, concurrently with planned 
generator rewinds and step-up transformer replacements, to increase the 
project's total installed capacity to 1,033 MW.
    l. Locations of the Application: 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 website 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.
    m. 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. Procedural Schedule: On September 30, 2009, Seattle City Light 
filed an agreement-in-principle and a request to suspend processing of 
the license application until February 1, 2010 to complete settlement 
negotiations. The negotiations also involve measures linking the 
Boundary relicense with the surrender of Pend Oreille County Public 
Utility District's Sullivan Creek Project No. 2225. In the interest of 
furthering settlement negotiations and resolution of both proceedings, 
we are agreeing to delay the issuance of our ready for environmental 
analysis notice. Therefore, the application will be processed according 
to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule 
may be made as appropriate and a more detailed schedule will be issued 
with the ready for environmental analysis notice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Milestone                           Target date
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Notice of Acceptance and Ready for          March 2010.
 Environmental Analysis.
Filing interventions, comments,             May 2010.
 recommendations, preliminary terms and
 conditions, and fishway prescriptions.
Notice of availability of the Draft EA....  October 2010.
Filing comments on Draft EA...............  November 2010.
Filing modified terms and conditions......  January 2011.
Notice of availability of Final EA........  April 2011.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    o. Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice 
of ready for environmental analysis.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E9-24911 Filed 10-15-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
