HomeMy WebLinkAbout01.16.20 Email from FERC - Order Amending Project Boundary, Revising Annual Charges, and Approving Revised Ex. G Drawings RE PGE et al under P-619
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170 FERC ¶ 62,033
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
Pacific Gas and Electric Company Project No. 619-166
City of Santa Clara, California
ORDER AMENDING PROJECT BOUNDARY, REVISING ANNUAL CHARGES,
AND APPROVING REVISED EXHIBIT G DRAWINGS
(Issued January 16, 2020)
1. On October 29, 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the City of
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Santa Clara, California, licensees for the Bucks Creek Hydroelectric Project No. 619,
filed an application to amend the project boundary in order to integrate into the project
several areas the licensees state are needed for planned construction activities. The
project is located on the North Fork Feather River and Bucks and Grizzly creeks in
Plumas County, California. The project occupies federal land within the Plumas National
Forest administered by the U.S. Forest Service.
Licensees Filing
2. In their October 29, 2019 submittal, the licensees indicate they are planning to
perform required project maintenance and would need to make use of three distinct lay-
down areas to do so. Two of these sites are located within the Plumas National Forest
and after approaching the U.S. Forest Service about using the land, the licensees state the
agency requested the licensees pursue a project boundary amendment rather than attempt
to obtain a special use permit. As such, the licensees are requesting the Commission
amend the boundary to enclose the three areas. In aggregate, the three sites cover
29.5 acres, with 3.1 acres of that being federal land and the remainder being owned by
PG&E. The licensees also filed four revised Exhibit G drawings showing the revised
project boundary.
Review
3. Project boundaries designate the geographic extent of a hydropower project, and
the boundary must enclose those lands and facilities necessary for operation and
maintenance of the project. The licensees state that they have used two of the three sites
as laydown areas in the past, and that all three are necessary for the extensive planned
repair activities. Furthermore, the licensees have included evidence of consultation with
the U.S. Forest Service which concurred that there would be no impact on sensitive
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Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 52 FPC 1898 (1974).
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wildlife resource or historic properties within the national forest. We agree that the
inclusion of these three areas as project lands is appropriate and will amend the project
boundary to enclose them, as shown on the Exhibit G drawings discussed below.
4. While no effects to historic properties are anticipated, if ground disturbing
activities are required, Article 409, added to the license though the 1988 Order Amending
License (Major), Denying Competing Preliminary Permit Application, and Extending
License Term, requires the licensees, before starting any ground-disturbing or land
clearing activities on any land within the project boundary regardless of owner, to consult
with the California State Historic Preservation Officer and the U.S. Forest Service on the
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need for any cultural resource surveys or other related measures.
5. We have reviewed the drawings and determine that they conform to the
paragraph (D) we are
requiring the licensee to file the exhibit drawings in electronic format.
6. Licensees using federal land are required to pay annual charges to compensate the
United States for the use, occupancy, and enjoyment of that land. Through the boundary
revision, the project would occupy an additional 3.1 acres of federally owned land. We
will revise license Article 37 to reflect the increase in payments required from the
licensees to compensate the United States for their use of the additional federal land.
The Director orders:
(A) The application filed on October 29, 2019 by Pacific Gas and Electric
Company and the City of Santa Clara, California to amend the boundary for their Bucks
Creek Hydroelectric Project No. 619 is approved.
(B) Article 37 of the license is revised to read as follows, effective the date this
order is issued:
(a) For the purpose of reimbursing the United States for the cost of administration
of Part I of the Federal Power Act, a reasonable annual charge as determined by the
Commission in accordance with the provisions of its regulations, in effect from time to
time. The authorized installed capacity for that purpose is 84,800 kilowatts.
(b) For the purpose of recompensing the United States for the use, occupancy,
and enjoyment of 1,498.4 acres of its lands exclusive of transmission line
rights-of-way, a reasonable amount as determined in accordance with the
.
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Pacific Gas & Electric Company, J. Mark Neilsen, 43 FERC ¶ 62,136 (1988).
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(c) For the purpose of recompensing the United States for the use, occupancy,
and enjoyment of 44.2 acres of its lands for transmission line rights-of-way
only, such amount as may be determined from time to time pursuant to the
regulations.
(C) The following exhibit drawings, filed on October 29, 2019 for the Bucks
Creek Hydroelectric Project No. 619, lations,
and are approved and made part of the license, as labeled and numbered below. The
previous drawing nos. P-619-194, P-619-197, P-619-198, and P-619-202 are deleted from
the license.
DRAWING DRAWING
EXHIBIT FERC DRAWING No.
