[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 236 (Tuesday, December 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79006-79007]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-26931]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 3472-024]


Aspinook Hydro, 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: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 3472-024.
    c. Date Filed: April 30, 2020; and revised on October 13, 2020.
    d. Applicant: Aspinook Hydro, LLC, a subsidiary of Gravity 
Renewables, Inc.
    e. Name of Project: Wyre Wynd Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Quinebaug River in New London and Windham 
Counties, Connecticut. No federal lands are occupied by the project 
works or located within the project boundary.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mark Boumansour, Chief Operating Officer, 
Gravity Renewables, Inc.; 1401 Walnut Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302; 
Phone at (303) 440-3378, or email at mark@gravityrenewables.com.
    i. FERC Contact: Kristine Sillett at (202) 502-6575, or 
kristine.sillett@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: January 31, 2021.
    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: Wyre Wynd Hydroelectric Project (P-
3472-024).
    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 existing Wyre Wynd Project consists of: (1) A concrete-
encased masonry dam that includes: (a) A 473-foot-long, 18-foot-high 
spillway with 2-foot-high wooden flashboards, and one, 5-foot-wide by 
3-foot-high sluice gate; (b) a 100-foot-long left abutment that 
includes a 65-foot-wide headgate structure with five, 10-foot-wide by 
12-foot-high headgates; and (c) a 4-foot-long right abutment; (2) a 
333-acre impoundment with a usable storage capacity of 167-acre-feet at 
a normal elevation of 97.3 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 
1929 (NGVD29); (3) a 170-foot-long, 50-foot-wide forebay that includes: 
(a) A 60-foot-long, 10-foot-high auxiliary spillway; and (b) two, 10-
foot-wide, 12-foot-high arched-top low-level outlet gates; (4) a 
powerhouse intake structure located at the downstream end of the 
forebay that includes: (a) A 37-foot-high steel trash rack structure 
varying in width from 19.5 feet to 21.3 feet, with a clear bar spacing 
of 2.6 inches; and (b) a 16-foot-long, 12-foot-diameter steel penstock 
that supplies flow to the main 2.7-megawatt (MW) S-type Kaplan turbine-
generator unit housed within the 30-foot-wide, 100-foot-long concrete 
powerhouse; (5) a 450-foot-long, 50-foot-wide tailrace that receives 
discharges from the main turbine-generator unit; (6) a second intake 
structure branching off of the right side of the forebay, approximately 
35 feet downstream of the headgate structure, that includes: (a) A 4-
foot-wide, 4-foot-high head gate; (b) a 9-foot-wide, 20-foot-high trash 
rack structure with 1.5-inch clear bar spacing that extends from the 
floor of the headgate structure to approximately 12

[[Page 79007]]

feet below the forebay water surface; and (c) a 40-foot-long, 4-foot-
diameter steel penstock that provides flow to a mini, in-line 0.08-MW 
fixed-blade propeller turbine-generator unit; (7) a 10-foot-long, 30-
foot-wide tailrace that receives discharges from the mini turbine-
generator unit; (8) an 80-foot-long, 600-volt transmission line that 
connects the generators to the local utility distribution system; and 
(9) appurtenant facilities. The project creates an approximately 400-
foot-long bypassed reach of the Quinebaug River.
    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.
    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 December 2, 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: December 2, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-26931 Filed 12-7-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


