Duke Power; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission, Soliciting Additional Study Requests, and Establishing Procedures for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.

a. Type of Application: New major license.

b. Project No.: 2686-032.

c. Date Filed: January 26, 2004.

d. Applicant: Duke Power—Nantahala Area.

e. Name of Project: West Fork Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the West Fork of the Tuckasegee River, in Jackson County, North Carolina. The project does not affect Federal lands.

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).

h. Applicant Contact: John C. Wishon, Nantahala Area Relicensing Project Manager, Duke Power, 301 NP&L Loop, Franklin, NC 28734, (828) 369-4604, jcwishon@duke-energy.com.

i. FERC Contact: Carolyn Holsopple at (202) 502-6407, or carolyn.holsopple@ferc.gov.

j. Cooperating Agencies: We are asking Federal, State, local, and tribal agencies with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to environmental issues to cooperate with us in the preparation of the environmental document. Agencies who would like to request cooperating status should follow the instructions for filing comments described in item l below.

k. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's regulations, if any resource agency, Indian tribe, or person believes that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to form an adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the application on its merit, the resource agency, Indian tribe, or person must file a request for a study with the Commission not later than 60 days from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of the request on the applicant.

l. Deadline for Filing Additional Study Requests and Requests for Cooperating Agency Status: 60 days from the filing date shown in paragraph (c), or March 26, 2004.

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 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.

Additional study requests may be filed electronically via the Internet in lieu of paper. The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. See 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the Commission's Web site ( http://www.ferc.gov ) under the “e-Filing” link. After logging into the e-Filing system, select “Comment on Filing” from the Filing Type Selection screen and continue with the filing process.”

m. Status: This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this time.

n. Description of Project: The existing West Fork Project operates in a peaking mode and is comprised of two developments: Thorpe and Tuckasegee. The Thorpe development consists of the following features: (1) A 900-foot-long, 150-foot-tall rockfill dam (Glenville Dam), with a 410-foot-long, 122-foot-tall earth and rockfill saddle dam located approximately 500 feet from the main dam left abutment; (2) a spillway for Glenville Dam located at the right abutment; (3) a 1,462-acre reservoir, with a normal reservoir elevation of 3,491.8 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum and a storage capacity of 72,000-acre-feet; (4) a concrete and brick powerhouse containing one generating unit having an installed capacity of 15.5 megawatts (MW); and (5) appurtenant facilities.

The Tuckasegee development consists of the following features: (1) A 254-foot-long, 61-foot-high concrete arch dam (Tuckasegee Dam), with 24 steel flashboards; (2) a 233.5-foot-long spillway; (3) a 7.9-acre reservoir, with a normal reservoir elevation of 2,778.75 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum and a storage capacity of 35-acre-feet; (4) a concrete powerhouse containing one generating unit having an installed capacity of 2.6 MW; and (5) appurtenant facilities.

o. 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 using the “eLibrary” link. Enter the docket number, excluding the last three digits in the docket number field (P-2686), 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.

You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm to be notified via email of new filings and issuances related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

p. With this notice, we are initiating consultation with the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO), as required by § 106, National Historic Preservation Act, and the regulations of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 36 CFR 800.4.

q. Procedural Schedule And Final Amendments: The application will be processed according to the following Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made if the Commission determines it necessary to do so:

Unless substantial comments are received in response to the EA, staff intends to prepare a single EA in this case. If substantial comments are received in response to the EA, a final EA will be prepared with the following modifications to the schedule.

Final amendments to the application must be filed with the Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of this notice.