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TITLE FILENAME
General Map
G-1
P-619-212 General Map
South Portion of South Portion of
G-4
P-619-213
Bucks Lake Bucks Lake
Lower Bucks Lower Bucks
G-5
P-619-214
Lake Lake
Grizzly Tunnel, Grizzly Tunnel,
G-9
P-619-215
Access Roads Roads
(D) Within 45 days of the date of issuance of this order, as directed below, the
licensee must file two sets of the approved exhibit drawing, Form FERC-587, and
geographic information system (GIS) data in electronic file format on compact disks with
the Secretary of the Commission, ATTN: OEP/DHAC.
a) The licensee must prepare digital images of the approved exhibit drawings in
electronic format. Prior to preparing each digital image, show the FERC Project-
Drawing Number (i.e., P-619-212 etc.) in the margin below the title block of the
approved drawing. Each drawing must be a separate electronic file, and the file name
must include: FERC Project-Drawing Number, FERC Exhibit Number, Drawing
Filename, date of this order, and file extension in the following format \[P-619-212, G-1,
General Map, MM-DD-YYYY.TIFF\].
Each Exhibit G drawing that includes the project boundary must contain a
minimum of three known reference points (i.e., latitude and longitude coordinates or state
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These exact names must be used in the filename when filing the electronic file
format drawings required in ordering paragraph (D). Commission staff shortened the
drawing title due to filename character limits. There is no need to modify the title as it
appears on the drawing itself.
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plane coordinates). The points must be in a triangular arrangement for GIS
georeferencing the project boundary drawing to the polygon data and based on a standard
map coordinate system. The licensee must identify the spatial reference for the drawing
(i.e., map projection, map datum, and units of measurement) on the drawing and label
each reference point. In addition, a registered land surveyor must stamp each project
boundary drawing. All digital images of the exhibit drawings must meet the following
format specification:
IMAGERY: black & white raster file
FILE TYPE: Tagged Image File Format, (TIFF) CCITT Group 4
(also known as T.6 coding scheme)
RESOLUTION: 300 dots per inch (dpi) desired, (200 dpi minimum)
SIZE FORMAT:
FILE SIZE: less than 1 megabyte desired
The licensee must file a third set of exhibit drawings and a copy of Form FERC-
587 with the Bureau of Land Management office at the following address:
ATTN FERC Withdrawal Recordation
BLM California State Office
2800 Cottage Way, Room W-1834
Sacramento, CA 95825-1886
Form FERC-
URL: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/forms/form-587/form-587.pdf. A hard copy of
the Form FERC-587 is available by mailing a request to the Secretary of the Commission
in the event the form cannot be downloaded from the Internet.
b) Project boundary GIS data must be in a georeferenced electronic file format
(such as ArcGIS shapefiles, GeoMedia files, MapInfo files, or a similar GIS format). The
filing must include both polygon data and all reference points shown on the individual
project boundary drawings. Each project development must have an electronic boundary
polygon data file(s). Depending on the electronic file format, the polygon and point data
can be included in single files with multiple layers. The georeferenced electronic
boundary data file must be positionally accurate to ±40 feet in order to comply with
National Map Accuracy Standards for maps at a 1:24,000 scale. The file name(s) must
include: FERC Project Number, data description, date of this order, and file extension in
the following format \[P-619, boundary polygon or point data, MM-DD-YYYY.SHP\]. A
separate text file describing the spatial reference for the georeferenced data: map
projection used (i.e., UTM, State Plane, Decimal Degrees, etc.), the map datum (i.e.,
North American 27, North American 83, etc.), and the units of measurement (i.e., feet,
meters, miles, etc.) must accompany the filing. The text file name must include: FERC
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Project Number, data description, date of this order, and file extension in the following
format \[P-619, project boundary metadata, MM-DD-YYYY.TXT\]
In addition, for those projects that occupy federal lands or section 24 lands, a
separate georeferenced polygon file(s) that identifies transmission line acreage and non-
transmission line acreage affecting these lands for the purpose of meeting the
requirements of 18 C.F.R. §11.2 must accompany the filing. The file(s) must also
identify each federal owner (e.g., Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, etc.), land identification (e.g., forest name, Section 24 lands,
national park name, etc.), and federal or section 24 acreage within the project boundary.
Depending on the georeferenced electronic file format, a single file with multiple layers
may include the polygon, point, and federal lands data.
(E) This order constitutes final agency action. Any party may file a request for
rehearing of this order within 30 days from the date of its issuance, as provided in section
313(a) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. § 825l (2018
regulations at 18 C.F.R. § 385.713 (2019). The filing of a request for rehearing does not
operate as a stay of the effective date of this order, or of any other date specified in this
order. The licensees failure to file a request for rehearing shall constitute acceptance of
this order.
Kelly Houff
Chief, Engineering Resources Branch
Division of Hydropower Administration
and Compliance