[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 110 (Wednesday, June 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34866-34867]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-12333]



[[Page 34866]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 4678-053; Project No. 4679-050]


New York Power Authority; Notice of Applications Tendered for 
Filing With the Commission and Establishing Procedural Schedule for 
Licensing and Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

    Take notice that the following hydroelectric applications have been 
filed with the Commission and are available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Applications: New Major Licenses.
    b. Project Nos.: 4678-053 and 4679-050.
    c. Date Filed: May 25, 2022.
    d. Applicant: New York Power Authority (NYPA).
    e. Names of Projects: Crescent and Vischer Ferry Hydroelectric 
Projects.
    f. Location: The Crescent Projects is located on the Mohawk River 
in Saratoga, Albany, and Schenectady Counties, New York. The Vischer 
Ferry Project is located on the Mohawk River in Saratoga and 
Schenectady Counties, New York The projects do not occupy any federal 
or Tribal lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Rob Daly, Director of Licensing, NYPA, 123 
Main Street, White Plains, NY 10601; Telephone: (914) 681-6564 or 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Jody Callihan at (202) 502-8278, or 
[email protected].
    j. The applications are not ready for environmental analysis at 
this time.
    k. Project Descriptions:

Crescent Project

    The Crescent Project consists of: (1) Crescent Dam, which includes 
two main concrete gravity overflow sections that are 901 feet long, 52 
feet high (eastern section) and 534 feet long, 32 feet high (western 
section), and a smaller 16-foot-high, 530-foot-long dam located 
immediately downstream of the main western dam; (2) an impoundment with 
an area of 2,108 acres and gross storage capacity of 50,000 acre-feet 
at an elevation of 184 feet Barge Canal Datum (BCD) (1-foot-high 
flashboards seasonally installed during the navigation season add 2,000 
acre-feet of storage); (3) a regulating structure consisting of an 8-
foot-wide sluiceway and a 30-foot-wide Tainter gate; (4) a brick and 
concrete powerhouse that is 73 feet wide, 180 feet long, and contains 
two Francis turbine-generator units rated at 2.8 megawatts (MW) each 
and two vertical Kaplan turbine-generator units rated at 3.0 MW each; 
(5) navigation lock E-6 of the Erie Canal and Guard Gates 1 and 2 of 
the Waterford Flight; (6) a switchyard; (7) generator leads and 
transformer banks; and (8) appurtenant facilities.

Vischer Ferry Project

    The Vischer Ferry Project consists of: (1) The Vischer Ferry Dam, a 
concrete gravity structure composed of three connected spillway 
sections with a total length of 1,919 feet, the outer ogee-shaped weir 
sections having an average height of 30 feet and the middle broad-
crested weir sections with a height varying from 1 foot to 3 feet; (2) 
an impoundment with an area of 1,137 acres and gross storage capacity 
of 25,000 acre-feet at an elevation of 211 feet BCD (27-inch-high 
flashboards seasonally installed during the navigation season add 2,400 
acre-feet of storage); (3) a low-level regulating structure at the 
northern end of the spillway with four sluice gates; (4) a headrace 
with a longitudinal retaining wall containing the sluice gates; (5) a 
brick and concrete powerhouse that is 73 feet wide, 186 feet long, and 
contains two Francis turbine-generator units rated at 2.8 MW each and 
two vertical Kaplan turbine-generator units rated at 3.0 MW each; (6) 
an unlined 65-foot-long, 150-foot-wide tailrace; (7) navigation lock E-
7 of the Erie Canal; (8) an earthen embankment located to the west of 
Lock E-7; (9) a switchyard; (10) generator leads and transformer banks; 
and (11) appurtenant facilities.
    Both projects are operated in a run-of-river mode such that outflow 
from each project approximates inflow, and the impoundments are 
maintained within 6 inches of the dam crest (or top of the flashboards, 
when installed). Year-round minimum flows of 100 cubic feet per second 
(cfs) and 200 cfs are provided at the Crescent and Vischer Ferry 
Projects, respectively. During the navigation season (typically mid-May 
through mid-October), the minimum flows are provided as part of the 
fish passage flows that are released through notches in each project's 
flashboards; during the remainder of the year (non-navigation season), 
the minimum flows are typically provided as part of generation flows. 
An acoustic deterrent system is seasonally deployed upstream of each 
project, from May through October, to guide blueback herring that are 
migrating downstream towards non-turbine routes of passage (the notches 
in the flashboards through which the fish passage flows are provided). 
Average annual generation at the Crescent and Vischer Ferry Projects 
was 58,250 MW-hours and 56,323 MW-hours, respectively, across years 
2012-2021. NYPA is not proposing any new project facilities or changes 
to the operation of the projects at this time.
    l. Copies of the applications can 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 (P-4678 or P-4679). For assistance, 
contact FERC at [email protected], or call toll-free, (866) 
208-3676 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
    m. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    n. Procedural schedule: The applications will be processed 
according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions to the 
schedule will be made as appropriate.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Milestone                           Target date
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Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary)......  June 2022.
Request Additional Information (if            July 2022.
 necessary).
Notice of Acceptance/Notice of Ready for      October 2022.
 Environmental Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary terms  December 2022.
 and conditions, and preliminary fishway
 prescriptions.
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[[Page 34867]]

    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.

    Dated: June 2, 2022.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-12333 Filed 6-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


