Village of Swanton, Vermont; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting Scoping Comments, 54989-54990 [2022-19402]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 173 (Thursday, September 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54989-54990]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19402]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2547-095]


Village of Swanton, Vermont; Notice of Scoping Meetings and 
Environmental Site Review and 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.: 2547-095.
    c. Date Filed: April 29, 2022.
    d. Applicant: Village of Swanton, Vermont (Village).
    e. Name of Project: Highgate Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On 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: Reginald R. Beliveau, Jr., Manager--Village 
of Swanton, 120 First Street, Swanton, Vermont 05488; call at (802) 
868-3397; email at [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: John Baummer at (202) 502-6837; or email at 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: October 29, 2022.
    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 
[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: Highgate Falls Hydroelectric Project (P-2547-
095).
    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. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    l. Project Description: The existing project consists of: (1) a dam 
about 670 feet long that consists of: (a) a 235-foot-long earth-filled 
embankment on the west bank; (b) a 174-foot-long concrete intake 
structure; (c) a 226-foot-long ogee-shaped concrete spillway section 
with a 15-foot-high pneumatic crest gate and a maximum crest elevation 
of 190.0 foot National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 (NGVD29) when 
fully inflated; and (d) a 35-foot-long concrete abutment on the east 
bank; (2) an impoundment with a storage capacity of 3,327 acre-feet at 
an elevation of 190.0 feet NGVD29; (3) a 509-foot-long, 10.5-foot-wide, 
and 10.5-foot-high concrete conduit connecting to a 243-foot-long, 12-
foot-diameter steel penstock that conveys flow from the intake 
structure to the primary powerhouse; (4) a surge tank; (5) a concrete 
and masonry main powerhouse containing two 1.0-megawatt (MW), one 2.8-
MW, and one 6.0-MW vertical Francis turbine-generators; (6) a 75-foot-
long, 5-foot-diameter steel penstock conveying flow from the intake 
structure to a 0.710-MW crossflow turbine-generator located within a 
secondary concrete powerhouse; (7) a substation; (8) a 0.5-mile-long, 
32-megavolt ampere transmission line; and (9) appurtenant facilities. 
The project creates an approximately 1,100-foot-long bypassed reach of 
the Missisquoi River between the dam and the primary powerhouse 
discharge.
    The current license requires that the project operate as a run-of-
river facility such that outflow approximates inflow between March 31 
and June 1. From June 1 through March 30, the Village operates the 
project as a peaking facility by generating electricity during daily 
peak demand periods. When peaking, the Village limits the daily 
impoundment drawdown to 30 inches or less from the full pond elevation 
of 190 feet NGVD29. The current license also requires a minimum flow 
release of 200 cubic feet per second (cfs) or inflow if less, as 
measured downstream of the primary powerhouse. The 200-cfs minimum flow 
must include at least 35

[[Page 54990]]

