Banister Hydro, Inc.; 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, 66103 [2024-18059]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 14, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 66103]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18059]



[[Page 66103]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 9028-012]


Banister Hydro, Inc.; 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.: 9028-012.
    c. Date filed: July 26, 2024.
    d. Applicant: Banister Hydro, Inc. (Banister Hydro).
    e. Name of Project: Halifax Hydroelectric Project (Halifax Project 
or project).
    f. Location: On the Banister River, near the Town of Halifax in 
Halifax County, Virginia.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Lewis Loon, General Manager--Operations and 
Maintenance USA, KEI (USA) Power Management Inc., 423 Brunswick Ave., 
Gardiner, ME 04345; (207) 203-3027; [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Chris Millard at (202) 502-8256, 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).
    k. Pursuant to Sec.  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: September 24, 2024.
    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: 
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, Maryland 20852. All filings must 
clearly identify the project name and docket number on the first page: 
Halifax Hydroelectric Project (P-9028-012).
    m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    n. The Halifax Hydroelectric Project consists of the following 
existing facilities: (1) a 682-foot-long and 36-foot-high dam, with a 
301-foot-long concrete spillway (consisting of a 24-foot-long fixed 
weir, twelve 3-foot-wide piers, eleven 20-foot-wide gated bays, and a 
21-foot-long fixed weir), a 73-foot-8-inch-long integral powerhouse and 
intake structure, and a 307-foot-8-inch-long non-overflow structure 
(consisting of a 57-foot-6-inch-long concrete gravity wall, 203-foot-2-
inch-long sheetpile cells with earthfill, and a 47-foot-long earthfill 
section); (2) an approximately 374-acre impoundment with a gross 
storage capacity of 3,510 acre-feet at a normal water surface elevation 
of 351.3 feet mean sea level (MSL); (3) two 455-kilowatt (kW) turbine-
generator units and a 875-kW turbine-generator unit for a total 
installed capacity of 1,785 kW; (4) 4.16-kilovolt (kV) generator leads, 
a 4.16/13.2-kV transformer, and a 512-foot-long transmission line; and 
(5) appurtenant facilities.
    The Halifax Project operates in a run-of-river mode with a 
continuous minimum flow of 5 cubic feet per second (cfs), or inflow, 
whichever is less. There is minimal to no available usable storage 
behind the dam and if river flow is less than 135 cfs, all water is 
spilled over the dam. The project is typically operated remotely in 
automatic control mode. Banister Hydro is not proposing any new project 
facilities or changes to the operation of the project.
    From 2019 to 2023, average annual generation at the Halifax Project 
was 2,403 megawatt-hours.
    o. 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 (P-9028). 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://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.
    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].
    p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will 
be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions 
to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

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                 Milestone                           Target date
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Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary)....  October 2024.
Request Additional Information............  October 2024.
Issue Acceptance Letter...................  January 2025.
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments.....  February 2025.
Issue Scoping Document 2 (if necessary)...  April 2025.
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    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: August 7, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2024-18059 Filed 8-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P