ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR HYDROPOWER LICENSE West Buxton Hydroelectric Project FERC Project No. 2531-075 Maine Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Office of Energy Projects Division of Hydropower Licensing 888 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20426 July 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. ii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................. vii 1.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... - 1 - 1.1 APPLICATION ............................................................................................. - 1 - 1.2 PURPOSE OF ACTION AND NEED FOR POWER ................................ - 1 - 1.2.1 Purpose of Action ................................................................................... - 1 - 1.2.2 Need for Power ....................................................................................... - 3 - 1.3 STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS ....................... - 4 - 1.3.1 Federal Power Act .................................................................................. - 4 - 1.3.2 Clean Water Act ..................................................................................... - 7 - 1.3.3 Endangered Species Act ......................................................................... - 8 - 1.3.4 Coastal Zone Management Act ............................................................. - 9 - 1.3.5 National Historic Preservation Act ....................................................... - 9 - 1.4 PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT ...................................................... - 10 - 1.4.1 Scoping .................................................................................................. - 10 - 1.4.2 Interventions ......................................................................................... - 11 - 1.4.3 Comments on the Application ............................................................. - 11 - 2.0 PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES ...................................... - 11 - 2.1 NO ACTION ALTERNATIVE .................................................................. - 11 - 2.1.1 Existing Project Facilities .................................................................... - 11 - 2.1.2 Project Safety ........................................................................................ - 15 - 2.1.3 Existing Project Operation .................................................................. - 15 - 2.2 APPLICANT’S PROPOSAL ...................................................................... - 18 - 2.2.1 Proposed Operation and Environmental Measures .......................... - 18 - 2.3 STAFF ALTERNATIVE ............................................................................ - 19 - 2.4 ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED BUT ELIMINATED FROM DETAILED ANALYSIS ............................................................................ - 20 - 2.4.1 Issuing Non-power License .................................................................. - 20 - 2.4.2 Federal Government Takeover of the Project ................................... - 21 - 2.4.3 Retiring the Project .............................................................................. - 21 - 3.0 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS ............................................................. - 21 - 3.1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SACO RIVER BASIN ............... - 22 - 3.2 SCOPE OF CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ANALYSIS .............................. - 22 - 3.2.1 Geographic Scope ................................................................................. - 23 - 3.2.2 Temporal Scope .................................................................................... - 23 - 3.3 PROPOSED ACTION AND ACTION ALTERNATIVES ..................... - 23 - 3.3.1 Aquatic Resources ................................................................................ - 24 - 3.3.2 Terrestrial Resources ........................................................................... - 68 - 3.3.3 Threatened and Endangered Species ................................................. - 85 - 3.3.4 Land Use and Recreation .................................................................... - 89 - - ii - 3.3.5 Cultural Resources ............................................................................. - 106 - 4.0 DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS ........................................................... - 111 - 4.1 POWER AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT ............ - 112 - 4.2 COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVES .................................................. - 113 - 4.2.1 No-Action Alternative ........................................................................ - 114 - 4.2.2 White Pine Hydro’s Proposal ............................................................ - 114 - 4.2.3 Staff Alternative ................................................................................. - 115 - 4.3 COST OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES ....................................... - 116 - 5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................. - 121 - 5.1 COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT AND RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVE ........................................................................................ - 121 - 5.1.1 Staff’s Recommended Changes to White Pine Hydro’s Proposal . - 123 - 5.1.2 Measures Not Recommended ............................................................ - 128 - 5.1.3 Conclusion ........................................................................................... - 128 - 5.2 UNAVOIDABLE ADVERSE IMPACTS ................................................ - 129 - 5.3 SUMMARY OF SECTION 10(j) RECOMMENDATIONS ................. - 129 - 5.4 CONSISTENCY WITH COMPREHENSIVE PLANS ......................... - 132 - 6.0 FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ......................................... - 134 - 7.0 LITERATURE CITED ............................................................................. - 135 - 8.0 LIST OF PREPARERS ............................................................................ - 142 - APPENDIX A ................................................................................................................. A-1 APPENDIX B ................................................................................................................. B-1 - iii - LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Location of the West Buxton Project and other dams in the Saco River Basin.. ................................................................................................... - 2 - Figure 2. West Buxton Project site plan. ..................................................................... - 12 - Figure 3. West Buxton Project boundary and existing and proposed recreation facilities. ....................................................................................................... - 16 - Figure 4. Saco River at West Buxton - Annual Flow Duration Curve. ....................... - 25 - Figure 5. Vegetation cover types within the existing West Buxton Project boundary.. .................................................................................................... - 70 - Figure 6. Existing project recreation sites at the West Buxton Project. ...................... - 92 - Figure 7. Proposed recreation facilities location map. .............................................. - 101 - Figure 8. Proposed project boat launch.. ................................................................... - 102 - Figure 9. Proposed angler access trail improvements.. ............................................. - 103 - Figure 10. Proposed canoe take-out improvements. ................................................. - 104 - Figure 11. Proposed tailwater access site improvements.. ........................................ - 105 - - iv - LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Established and draft Maine water quality standards for applicable parameters.. ................................................................................................... - 26 - Table 2. The range and average for water quality parameters in the West Buxton Project impoundment and Maine DEP trophic state guidelines. .................. - 28 - Table 3. Indices of community structure for the aquatic macroinvertebrate community in the tailwater section of the West Buxton Project, July and August 2013. ................................................................................................. - 30 - Table 4. Stage-discharge and wetted perimeter relationship of transect 1 (from Stetson-Harza, 1991) located 900 feet downstream from the West Buxton Project. .............................................................................................. - 31 - Table 5. Fish collected at two sites on the Saco River, Hollis, Maine. ....................... - 33 - Table 6. Change in habitat suitability for adult brown trout in the project flood channel at various gate releases.. .................................................................. - 37 - Table 7. Annual and total fish passage numbers at the Cataract East channel fish lift and the Cataract West channel Denil fish ladder since commencement of operations through 2016. .......................................................................... - 40 - Table 8. Annual and total fish passage numbers at the Skelton fish lift since commencement of operations