Jump to main content.

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment and Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping Comments

Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

 [Federal Register: July 9, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 131)]
[Notices]
[Page 40922-40923]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09jy03-82]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment and
Notice of Scoping Meetings and Site Visit and Soliciting Scoping
Comments

July 1, 2003.
    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been
filed with Commission and is available for public inspection:
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: 382-026.
    c. Date filed: February 26, 2003.
    d. Applicant: Southern California Edison Company.
    e. Name of Project: Borel Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: On the Kern River near the town of Bodfish, Kern
County, California. The canal intake for the project is located on
approximately 188 acres of Sequoia National Forest Service lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C.Sec. Sec.
791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Mr. Nino J. Mascolo, Senior Attorney,
Southern California Edison Co., 2244 Walnut Grove Avenue, P.O. Box 800,
Rosemead, California 91770.
    i. FERC Contact: Allison Arnold at (202)502-6346 or 
allison.arnold@ferc.gov.
    j. Deadline for filing scoping comments: September 5, 2003.
    All documents (original and eight copies) should be filed with:
Magalie R. Salas, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
    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.
    Scoping comments may be filed electronically via the Internet in
lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filings.
See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's
Web site ( http://www.ferc.gov ) Exit Disclaimer under the ``e-Filing'' link.
    k. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
    l. The existing Borel Hydroelectric Project (Project) consists of:
(1) A 158-foot long, 4-foot-high concrete diversion dam with fishway;
(2) a 61-foot-long intake structure with three 10-by 10-foot radial
gates; (3) a canal inlet structure consisting of a canal intake, trash
racks, and a sluice gate; (4) a flowline with a combined total length
of 1,985-feet of tunnel, 1,651-feet of steel Lennon flume, 3,683-feet
of steel siphon, and 51,835-feet of concrete-lined canal; (5) four
steel penstock, penstocks 1 and 2 are 526-feet-long and 565-feet-long,
respectively with varying diameters between 42 and 60 inches, penstocks
3 and 4 each have a 60-inch-diameter and extend 622-feet at which point
they wye together to form a single 84-inch-diameter, 94-foot-long
penstock; (6) a powerhouse with two 3,000 kW generators and a 6,000kW
generator for a total installed capacity of 12,000 kW or 12 MW; and (7)
other appurtenant facilities. The Project has no storage capability and
relies on water releases from Lake Isabella made by the U.S. Army Corp
of Engineers.
    m. A copy of the application is available for review at the
Commission in the Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the
Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov Exit Disclaimer using the "FERRIS"
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 at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or toll-free at 1-866-208-
3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659. A copy is also available for
inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.
    n. Scoping Process
    The Commission intends to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA)
on the project in accordance with the National Environmental Policy
Act. The EA will consider both site-specific and cumulative
environmental impacts and reasonable alternatives to the proposed
action.

Scoping Meetings

    FERC staff will conduct one evening meeting and one daytime scoping
meeting. The evening scoping meeting is primarily for public input,
while the daytime scoping meeting will focus on resource agency and
non-governmental organization (NGO) concerns. All interested
individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to attend one or
both of the meetings, and to assist the staff in identifying the scope
of the environmental issues that should be analyzed in the EA. The
times and locations of these meetings are as follows:

Evening Scoping Meeting

    Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2003.
    Time: 6:30 p.m.
    Place: Woodrow Wallace Elementary School.
    Address: 3240 Erskine Creek Road, Lake Isabella, CA.

Daytime Scoping Meeting

    Date: Thursday, August 7, 2003.
    Time: 10 a.m.
    Place: U.S. Forest Service, Cannell Meadow District Office.
    Address: 105 Whitney Road, Kernville, CA 93238.
    Copies of the Scoping Document (SD1) outlining the subject areas to
be addressed in the EA are being 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 http://www.ferc.gov 
Exit Disclaimer using the ``FERRIS'' link (see item m above).

Site Visit

    Due to the logistics involved in traveling to some project
locations, there is a need to know the number of

[[Page 40923]]

attendees in advance. All individuals planning to attend need to call
Allison Arnold, FERC Project Coordinator, at (202) 502-6346, no later
than Thursday, July 31, 2003.
    FERC staff and the Applicants will conduct a one-day project site
visit on August 6, 2003, beginning at 1 p.m.. All interested
individuals, organizations, and agencies are invited to attend. All
participants should meet at the Woodrow Wallace Elementary School
located at 3240 Erskine Creek Road, Lake Isabella, CA by 1 p.m. on
August 6, 2003 for the site visit. All participants are responsible for
their own transportation, although we will try to carpool.

Objectives

    At the scoping meetings, the staff will: (1) Summarize the
environmental issues tentatively identified for analysis in the EIS;
(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 EIS, including viewpoints in opposition to, or in
support of, the staff's preliminary views; (4) determine the resource
issues to be addressed in the EIS; 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, organizations, 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 EA.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-17292 Filed 7-8-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P

 
 

Local Navigation

Jump to main content.