HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.03.2024 Board Correspondence - FW_ Delegated Order issued in FERC P-619-180From:Clerk of the Board
To:Bennett, Robin; Clerk of the Board; Connelly, Bill; Cook, Holly; Cook, Robin; Durfee, Peter; Hancock, LeAnne; Jessee, Meegan; Kimmelshue, Tod; Kitts, Melissa; Lee, Lewis; McDonnell, Susan; Pickett, Andy; Ritter, Tami; Stephens, Brad J.; Sweeney,
Kathleen; Teeter, Doug; Zepeda, Elizabeth; Loeser, Kamie
Cc:Nevers, Dawn
Subject:Board Correspondence - FW: Delegated Order issued in FERC P-619-180
Date:Friday, May 3, 2024 9:57:57 AM
Please see Board correspondence -
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Subject: Delegated Order issued in FERC P-619-180
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On 5/3/2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Washington D.C., issued this document:
Docket(s): P-619-180
Lead Applicant: Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Filing Type: Delegated Order
Description: Order Modifying and Approving Dewatering and Diversion Plan under Article 401(B) re Pacific Gas and Electric Company's et al. Bucks Creek Project under P-619.
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187 FERC ¶ 62,081
UNITED ST AT ES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the City of Santa
Clara, California
Project No.619-180
ORDER MODIFYING AND APPROVING DEWATERING AND DIVERSION PLAN
UNDER ARTICLE 401(B)
(Issued May 3, 2024)
1.On March 28,2024,Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the City of Santa
Clara, California, licensees for the Bucks Creek Project No. 619, filed a Dewatering and
Diversion Plan (Plan) with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) for
the Lower Bucks spillway pursuant to Article 401(b) of the project license.1 The project
is located on Bucks Creek, Grizzly Creek, and the North Fork Feather River in Plumas
County, California. The project occupies, in part, federal lands administered by the U.S.
Forest Service (Forest Service).
Background
2.License Article 401(b) requires the licensees to file various plans for Commission
approval that are concurrent requirements of the California State Water Resources
Control Board’s (California SWRCB) section 401 water quality certification and the
Forest Service’s section 4(e) conditions. Specifically, condition no. 23 of the California
SWRCB’s water quality certification requires that the licensees prepare a Dewatering and
Diversion Plan prior to commencing any work that requires a water diversion or in-water
work below the maximum water surface elevation or high-water mark. License Article
401(b) requires that the Plan also be filed with the Commission at least 90 days prior to
starting work.
3.The Plan is to include the following:
An overview of all in-water work that will require dewatering or diversion of
water;
Time frames for required dewatering or diversion work;
1 Order Issuing New License (179 FERC ¶ 61,202), issued June 16, 2022.
Document Accession #: 20240503-3028 Filed Date: 05/03/2024
Project No. 619-180 -2 -
Description of coffer dams or equivalent barriers that will be used to isolate the
construction area from instream flows;
Description of measures, if needed, that will be implemented to avoid potential
fish stranding and entrainment;
Provisions to maintain downstream flow equal to upstream flow. If temporary
modification of minimum instream flows are required, the licensees shall provide
a written description of the modification, reason(s) for its necessity, measures that
will be implemented to protect water quality and beneficial uses, and the proposed
timeline for modification and return to the required minimum instream flow;
Proposed monitoring and reporting related to the dewatering, diversion, and
turbidity of water; and
Description of how, upon completion of construction activities, flow will resume
with the least disturbance to the substrate, water quality, and beneficial uses.
4.With each plan filed with the Commission under Article 401(b), the licensees must
include documentation that they developed the plan in consultation with the California
SWRCB, Forest Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, and other consulted agencies stipulated by the mandatory conditions,
and has received approval from the resource agencies, as applicable. For each plan filed,
the licensees must provide copies of any comments received, as well as their response to
each comment. The Commission reserves the right to make changes to any plan filed.
Upon Commission approval, the plan becomes a requirement of the license, and the
licensees must implement the plan, including any changes required by the Commission.
Any changes in the schedule or plan requires approval by the Commission before
implementing the proposed change.
Licensees’Proposal
5.The licensees propose to implement a Dewatering and Diversion Plan to facilitate
ongoing dam safety at Lower Bucks Dam spillway during 2024 and 2025.2 The licensees
are planning to rehabilitate the Lower Bucks Dam spillway in late April/early May
through the end of November in years 2024 and 2025. To facilitate the work, the
licensees propose to implement various water management activities in areas below the
ordinary high-water mark in Bucks Creek below the lower project dam. The licensees
2 Preconstruction work and site dewatering occurred during the 2023 construction
season under separate Commission order. See Order Modifying and Approving
Dewatering and Diversion Plan Under Article 401(b) and Dismissing Request for
Temporary Variance of Minimum Flow Requirement (184 FERC ¶ 62,134), issued
September 8, 2023.
Document Accession #: 20240503-3028 Filed Date: 05/03/2024
Project No. 619-180 -3 -
also propose to cease diversion into the Milk Ranch conduit and manage lake elevations
to avoid water surface elevations reaching the spillway crest.
6.Below Lower Bucks Dam, the licensees propose to dewater the plunge pool
immediately below the dam and install a temporary flow bypass system. The licensees
would dewater the plunge pool to provide additional construction access for rock
excavation and demolition activities at the base of the spillway. The licensees would also
set up a temporary debris barrier at the bottom of the spillway to protect the streambed.
