ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR HYDROPOWER LICENSE Parr Hydroelectric Project FERC Project No. 1894-211 South Carolina Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Office of Energy Projects Division of Hydropower Licensing 888 First Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20426 April 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................... i LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................. iv ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS.......................................................................... vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................ ix 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 ................................................................................. 5 1.3.3 Endangered Species Act ..................................................................... 5 1.3.4 Coastal Zone Management Act .......................................................... 7 1.3.5 National Historic Preservation Act .................................................... 7 1.4 PUBLIC REVIEW AND CONSULTATION............................................... 8 1.4.1 Scoping ............................................................................................... 8 1.4.2 Interventions ....................................................................................... 8 1.4.3 Comments on the License Application .............................................. 9 1.5 COMPREHENSIVE RELICENSING SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT...... 9 2.0 PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES ........................................ 10 2.1 NO-ACTION ALTERNATIVE .................................................................. 10 2.1.1 Existing Project Facilities................................................................. 10 2.1.2 Existing and Proposed Project Boundary ......................................... 11 2.1.3 Project Safety ................................................................................... 13 2.1.4 Existing Project Operation ............................................................... 13 2.1.5 Existing Environmental Measures ................................................... 15 2.2 APPLICANT’S PROPOSAL ...................................................................... 16 2.2.1 Proposed Project Facilities ............................................................... 16 2.2.2 Proposed Project Operation .............................................................. 16 2.2.3 Proposed Environmental Measures .................................................. 16 2.2.4 Modifications to Applicant’s Proposal – Mandatory Conditions .... 19 2.3 STAFF ALTERNATIVE ............................................................................ 24 2.4 STAFF ALTERNATIVE WITH MANDATORY CONDITIONS ............ 26 2.5 ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED BUT ELIMINATED FROM FURTHER ANALYSIS .............................................................................. 27 2.5.1 Issuing a Non-Power License ........................................................... 27 2.5.2 Federal Government Takeover of the Project .................................. 27 i 2.5.3 Project Decommissioning ................................................................ 27 3.0 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS ............................................................. 29 3.1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVER BASIN .............................. 29 3.2 SCOPE OF CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ANALYSIS ................................ 31 3.2.1 Geographic Scope ............................................................................ 31 3.2.2 Temporal Scope ................................................................................ 32 3.3 PROPOSED ACTION AND ACTION ALTERNATIVES ....................... 32 3.3.1 Geology and Soils ............................................................................ 33 3.3.2 Aquatic Resources ............................................................................ 39 3.3.3 Terrestrial Resources ...................................................................... 129 3.3.4 Threatened and Endangered Species .............................................. 171 3.3.5 Recreation and Land Use ............................................................... 187 3.3.6 Cultural Resources ......................................................................... 209 3.4 NO-ACTION ALTERNATIVE ................................................................ 215 4.0 DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS ........................................................... 216 4.1 POWER AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT ................ 216 4.2 COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVES .................................................... 217 4.2.1 No Action Alternative .................................................................... 219 4.2.2 Dominion Energy’s Proposal ......................................................... 219 4.2.3 Staff Alternative ............................................................................. 219 4.2.4 Staff Alternative with Mandatory Conditions ................................ 220 4.3 COST OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES......................................... 220 5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.................................... 230 5.1 COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT AND RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVE ....................................................................................... 230 5.1.1 Generator Upgrades at the Parr Development ............................... 230 5.1.2 Environmental Measures Proposed by Dominion Energy ............. 231 5.1.3 Additional Measures Recommended by Staff................................ 232 5.1.4 Measures not Recommended by Staff ............................................ 238 5.2 UNAVOIDABLE ADVERSE EFFECTS ................................................. 242 5.3 FISH AND WILDLIFE AGENCY RECOMMENDATIONS and SECTION 4(e) CONDITIONS ................................................................. 242 5.3.1 Fish and Wildlife Agency Recommendations................................ 242 5.3.2 Forest Service’s Section 4(e) Conditions ....................................... 245 5.4 CONSISTENCY WITH COMPREHENSIVE PLANS ............................ 246 6.0 FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ........................................... 249 7.0 LITERATURE CITED.............................................................................. 250 8.0 LIST OF PREPARERS ............................................................................. 263 APPENDIX A– Comprehensive Relicensing Settlement Agreement ii APPENDIX B – National Marine Fisheries Service Preliminary Fishway Prescriptions APPENDIX C – U.S. Forest Service Section 4(e) Conditions iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1. Location of the Parr Hydroelectric Project within the Broad River Basin ...... 2 Figure 2-1. Parr Project Boundary and surrounding areas ............................................... 12 Figure 3-1. Saluda, Broad River, and Catawba River Basins .......................................... 30 Figure 3-2. Annual flow duration curve for the Parr Project (USGS Gage 02161000) for the Period of Record from January 1, 1981 to December 31, 2017 ....................... 40 Figure 3-3. Parr Shoals baseline water quality monitoring sites ...................................... 42 Figure 3-4. Map of water quality monitoring locations for the Parr Project .................... 46 Figure 3-5. Sediment sampling locations in Parr Reservoir ............................................. 54 Figure 3-6. Water quality monitoring sites for the Broad River downstream from Parr Shoals Dam ............................................................................................................. 56 Figure 3-7. Water quality monitoring sites for the Upstream West Channel – 2016 ....... 58 Figure 3-8. Dissolved oxygen at the Upstream, Middle, and Downstream West Channel monitoring locations – 2015 ................................................................................... 59 Figure 3-9. Dissolved oxygen at the Upstream West Channel water quality monitoring locations – August 2015 and 2016 ......................................................................... 60 Figure 3-10. Dissolved oxygen at the Middle West Channel water quality monitoring location – August 2015 and 2016 ........................................................................... 61 Figure 3-11. Dissolved oxygen at the Downstream West Channel water quality monitoring location – August 2015 and 2016. ....................................................... 62 Figure 3-12. Potential areas for channel modification in the West Channel of the Broad River ......................................................................................................................