DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR HYDROPOWER LICENSE Bear Swamp Project Docket No. P-2669-089 Massachusetts Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Office of Energy Projects Division of Hydropower Licensing 888 First Street, NE Washington, D.C. 20426 October 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... ii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................. iv ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................... vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................. viii 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 ................................. 5 1.3.1 Federal Power Act ......................................................................................... 5 1.3.2 Clean Water Act ............................................................................................ 5 1.3.3 Endangered Species Act ................................................................................ 6 1.3.4 Coastal Zone Management Act ..................................................................... 6 1.3.5 National Historic Preservation Act ............................................................... 7 1.4 PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT ................................................................ 8 1.4.1 Scoping .......................................................................................................... 8 1.4.2 Interventions .................................................................................................. 9 1.4.3 Comments on the Application ....................................................................... 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 Project Boundary........................................................................... 13 2.1.3 Project Safety .............................................................................................. 14 2.1.4 Existing Project Operation .......................................................................... 14 2.2 APPLICANT’S PROPOSAL ............................................................................. 17 2.2.1 Proposed Project Facilities .......................................................................... 17 2.2.2 Proposed Operation and Environmental Measures ..................................... 19 2.3 STAFF ALTERNATIVE .................................................................................... 20 2.4 ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED BUT ELIMINATED FROM DETAILED ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................ 24 2.4.1 Issuing a Non-Power License ...................................................................... 24 2.4.2 Federal Government Takeover of the Project ............................................. 25 2.4.3 Project Decommissioning............................................................................ 25 3.0 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS ..................................................................... 26 3.1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE RIVER BASIN ...................................... 26 3.2 SCOPE OF CUMULATIVE EFFECTS ANALYSIS ........................................ 28 3.2.1 Geographic Scope ........................................................................................ 29 3.2.2 Temporal Scope ........................................................................................... 29 3.3 PROPOSED ACTION AND ACTION ALTERNATIVES ............................... 30 ii 3.3.1 Aquatic Resources ....................................................................................... 30 3.3.2 Terrestrial Resources ................................................................................. 141 3.3.3 Threatened and Endangered Species ......................................................... 151 3.3.4 Land Use, Recreation, and Aesthetics ....................................................... 154 3.3.5 Cultural Resources .................................................................................... 193 3.3.6 Socioeconomic Resources ......................................................................... 202 4.0 DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS .................................................................. 208 4.1 POWER AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THE PROJECT ........................ 209 4.2 COMPARISON OF ALTERNATIVES ........................................................... 211 4.2.1 No-Action Alternative ............................................................................... 212 4.2.2 BSPC’s Proposal ....................................................................................... 213 4.2.3 Staff Alternative ........................................................................................ 213 4.3 COST OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES ................................................ 213 5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................... 238 5.1 COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT AND RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVE .............................................................................................. 238 5.1.1 Measures Proposed by BSPC .................................................................... 238 5.1.2 Additional Measures Recommended by Staff ........................................... 240 5.1.3 Measures Not Recommended .................................................................... 254 5.1.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 275 5.2 UNAVOIDABLE ADVERSE IMPACTS ....................................................... 276 5.3 FISH AND WILDLIFE AGENCY RECOMMENDATIONS ......................... 276 5.4 CONSISTENCY WITH COMPREHENSIVE PLANS ................................... 284 6.0 FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT .................................................. 285 7.0 LITERATURE CITED ..................................................................................... 286 8.0 LIST OF PREPARERS .................................................................................... 294 APPENDIX A .................................................................................................................. 295 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Location of the Bear Swamp Project and other hydroelectric projects in the Deerfield River Basin (Source: staff). ............................................................... 2 Figure 2. Aerial view of the Bear Swamp Project (Source: staff). .................................. 11 Figure 3. August 2017 gage height data for USGS Gage No. 01168500 in Charlemont, MA (Source: https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ma/nwis/uv?site_no=01168500). .... 33 Figure 4. Monitoring locations for the 2016 water quality monitoring study (Source BSPC, 2017a). ................................................................................................... 37 Figure 5. Fife Brook impoundment water quality data from the 2016 water quality monitoring study (Source: BSPC, 2018). ........................................................ 38 Figure 6. Upper reservoir aquatic habitat (Source BSPC, 2017b). .................................. 44 Figure 7. Composite 15-minute operations within the Fife Brook impoundment (May 1, 2016 – October 27, 2016) (Source: BSPC 2018a, as modified by staff). ........ 64 Figure 8. Inflow and outflow data from the Fife Brook Development for a scheduled whitewater release day and a day with no scheduled release (Source: staff). 66 Figure 9. Composite of habitat suitability data for brook trout (Source BSPC, 2018, as modified by staff). ............................................................................................. 74 Figure 10. Composite of habitat suitability data for brown trout (Source BSPC, 2018, as modified by staff). ............................................................................................. 74 Figure 11. Composite of habitat suitability data for rainbow trout (Source BSPC, 2018, as modified by staff). ........................................................................................ 75 Figure 12. Composite of habitat suitability data for longnose sucker. (Source BSPC, 2018, as modified by staff). .............................................................................. 75 Figure 13. Brown trout redd locations downstream of Fife Brook dam (Source: Trout Unlimited 2018, modified by staff). ..............................................................