Oswego Hydro Partners, LP; Notice of Scoping Meetings and Environmental Site Review and Soliciting Scoping Comments, 57143-57144 [2024-15363]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 134 (Friday, July 12, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57143-57144]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15363]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 4113-067]


Oswego Hydro Partners, LP; 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.: 4113-067.
    c. Date Filed: February 27, 2024.
    d. Applicant: Oswego Hydro Partners, LP.
    e. Name of Project: Phoenix Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Oswego, Oneida, and Seneca Rivers in Onondaga 
and Oswego counties, New York.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Jody Smet, Vice President Regulatory Affairs, 
Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, LLC, 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1100W, 
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone at (240) 482-2700; email at 
[email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Joshua Dub, Project Coordinator, Great Lakes 
Branch, Division of Hydropower Licensing; telephone at (202) 502-8138; 
email at [email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: September 9, 2024.
    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: 
Debbie-Anne A. Reese, Acting Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. 
Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Debbie-
Anne A. Reese, Acting 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: Phoenix 
Hydroelectric Project (P-4113-067).
    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. Project Description: The Phoenix Project consist of a concrete 
dam, known as the Phoenix Dam, that includes: (1) an approximately 90-
foot-long, 55-foot-wide powerhouse that is integral with the dam and 
includes: (a) north and south intake openings with a trashrack with 1-
inch clear bar spacing; and (b) two 1.59-MW vertical Kaplan turbine-
generator units, for a total installed capacity of 3.18 MW; (2) a 
section with a 10-foot-long debris sluice gate and a 7-foot-long sluice 
gate that provides downstream fish passage; (3) a 163-foot-long, 14-
foot-high ogee spillway with 1-foot-high flashboards that have a crest 
elevation of 362.42 feet North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 
88); (4) an approximately 206-foot-long section with four Tainter 
gates; (5) a 390-foot-long, 14-foot-high ogee spillway with 1-foot-high 
flashboards that have a crest elevation of 362.42 feet NAVD 88; and (6) 
a 107-foot-long section with two Tainter gates.
    The 107-foot-long Tainter gate section of Phoenix Dam abuts Lock 
Island, which is a non-project feature that spans approximately 150 
feet of the Oswego River. In addition, a non-project lock, known as the 
Phoenix Lock, spans approximately 45 feet of the Oswego River between 
Lock Island and the east shoreline of the Oswego River. Together, the 
Phoenix Dam, Lock Island, and Phoenix Lock create an impoundment that 
has a surface area of approximately 1,400 acres at 362.42 feet NAVD 88.
    From the impoundment, water flows through the trashrack to a 
forebay, and then through the powerhouse. Water is discharged from the 
turbines to an approximately 120-foot-long tailrace that discharges to 
the Oswego River.
    The project includes a trap and transport facility for the upstream 
passage of American eel that consists of an eel ramp and a plastic eel 
collection box located approximately 160 feet downstream of the project 
dam on the east shoreline of the Oswego River. The project also 
includes a downstream fishway that consists of the 7-foot-long sluice 
gate and a 4.8-foot-deep concrete plunge pool. Additionally, the 
project includes an aluminum walkway that provides access to the 206-
foot-long Tainter gate section of the dam.
    The project generators are connected to the regional electric grid 
by: a 4.16/34.5-kilovolt (kV) step-up transformer and a 230-foot-long, 
34.5-kV underground transmission line.
    The minimum and maximum hydraulic capacities of the powerhouse are 
500 and 4,580 cubic feet per second (cfs), respectively. The average 
annual energy production of the Phoenix Project was 10,518 megawatt-
hours from 2016 through 2023.
    The current license requires Oswego Hydro to operate the project in 
a run-of-river mode and maintain a maximum impoundment surface 
elevation of 362.42 feet NAVD88. Oswego Hydro currently maintains the 
surface elevation of the impoundment between 361.92 feet and 362.42 
feet NAVD 88.

[[Page 57144]]

The current license also requires Oswego Hydro to: (1) release a year-
round minimum flow of 300 cfs or inflow, whichever is less, to the 
Oswego River downstream of the project; and (2) when inflow is less 
than 1,900 cfs from June 1 through October 31, implement water quality 
monitoring and, if average tailwater dissolved oxygen drops below 5 
milligrams per liter, provide mitigative flow releases for the 
protection of downstream water quality. Oswego Hydro provides upstream 
eel passage from June through October, using the trap and transport 
facility, and provides downstream fish passage year-round using the 
downstream fishway.
    Oswego Hydro proposes to continue operating the project in a run-
of-river mode and maintaining the surface elevation of the impoundment 
at 361.92 to 362.42 feet NAVD 88. Oswego Hydro proposes to continue 
releasing a year-round minimum flow of 300 cfs or inflow, whichever is 
less, to the Oswego River downstream of the project, but does not 
propose to continue water quality monitoring and mitigative flow 
releases when inflow is less than 1,900 cfs from June 1 through October 
31. In addition, Oswego Hydro proposes to continue operating and 
maintaining the trap and transport facility and the downstream fishway 
for eel and fish passage. Oswego Hydro proposes to develop a fish 
passage operation and maintenance plan, implement a Bat and Bald Eagle 
Protection Plan that it filed in the application, and maintain an 
existing interpretative display and fencing for the protection of 
historic properties.
    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 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.
    The Commission's Office of Public Participation (OPP) supports 
meaningful public engagement and participation in Commission 
proceedings. OPP can help members of the public, including landowners, 
environmental justice communities, Tribal members and others, access 
publicly available information and navigate Commission processes. For 
public inquiries and assistance with making filings such as 
interventions, comments, or requests for rehearing, the public is 
encouraged to contact OPP at (202) 502-6595 or [email protected].
    n. Scoping Process: Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy 
Act (NEPA), Commission staff will 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 Indian 
Tribes. The evening meeting will focus on receiving input from the 
public. All interested individuals, resource agencies, Indian 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, August 8, 2024.
    Time: 1:00 p.m. (EDT).
    Place: Schroeppel Town Hall.
    Address: 69 County Route 57A, Phoenix, NY 13135.

Evening Scoping Meeting

    Date: Thursday, August 8, 2024.
    Time: 6:00 p.m. (EDT).
    Place: Schroeppel Town Hall.
    Address: 69 County Route 57A, Phoenix, NY 13135.
    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).

Site Visit

    The applicant and Commission staff will hold a site visit at the 
project beginning at 9:00 a.m. on August 8, 2024. All interested 
individuals, agencies, Tribes, and NGOs are invited to attend. All 
participants should meet at the parking area located at the entrance to 
the powerhouse driveway at 9450 River Street, Phoenix, NY. All 
participants are responsible for their own transportation and should 
wear closed-toe shoes/boots. If you plan to attend the site visit, 
please contact Mr. Tod Nash of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy at (315) 
783-5000, or via email at [email protected] on or before July 
29, 2024.

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, Indian 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.

Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-15363 Filed 7-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P