HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.16.20 Email from FERC - Delegated Order issued in FERC P-2107-025
From:Schuman, Amy
To:Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly;Lambert, Steve;Lucero, Debra;McCracken, Shari;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;Rodas, Amalia;Sweeney, Kathleen;Teeter,
Doug
Subject:FW: Delegated Order issued in FERC P-2107-025
Date:Monday, March 16, 2020 9:07:12 AM
Good morning,
Please see the email below from FERC.
Amy Schuman
Associate Clerk of the Board
Butte County Administration
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200, Oroville, CA 95965
T: 530.552.3308 | F: 530.538.7120
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-----Original Message-----
From: 'FERC eSubscription' <eSubscription@ferc.gov>
Sent: Monday, March 16, 2020 8:55 AM
Subject: Delegated Order issued in FERC P-2107-025
.ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening attachments, clicking on links, or replying..
On 3/16/2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Washington D.C., issued this document:
Docket(s): P-2107-025
Lead Applicant: Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Filing Type: Delegated Order
Description: Order Approving Streamflow Gaging Plan Pursuant to Article 401(a) and Water Quality Certification Condition No. 7 re Pacific Gas and Electric Company under P-2107.
To view the document for this Issuance, click here https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://elibrary.FERC.gov/idmws/file_list.asp?accession_num=20200316-
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170 FERC ¶ 62,149
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
Pacific Gas and Electric CompanyProject No. 2107-025
ORDER APPROVING STREAMFLOW GAGING PLAN PURSUANT TO ARTICLE
401(a)AND WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATIONCONDITION NO. 7
(IssuedMarch16, 2020)
1.On December 17, 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric Company(licensee) filed its
Streamflow Gaging Plan (Plan) pursuant to the California State Water Resources Control
Board’s (Water Board) Water Quality Certification condition no. 7 under Article 401(a)
1
of the license for the Poe Hydroelectric Project No. 2107.Theproject is located onthe
North Fork Feather River, just upstream of Lake Oroville, near the town of Pulga, in
ButteCounty, California. The project occupies federal land within the Plumas National
Forest administered by the U.S. Forest Service(Forest Service).
License Requirements
2.Among other requirements listed under Article 401(a), the licensee is required to
file for Commission approval, a streamflow gaging plan pursuant to Water Quality
Certification condition no. 7. Water Quality Certification condition no. 7 requires the
licensee to submit a streamflow gaging plan to the Deputy Director of the Water Board
for review and approval within one year of license issuance. The licensee must file the
2
Deputy Director’s approval, as well as any modifications, with the Commission.
3.Water Quality Certification condition no. 7 stipulates that the licensee must
3
operate and maintain the stream gage named Gage 23.The requiredstreamflow gaging
plan must outline how and where the licensee would provide real-time release and stage-
change data as well as a list of best management practices that the licensee would
1
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, 165 FERC ¶ 62,172 (2018).
2
Article 401(a) requires the licensee to file the streamflow gaging plan with the
Commission within one year of license issuance.
3
Gage 23 is also referred to as NF-23 and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gage
No.11404500at North Fork Feather River at Pulga, California.
Project No. 2107-025-2-
implement for gage installation and maintenance. Real-time flow information mustbe
available within four hours of collection and mustbe accessible to the public via the
internet including, but not limited to, the previous seven days of flow information. All
provisional streamflow values mustbe labeled as:“These provisional data have not been
reviewed or edited and may be subject to significant change” or other similar language
approved by the Deputy Director.
4.All data recorded by the above-mentioned equipment mustcomply with USGS
standards and record flows at no less frequently than 15-minute intervals. The licensee
mustdocument all instream flows in readily accessible formats. Streamflow data
collected by the licensee mustbe reviewed by hydrographers as part of a quality
assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocol. Upon completion of the QA/QC process
and no later than December 31, the raw and reviewed data for the previous water year
(October 1 –September 30) mustbe catalogued and made available to theUSGS in an
annual hydrology summary report(s). The licensee mustprovide notice to Water Board
staff when the data are submitted to theUSGS and provide the location on the internet
where the annual hydrology summary report(s) can be found.
