[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 202 (Thursday, October 20, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63772-63773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-22774]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 7186-054]


Missisquoi, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With 
the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and 
Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for 
Submission of Final Amendments

    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.: 7186-054.
    c. Date Filed: September 30, 2022.
    d. Applicant: Missisquoi, LLC.
    e. Name of Project: Sheldon Springs Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Missisquoi River in Franklin County, Vermont. 
The project does not occupy any federal land.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Kevin Webb, Licensing Manager, 
Missisquoi, LLC, 670 N Commercial St., Suite 204, Manchester, NH 03101; 
Phone at (978) 935-6039, or email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: John Baummer at (202) 502-6837, or 
[email protected].
    j. Cooperating Agencies: Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies 
with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to 
environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the 
environmental document should follow the instructions for filing such 
requests described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note 
the Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation 
of the environmental document cannot also intervene. See 94 FERC ] 
61,076 (2001).

[[Page 63773]]

    k. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's 
regulations, if any resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person believes 
that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to 
form an adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the 
application on its merit, the resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person 
must file a request for a study with the Commission not later than 60 
days from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of 
the request on the applicant.
    l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for 
cooperating agency status: November 29, 2022.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status 
using the Commission's eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at 
[email protected], (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, 
MD 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and docket 
number on the first page: Sheldon Springs Hydroelectric Project (P-
7186-054).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. Project Description: The existing Sheldon Springs Hydroelectric 
Project consists of: (1) a 283-foot-long, 35.5-foot-high concrete 
overflow Ambursen-type buttress dam that includes a 262-foot-long 
spillway with 2-foot-high wooden flashboards and a 16-foot-long, 8-
foot-high hydraulically operated flap gate; (2) an impoundment with a 
surface area of approximately 175 acres; (3) the Main Powerhouse 
containing two identical vertical Kaplan turbine-generator units with a 
total capacity of 20,500 kilowatts (kW); (4) the South Mill Powerhouse 
that includes a 1,000-kW Francis-type turbine-generator unit; (5) the 
Grinder Room Powerhouse that includes two Francis-type turbine-
generator units with a total capacity of 3,300 kW; (6) a 165-kW Kaplan 
turbine-generator unit located in one of the dam's Ambursen bays; (7) 
two transmission lines; and (8) appurtenant facilities. The project 
creates an approximately 4,700-foot-long bypassed reach of the 
Missisquoi River.
    Missisquoi, LLC voluntarily operates the project in a run-of-river 
mode such that outflow from the project approximates inflow. The 
minimum and maximum hydraulic capacities of the powerhouses are 70 and 
3,342 cubic feet per second (cfs), respectively. The average annual 
generation of the project was approximately 69,277 megawatt-hours from 
2010 to 2020.
    For the purpose of protecting aquatic resources, Article 35 of the 
current license requires Missisquoi, LLC to release: (1) a minimum flow 
of 70 cfs or inflow, whichever is less, to the bypassed reach; (2) a 
minimum flow of 270 cfs or inflow, whichever is less, as measured 
immediately below the tailrace of the South Mill Powerhouse; and (3) a 
minimum flow of 285 cfs or inflow, whichever is less, as measured 
immediately below the tailrace of the Main Powerhouse.
    The applicant proposes to: (1) operate the project in a run-of-
river mode; (2) release a 70-cfs minimum bypassed reach flow or inflow, 
whichever is less; (3) release a 285-cfs minimum flow downstream of the 
South Mill Powerhouse or inflow, whichever is less; (4) implement an 
impoundment refill procedure, in the event of a drawdown of the 
impoundment, whereby 90 percent of inflow is passed downstream and 10 
percent of inflow is used to refill the impoundment; (5) release 
approximately 13 cfs over the flashboard crest from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 
p.m. from May 1 to October 31; (6) develop an operation compliance 
monitoring plan; (7) install a 400-foot-long path from the canoe 
portage takeout to a public road; (8) install a two-car parking area 
for canoe portage; (9) improve the existing whitewater boating access 
points; and (10) implement erosion control measures to protect cultural 
resources.
    o. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an 
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this notice, as well 
as other documents in the proceeding (e.g., license application) 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 on March 13, 
2020. For assistance, contact FERC at [email protected] or 
call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).
    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.
    p. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according 
to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions to the schedule will 
be made as appropriate.

Issue Deficiency Letter and Request Additional Information: November 
2022
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments: February 2023
Request Additional Information (if necessary): March 2023
Issue Acceptance Letter: March 2023
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary): April 2023
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis: April 2023

    q. 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: October 14, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-22774 Filed 10-19-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


