Department of Energy November 13, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces a meeting to obtain individual public input on new ideas developed collaboratively by the Department of Energy (DOE), Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) aimed at improving coordination of FERC and USACE regulatory processes regarding non-federal development of hydropower at USACE non-powered dams. DOE estimates that there is a potential for 12 gigawatts of new hydropower capacity in the U.S. by adding power at non-powered dams.\1\ Adding power at USACE non-powered dams requires federal authorizations, potentially including authorizations via: The FERC licensing process \2\, the USACE 408 process \3\, and the USACE regulatory 404 process \4\ (impacts to waters of the U.S. pursuant to Section 404 of the Clean Water Act). All three of these processes require project proposal identification, information gathering, and environmental and engineering analyses to support licensing, permitting, or agency decisions.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0486; Final EIS), prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). This Final EIS considered public comments on the Draft EIS, which was issued in December 2014, reports on the status of consultations under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and under section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and identifies DOE's preferred alternative. DOE has not made a decision whether to participate in the proposed Plains & Eastern Clean Line Transmission Project.