[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 214 (Wednesday, November 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70135-70136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-24460]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 14861-002]


FFP Project 101, LLC; Notice 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.: 14861-002.
    c. Date Filed: June 23, 2020.
    d. Submitted By: Rye Development on behalf of FFP Project 101, LLC 
(FFP).
    e. Name of Project: Goldendale Pumped Storage Project.
    f. Location: Off-stream on the north side of the Columbia River at 
River Mile 215.6 in Klickitat County, Washington, with transmission 
facilities extending into Sherman County, Oregon. The project would be 
located approximately 8 miles southeast of the City of Goldendale, 
Washington. The project would occupy 18.1 acres of lands owned by the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and administered by the Bonneville Power 
Administration.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791 (a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Erik Steimle, Rye Development, 220 Northwest 
8th Avenue Portland, Oregon 97209; (503) 998-0230; email_
[email protected]
    i. FERC Contact: Michael Tust at (202) 502-6522; or email at 
michael.tust@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: December 28, 2020.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
scoping comments using the Commission's eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. Commenters can submit brief 
comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the 
eComment system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/QuickComment.aspx. 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, you may submit a paper copy. 
Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: 
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via 
any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, 
Maryland 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and 
docket number on the first page: Goldendale Pumped Storage Project (P-
14861-002).
    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 application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. The project would include the following new facilities: (1) A 
61-acre upper reservoir formed by a 175-foot-high, 8,000-foot-long 
rockfill embankment dam at an elevation of 2,950 feet mean sea level 
(MSL) with a vertical concrete intake-outlet structure; (2) a 63-acre 
lower reservoir formed by a 205-foot-high, 6,100-foot-long embankment 
at an elevation of 590 feet MSL with a horizontal concrete intake-
outlet structure and vertical steel slide gates; (3) an underground 
conveyance tunnel system connecting the two reservoirs consisting of a 
2,200-foot-long, 29-foot-diameter concrete-lined vertical shaft, a 
3,300-foot-long, 29-foot-diameter concrete-lined high pressure tunnel, 
a 200-foot-long, 22-foot-diameter high pressure manifold tunnel, three 
600-foot-long, 15-foot-diameter steel/concrete penstocks, three 200-
foot-long, 20-foot-diameter steel-lined draft tube tunnels with 
bonneted slide gates, a 200-foot-long, 26-foot-diameter concrete-lined 
low-pressure tunnel, and a 3,200-foot-long, 30-foot-diameter concrete-
lined tailrace tunnel; (4) an underground powerhouse located between 
the upper and lower reservoir in a 0.83-acre powerhouse cavern 
containing three, 400-megawatt (MW) Francis-type pump-turbine units for 
a total installed capacity of 1,200 MW; (5) a 0.48-acre underground 
transformer cavern adjacent to the powerhouse containing intermediate 
step-up transformers that will step up the voltage from 18 kilovolts 
(kV) to 115 kV; (6) two 30-foot-diameter tunnels for accessing the 
powerhouse and transformer caverns; (7) a 0.84-mile-long, 115-kV 
underground transmission line extending from the transformer gallery 
through the combined access/transmission tunnel to where it emerges 
aboveground near the west side of the lower reservoir and extending an 
additional 0.27 miles to an outdoor 7.3-acre substation/switchyard 
where the voltage would be stepped up to 500 kV; (8) a 3.13-mile-long, 
500-kV transmission line routed from the substation/switchyard south 
across the Columbia River and connecting to Bonneville Power 
Administration's existing John Day Substation; (9) a buried 30-inch-
diameter water fill line leading from a shut-off and throttling valve 
within a non-project water supply vault owned by Klickitat Public 
Utility District (KPUD) to an outlet structure within the lower 
reservoir to convey water to fill the reservoirs; and (10) appurtenant 
facilities. The project would also include an existing 0.7-mile road 
for accessing the lower reservoir site and an existing 8.6-mile-long 
road for accessing the upper reservoir site both of which may be 
modified to provide access for construction vehicles.
    The water supply used to initially fill the lower reservoir as well 
as to provide make-up water would be purchased from KPUD and would be 
obtained from KPUD's existing intake pond on the Columbia River. The 
project water fill line would connect to a new KPUD-owned flanged water 
supply service connection in a water supply vault located near the 
lower reservoir. Within the vault, and just downstream of the service 
connection, there would be a project shut-off and throttling valve to 
allow control of the initial fill and make-up water flow rate into the 
lower reservoir. The initial fill would require 7,640 acre-feet of 
water and would be completed in about six months at an average flow 
rate of approximately 21 cubic feet per second (maximum flow rate 
available is 35 cubic feet per second). It is estimated that the 
project would need 360 acre-feet of water each year to replenish water 
lost through evaporation.
    m. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an 
opportunity to view and/or print the contents via the internet through 
the Commission's Home Page (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. At this time, the 
Commission has suspended access to the Commission's Public Reference 
Room, due to the proclamation declaring a National Emergency concerning 
the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), issued by the President on 
March 13, 2020. For assistance, contact FERC at 
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or TYY, 
(202) 502-8659.

[[Page 70136]]

    n. You may also register online at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    o. Scoping Process
    Commission staff will prepare either an environmental assessment 
(EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that describes and 
evaluates the probable effects, if any, of the licensee's proposed 
action and alternatives. The EA or EIS will consider environmental 
impacts and reasonable alternatives to the proposed action. The 
Commission's scoping process will help determine the required level of 
analysis and satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, irrespective of 
whether the Commission prepares an EA or an EIS. Due to restrictions on 
mass gatherings related to COVID-19, we do not intend to conduct a 
public scoping meeting and site visit in this case. Instead, we are 
soliciting written comments and suggestions on the preliminary list of 
issues and alternatives to be addressed in the NEPA document, as 
described in scoping document 1 (SD1), issued October 29, 2020.
    Copies of the SD1 outlining the subject areas to be addressed in 
the NEPA document were distributed to the parties on the Commission's 
mailing list and the applicant's distribution list. Copies of SD1 may 
be viewed on the web 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, call 1-866-
208-3676 or for TTY, (202) 502-8659.

    Dated: October 29, 2020.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-24460 Filed 11-3-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