cfs or inflow if less, that is released from the dam to the bypassed 
reach. The average annual generation of the project was approximately 
40,667 megawatt-hours from 1989 to 2020.
    The applicant proposes to modify current project operation to: (1) 
operate the project in run-of-river mode between March 31 and June 15, 
and during periods when inflow is 400 cfs or less, instead of between 
March 31 and June 1 under current operation; (2) operate the project in 
a peaking mode from June 16 through March 30; (3) limit impoundment 
drawdowns during peaking operation to 18 to 24 inches, instead of 30 
inches under current operation; (4) refill the impoundment within 8 
hours of each drawdown for peaking operation; and (5) continue to 
provide a minimum flow of 200 cfs downstream of the primary powerhouse, 
including the following minimum flows to the bypassed reach: 150 cfs in 
April and May, 70 cfs in June, and 35 cfs from July through March.
    The applicant proposes the following environmental measures: (1) 
develop a freshwater mussel plan for relocating mussels when the 
impoundment is lowered to 186 feet NGVD 29 or less for prolonged 
periods of time; (2) develop a plan for protecting horn-leaved 
riverweed downstream of the Swanton Dam ledges, which are located 
approximately 7 miles downstream of the powerhouse; (3) provide 
aesthetic flows of 1 to 3 inches of spill over the dam during certain 
holidays; (4) improve an existing parking area to accommodate 5 to 7 
cars for recreation users; (5) develop a plan to provide access for 
hand-carry water craft to the impoundment and downstream of the 
project; and (6) develop an historic properties management plan to 
protect historic properties.
    The applicant also proposes to: (1) conduct a post-licensing 
evaluation of the feasibility of using the existing downstream Swanton 
Dam canal works for upstream fish passage; (2) develop a recreational 
maintenance and enhancement plan to guide regular maintenance 
activities at recreation facilities; (3) install a warning system to 
alert recreation users to increases in flow in the bypassed reach and 
downstream of the powerhouse; and (4) install an electric vehicle 
charging station for five vehicles using electricity produced by the 
hydroelectric plant.
    m. A copy of the application can be viewed on the Commission's 
website at https://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.
    You may also register 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, please 
contact FERC Online Support at [email protected].
    n. Scoping Process: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA), Commission staff intends to prepare either an environmental 
assessment (EA) or an environmental impact statement (EIS) 
(collectively referred to as the ``NEPA document'') that describes and 
evaluates the probable effects, including an assessment of the site-
specific and cumulative effects, if any, of the proposed action and 
alternatives. The Commission's scoping process will help determine the 
required level of analysis and satisfy the NEPA scoping requirements, 
irrespective of whether the Commission issues an EA or an EIS.

Scoping Meetings

    Commission staff will hold two public scoping meetings to receive 
input on the scope of the environmental issues that should be analyzed 
in the NEPA document. The daytime meeting will focus on the concerns of 
resource agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Native 
American tribes. The evening meeting will focus on receiving input from 
the public. All interested individuals, resource agencies, Native 
American tribes, and NGOs are invited to attend one or both of the 
meetings. The times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Daytime Scoping Meeting

Date: Thursday, September 29, 2022
Time: 10 a.m. (EDT)
Place: Highgate Elementary School, White Room
Address: 219 Gore Road, Highgate Center, Vermont 05459

Evening Scoping Meeting

Date: Thursday, September 29, 2022
Time: 7 p.m. (EDT)
Place: Highgate Elementary School, White Room
Address: 219 Gore Road, Highgate Center, Vermont, 05459

    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to 
be addressed in the NEPA document were distributed to the parties on 
the Commission's mailing list. Copies of the SD1 will be available at 
the scoping meeting or may be viewed on the web at https://www.ferc.gov 
using the ``eLibrary'' link (see item m above).

Environmental Site Review

    The applicant and Commission staff will conduct an environmental 
site review of the project beginning at 1 p.m. on September 29, 2022. 
All interested individuals, agencies, tribes, and NGOs are invited to 
attend. All participants should meet at the parking lot next to the 
project dam, which is located at126, Baker Road, Highgate Center, 
Vermont 05459. All participants are responsible for their own 
transportation to the site and during the site visit. If you plan to 
attend the environmental site review, please contact Mr. Reginald R. 
Beliveau, Jr. of the Village of Swanton, Vermont at (802) 868-3397, or 
via email at [email protected] on or before September 23, 2022.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, Commission staff will: (1) summarize the 
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the NEPA 
document; (2) solicit from the meeting participants all available 
information, especially quantifiable data, on the resources at issue; 
(3) encourage statements from experts and the public on issues that 
should be analyzed in the NEPA document, including viewpoints in 
opposition to, or in support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) 
determine the resource issues to be addressed in the NEPA document; and 
(5) identify those issues that require a detailed analysis, as well as 
those issues that do not require a detailed analysis.

Procedures

    The meetings are recorded by a stenographer and become part of the 
formal record of the Commission proceeding on the project. Individuals, 
NGOs, Native American tribes, and agencies with environmental expertise 
and concerns are encouraged to attend the meeting and to assist the 
staff in defining and clarifying the issues to be addressed in the NEPA 
document.

    Dated: September 1, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-19402 Filed 9-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P