5.License Article 401(a) requires that, in addition to obtaining approval of the
streamflow gaging plan from the Water Board, the licenseemust prepare the plan in
consultation with the appropriate resource agencies. The licensee should include with the
filed plan documentation of consultation, copies of comments on the plan, and its
responses to the comments.
6.The Commission reserves the right to require changes to the plan. Upon
Commission approval, the plan becomes a requirement of the license, and the licensee
shouldimplement the plan, including any changes required by the Commission. Any
proposedchange in the plan would requireapproval by the Commission before
implementing the change.
ProposedPlan
7.The licensee’s filed Plan incorporates the elements required under Water Quality
Certification condition no. 7. In the Plan, the licensee describes how it would perform
the following activities at the project: monitoring streamflow;implementing QA/QC
procedures;and storingand reportingdata records.
8.According to the Plan, the licensee would use Gage 23 to continuously collect
streamflow data in 15-minute intervals. To perform project operations and ensure project
compliance, the licensee would review, on a daily basis,the flow and elevation data using
both a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and ahydrologic data
storage and retrieval(HYDSTRA) software.During site visits, the licensee would verify
the stage accuracy using a staff gage.The site visit records would be submitted to the
Project No. 2107-025-3-
USGS for annual review.In addition, the licensee and the USGS would make a
minimum of two low flow measurements per year to validate the gage data.
9.The Plan notes that both the licensee and the USGS would perform data quality
control. To verify the stage-discharge relationship, these entities would take six to ten
streamflow measurements per year in an effort to represent a full range of rated flows. In
accordance with USGS protocols, gage benchmarks, reference gages, and water surface
elevations would be surveyed to determine if any movement of reference elevations has
occurred.Each year, the licensee would submit to the USGS a mean daily flow
summary, shift rationale, gage height corrections, current meter measurement summary,
field data sheets, datum adjustments, rating tables, and hydrographs for the previous
water year.
10.The Plan specifies that thegage data would be storedusing several methods,
including data loggers, the HYDSTRA software, and the SCADA system.The SCADA
system would provide approximately six months to one year of data.The HYDSTRA
software would provide longterm archivingof the data viastorageand back up on the
licensee’s servers.
11.According to the Plan, hourly flow data from Gage 23 would be uploaded to the
California Department of Water Resources California Data Exchange Center (CDEC).
The licensee included in the Plan the web address for the public to access theflow data
on the CDEC website.
Pre-Filing Consultation
12.By email messaged dated September 18, 2019, the licensee distributed a draft copy
of the Streamflow Gaging Plan to the Water Board and the Forest Servicefor review and
comment.The Forest Service provided comments on the draft Plan in an October 25,
2019 email message. The Water Board did not comment on the draft Plan. On
November 6, 2019, the licensee distributed a revised version of the draft Plan to the
Water Board, the Forest Service, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
(California DFW)for review and comment.In a November 12, 2019 email message, the
California DFW stated that the Plan was acceptable. During the period from
November12 through November 21, 2019, the licensee continued to developthePlan in
consultationwith the resource agencies via email exchangeand a phone call, receiving
comments on the Plan from the Water Board and the Forest Service.The licensee
incorporated or responded to all of the comments in the final Plan filed with the
Commission.
13.The licensee requested approval of the Plan in a November 22, 2019 letter to the
Deputy Director of the Water Board. On March 10, 2020, the Deputy Director of the
Water Board filed a letter with the Commission providing approval of the Plan.
Project No. 2107-025-4-
Review
14.The licensee’s filed Streamflow Gaging Plan meets the requirements ofWater
Quality Certification condition no. 7 under Article 401(a) of the project license.The
licensee provided documentation of consultation with the resource agencies and the
Water Board provided a letter expressing the Deputy Director’s approval of the Plan.
The Plan should,therefore, be approved.
TheDirectororders:
(A)TheStreamflow Gaging Plan filed by Pacific Gas and Electric Companyon
December 17, 2019,pursuant to Water Quality Certification condition no. 7 under Article
401(a) of the license for the Poe Hydroelectric Project No. 2107,isapproved.
(B)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
section313(a) of the FederalPower Act, 16 U.S.C. § 825l(2018), and the Commission’s
regulationsat18 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 licensee’sfailure to file a request for rehearing shall constitute acceptance of
this order.
Kelly Houff
Chief, EngineeringResources Branch
Division of Hydropower Administration
and Compliance