The bypass system would consist of a temporary piping connected to the existing low-
level outlet piping or valve at the base of the dam. The temporary piping would re-route
flows downstream of the spillway plunge pool and ensure that minimum flows are
released and maintained downstream.
7.During the construction project, the licensees propose to utilize an alternate flow
ga ge (NF-118), located just downstream of the plunge pool, to ensure that it meets the
minimum flow requirement. The temporary flow bypass system was installed in 2023
and the licensees would meet the minimum flow requirement directly into the stream
channel downstream of the plunge pool. During dewatering, the licensees propose to
monitor turbidity downstream of the bypass release to ensure that it meets the compliance
thresholds of the California SWRCB Basin Plan. In addition, during initial dewatering
the licensees would monitor for any fish stranding and relocate individuals to a
downstream location. Prior to release, the licensees would identify fish to species and
take length measurements. Upon conclusion of the work, the licensees would remove
spoil, debris, and construction equipment from the site and return it to pre-project
conditions. Lower Bucks Lake would also be refilled from the upstream Bucks Lake
Dam low-level-outlet.
Agency Consultation
8.The licensees developed the Plan in coordination with the California SWRCB. By
letter dated March 27, 2024, the California SWRCB provided conditional approval of the
licensees’Plan and use of a temporary compliance gage (NF-118). The California
SWRCB requires that the licensees: 1) notify it of completion of construction each season
no later than 30 days after completion; 2)submit a fish relocation report to the California
SWRCB, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and California Department of
Fish and Wildlife if any stranding occurs; 3)submit a turbidity monitoring report within
60 days of work completion each season; and 4)stop construction work in the event of a
turbidity exceedance of the Basin Plan.
Discussion and Conclusion
9.The licensees are proposing to implement a plan to minimize potential effects to
aquatic resources from planned dewatering and construction activities at Lower Bucks
Dam. Approval of the licensees’Plan would result in the dewatering of a small plunge
Document Accession #: 20240503-3028 Filed Date: 05/03/2024
Project No. 619-180 -4 -
pool immediately below Lower Bucks Lake Dam. To offset potential effects to aquatic
resources, the licensees are proposing to monitor and relocate any stranded fish in the
plunge pool and conduct turbidity monitoring, as required by the California SWRCB. At
the conclusion of the project, the licensees should be required to file the associated
reports with the Commission concurrent with their submittal to the resource agencies.
10.Commission staff’s review of the licensees’Plan also indicates that the licensees
are planning to temporarily modify its minimum flow compliance location from the low-
level outlet to an alternate gage located just downstream of the plunge pool. This
temporary modification is acceptable under condition no. 1 of the California SWRCB’s
water quality certification and formally approved in its March 27, 2024 approval letter for
the 2024 and 2025 construction seasons.
11.In conclusion, the licensees’Plan, with the above modifications,should
adequately protect aquatic resources during the temporary dewatering of the plunge pool
and would facilitate construction activities during the 2024 and 2025 construction
seasons. The Plan was also developed in consultation with, and approved by the
California SWRCB, as required by the project license. Therefore, the licensees’Plan, as
modified,should be approved. Finally, the licensees are reminded that they should file
required plans well ahead of established deadlines, including the Dewatering and
Diversion Plan, which was filed 65 days ahead of the start of construction and 43 days
before the requested action date, both short of the 90-day advance construction
requirement. Si milar future instances may result in construction or schedule delays if
filed outside of the required review timelines.
The Director orders:
(A)Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the City of Santa Clara, California’s
(licensees)Dewatering and Diversion Plan, filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (Commission) on March 28, 2024,pursuant to license Article 401(b) of the
Bucks Creek Project No. 619, as modified in ordering paragraphs (B) through (D), is
approved for the 2024 and 2025 construction seasons.
(B)If any fish become stranded during initial dewatering, the licensees must
relocate fish to a suitable location downstream of the project. The licensees must also file
fish stranding and relocation reports with the Commission within 30 days of concluding
spillway project work for 2024 and 2025,as stipulated in the California State Water
Resource Control Board’s (California SWRCB) March 27, 2024 Dewatering and
Diversion Plan approval letter.
(C)The licensees must conduct turbidity monitoring, as stipulated in the
California SWRCB’s March 27, 2024 approval letter. The licensees must also file final
reports of their water quality monitoring with the Commission within 60 days of
concluding spillway project work for 2024 and 2025, and include all elements identified
Document Accession #: 20240503-3028 Filed Date: 05/03/2024
Project No. 619-180 -5 -
in the California SWRCB’s March 27, 2024 letter.
Document Accession #: 20240503-3028 Filed Date: 05/03/2024
Project No. 619-180 -6 -
(D)The licensees must stop construction activities in the event of a turbidity
exceedance of the turbidity objectives of the California SWRCB’s Water Quality Control
Plan for the Sacramento River Basin and the San Joaquin River Basin (Basin Plan). The
licensee must also notify the California SWRCB within 24 hours of the exceedance and
not resume construction activities until turbidity meets the Basin Plan objective and the
California SWRCB has given approval to proceed. Any exceedances should also be
identified in the annual report to be filed with the Commission under ordering paragraph
(C).
(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, and the Commission’s regulations at
18 C.F.R. § 385.713 (2023). 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.
Andrea Claros
Chief, Aquatic Resources Branch
Division of Hydropower Administration
and Compliance
Document Accession #: 20240503-3028 Filed Date: 05/03/2024
Document Content(s)
P-619-180.docx ............................................................1Document Accession #: 20240503-3028 Filed Date: 05/03/2024