[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 134 (Wednesday, July 13, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Page 41237]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17588]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 12690-003]

Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County, WA; Notice
Concluding Pre-Filing Process and Approving Process Plan and Schedule

    a. Type of Filing: Notice of Intent to File a License Application
for an Original License for a Hydrokinetic Pilot Project.
    b. Project No.: 12690-003.
    c. Date Filed: December 28, 2009.
    d. Submitted by: Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County,
Washington (Snohomish PUD).
    e. Name of Project: Admiralty Inlet Pilot Tidal Project.
    f. Location: On the east side of Admiralty Inlet in Puget Sound,
Washington, about 1 kilometer west of Whidbey Island, entirely within
Island County, Washington. The project would not occupy any Federal
lands.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: 18 CFR 5.3 and 5.5 of the Commission's
regulations.
    h. Applicant Contact: Steven J. Klein, Public Utility District of
Snohomish County, Washington, P.O. Box 1107, 2320, California Street,
Everett, WA 98206-1107;<PHONE_NUMBER>.
    i. FERC Contact: David Turner<PHONE_NUMBER>.
    j. Snohomish PUD has filed with the Commission: (1) A notice of
intent (NOI) to file an application for a pilot hydrokinetic hydropower
project and a draft license application with monitoring plans; (2) a
request for waivers of certain Integrated Licensing Process (ILP)
regulations necessary for expedited processing of a license application
for a hydrokinetic pilot project; (3) a proposed process plan and
schedule; and (4) a request to be designated as the non-Federal
representative for section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
consultation and for section 106 consultation under the National
Historic Preservation Act.
    k. A notice was issued on December 30, 2009 soliciting comments on
the draft license application from agencies and stakeholders. Comments
were filed by Federal and state agencies, and non-governmental
organizations.
    l. Snohomish PUD was designated as the non-Federal representative
for section 7 of the Endangered Species Act consultation and for
section 106 consultation under the National Historic Preservation Act
on November 7, 2008.
    m. The proposed Admiralty Inlet Pilot Tidal Project would consist
of (1) Two 10-meter, 500-kilowatt (kW) Open-Centre Turbines supplied by
OpenHydro Group Ltd., mounted on completely submerged gravity
foundations; (2) two 250-meter service cables connected at a subsea
junction box or spliced to a 0.5-kilometer subsea transmission cable,
connecting to a cable termination vault about 50 meters from shore; (3)
two 81-meter-long buried conduits containing the two DC transmission
lines from the turbines and connecting to a power conditioning and
control building; (4) a 140-meter-long buried cable from the control
building to the grid; and (5) appurtenant facilities for operation and
maintenance. The estimated annual generation of the project is 383,000
kilowatt-hours.
    n. The pre-filing process has been concluded and the requisite
regulations have been waived such that the process and schedule
indicated below can be implemented.
    o. Post-filing process schedule. The post-filing process will be
conducted pursuant to the following schedule. Revisions to the schedule
may be made as needed.

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             Milestones                              Dates
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Final license application expected..  August 31, 2011.
Issue notice of acceptance and ready  September 15, 2011.
 for environmental analysis and
 request for interventions.
Issue biological assessment.........  September 15, 2011.
Recommendations, Conditions,          October 17, 2011.
 Comments and Interventions due.
Issue notice of availability of       December 16, 2011.
 environmental assessment.
Comments due and 10(j) resolution,    January 16, 2012.
 if needed.
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    p. Register online at http://ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm to be
notified via e-mail of new filing and issuances related to this or
other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

    Dated: July 7, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
 Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-17588 Filed 7-12-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P