Chittenden Falls Hydroelectric Project FERC Project No
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR HYDROPOWER LICENSE Chittenden Falls Hydroelectric Project FERC Project No. 3273-024 New York Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Office of Energy Projects Division of Hydropower Licensing 888 First Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20426 January 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xiii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................... xiv 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Application .................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Purpose of Action and Need For Power ........................................................ 2 1.2.1 Purpose of Action ............................................................................ 2 1.2.2 Need for Power ................................................................................ 4 1.3 Statutory and Regulatory Requirements ....................................................... 4 1.4 Public Review and Comment ........................................................................ 4 1.4.1 Scoping ............................................................................................ 4 1.4.2 Interventions .................................................................................... 5 1.4.3 Comments on the License Application and Settlement Agreement 5 2.0 PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES ..................................................... 5 2.1 No-action Alternative .................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 Existing Project Facilities and Project Boundary ............................ 6 2.1.2 Project Safety ................................................................................... 8 2.1.3 Existing Project Operation and Environmental Measures .............. 8 2.2 Applicant’s Proposal ................................................................................... 10 2.2.1 Proposed Project Facilities ............................................................ 10 2.2.2 Proposed Project Operation and Environmental Measures ........... 10 2.2.3 Modifications to Applicant’s Proposal – Mandatory Conditions .. 12 2.3 STAFF ALTERNATIVE ............................................................................ 12 2.4 STAFF ALTERNATIVE WITH MANDATORY CONDITIONS ............ 13 2.5 ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED BUT ELIMINATED FROM DETAILED STUDY ................................................................................... 13 3.0 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 13 3.1 General Description of the River Basin ...................................................... 14 3.2 Scope of Cumulative Effects Analysis ........................................................ 16 3.2.1 Geographic Scope .......................................................................... 16 3.2.2 Temporal Scope ............................................................................. 17 3.3 Proposed Action and Action Alternatives ................................................... 17 3.3.1 Geology and Soils .......................................................................... 17 3.3.2 Aquatic Resources ......................................................................... 19 3.3.3 Terrestrial Resources ..................................................................... 44 3.3.4 Threatened and Endangered Species ............................................. 48 3.3.5 Recreation Resources .................................................................... 53 x 3.3.6 Cultural Resources ......................................................................... 55 3.4 No-action Alternative .................................................................................. 58 4.0 DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS ........................................................................ 59 4.1 Power and Developmental Benefits of the Project ..................................... 59 4.2 Comparison of Alternatives ........................................................................ 60 4.2.1 No-action Alternative .................................................................... 61 4.2.2 Applicants’ Proposals .................................................................... 62 4.2.3 Staff Alternative ............................................................................ 62 4.2.4 Staff Alternative with Mandatory Conditions ............................... 62 4.3 Cost of Environmental Measures ................................................................ 62 5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. 63 5.1 Comprehensive Development and Recommended Alternative .................. 63 5.1.1 Measures Proposed by the Applicant ............................................ 63 5.1.2 Additional Staff-recommended Measures ..................................... 64 5.1.3 Measures Not Recommended by Staff .......................................... 70 5.2 Unavoidable Adverse Effects ...................................................................... 72 5.3 Fish and Wildlife Agency Recommendations ............................................. 72 5.4 Consistency with Comprehensive Plans ..................................................... 74 6.0 FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ........................................................ 74 7.0 LITERATURE CITED ........................................................................................... 74 8.0 LIST OF PREPARERS .......................................................................................... 74 APPENDIX A – Statutory and Regulatory Requirements APPENDIX B – U.S. Department of Interior’s Section 18 Preliminary Fishway Prescriptions APPENDIX C – Alternative Considered but Eliminated from Detailed Study APPENDIX D – Water Quality Data and Habitat Survey Photos APPENDIX E – Fish Community Composition APPENDIX F – Cost of Environmental Measures APPENDIX G – List of Comprehensive Plans APPENDIX H – Literature Cited APPENDIX I – List of Preparers xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Chittenden Falls Project Location (source: Chittenden Falls Hydro). ................ 2 Figure 2: Chittenden Falls Project Location and Facilities (source: Google Earth and Chittenden Falls Hydro, as modified by staff). ............................................. 7 Figure 3: Lower Hudson River Basin within the State of New York and Project Location (Source: New York DEC and Wikipedia, as modified by staff) ................. 15 Figure 4: Annual hydrograph of median daily flows at the Chittenden Falls Project based on pro-rated data from USGS gage 01361000 across a 46-year period (1929-1968, 2012-2018) (Source: staff). .................................................... 20 Figure 5: Emigration timing of silver eels along the eastern seaboard of North America (Source: Haro, 2003). ................................................................................. 27 Figure 6: Daily eel counts for the eel mop deployed at the west tailrace site from May 1, 2018 through September 14, 2018 (Source: license application). 28 xii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Estimated mean, minimum, maximum, 90 percent, and 10 percent exceedance flows for the Chittenden Falls Project across a 46-year period of record from January 1929 through December 1967 and January 2012 through December 2018 (Source: staff). ................................................................. 20 Table 2. Physical habitat measurements made along a cross-channel transect in the bypassed reach, under various flows, as part of the bypassed reach habitat survey conducted in July and August of 2019 (Source: license application, as modified by staff). ................................................................................... 33 Table 3. Minimum sizes (total length, in inches) of fish species physically excluded by the project’s current trash racks (2.0-inch clear spacing) and seasonal trash rack overlays (0.75-inch clear spacing) that would be deployed as part of the downstream eel passage system. Fish exclusion sizes were based on body scaling factors relating body width to fish length as reported in Smith (1985). (Source: staff). .............................................................................. 37 Table 4. Burst swimming speeds of juvenile and adult resident fish species present in the project impoundment (Source: staff). ......................................................... 40 Table 5. Parameters for economic analysis of the Chittenden Falls Project (Sources: Chittenden Falls Hydro and staff). .............................................................. 60 Table 6. Summary of the annual cost of alternative power and annual project cost for the alternatives for the Chittenden Falls Project (Source: staff). ..................... 61 Table 7. Analysis of fish and wildlife agency recommendations for the Chittenden Falls Project (Source: staff). ................................................................................ 73 xiii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS APE area of potential effects ASMFC Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission BMP best management practices certification water