Tuesday Nov. 26 - Crown Hydro Public Meeting at Central Library

This may be the only opportunity for public input on a project that has the potential to dry up St. Anthony Falls for a significant portion of each year.  Article 404 from the Crown Hydro FERC license:

"FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION (FERC): The licensee shall operate the Crown Mill Hydroelectric project so that some water always flows over St. Anthony Falls except as follows:  "...(B) between September 15 and March 15 the project will operate with whatever flows are available even if it dries up the falls; and (C) during low flows in July and August, the project will operate with up to 500 cfs during daylight hours even if it dries up the falls...""

Source: FERC License issues to Crown Hydro, Article 404 - Download:

https://app.box.com/shared/static/y2qp7s63pq6998k4z9ac.pdf

Please attend and get your questions answered:

Date: Tuesday, November 26

Time: 3:30 pm

Location: Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Pohlad Hall

Crown Hydro Public Meeting

Crown Hydro, LLC holds a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license to construct and operate the Upper Saint Anthony Falls Hydroelectric Project, Project No. 11175, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on the west bank of the Mississippi River at Upper St. Anthony Falls.

An application is being prepared to amend its existing license to, in part, shift the location of the project’s powerhouse and discharge tunnel. The proposed new powerhouse location would be approximately 150 feet north, in the headrace canal adjacent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s lock facility.

A consultation meeting has been scheduled to solicit comments on its proposed license amendment. The meeting will provide an opportunity for individuals to learn more about the proposed changes to the planned Upper Saint Anthony Falls Hydroelectric Project, and to provide comments on the Proposed Project.

A recent letter to the editor from Green Party candidate Kristina Gronquist...

Comments

[Carol Overland]

Send comments to BOTH Crown Hydro and FERC (there's a FERC docket open on this, and this is resulting from FERC's Notice of INtent to Terminate License because Crown Hydro can't get it together. Send comments, ID'd with Docket No. P-11175-024, to: crownhydro@gmail.com and FERC at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp

SHORT VERSION: In 2012 FERC issued Notice of Intent to Terminate Permit because the permit was issued and nothing has happened and there's been no evidence that Crown Hydro can get it together. Crown Hydro has been scrambling to keep it viable. Park Board weighed in, recommending termination, and "dissenting" members of Park Board have been looking for another "partner" and letter about this was filed with FERC.

This is a Crown Hydro meeting PRIOR to any license amendment application, held because FERC directed them to conduct "consultation" and the termination appears to be in limbo, depending on how this goes. This is all "amendment pre-application" activity, but there is an existing FERC docket, and it's good reading, and not a lot in the docket, so it doesn't take long to get the general idea.

Docket Number is P-11175-024, go to www.ferc.gov and then eLibrary and enter the docket number.

If you have a comment on this, because it is both "pre-application" and post FERC Notice of Termination, I'd advise sending comments BOTH to Crown Hydro as requested AND directly to FERC on their easy no-register Comment site. Be sure to write "Docket P-11175-024" on all Comments.

Again, send to BOTH, FERC should get comments directly, not filtered through Crown Hydro:

crownhydro@gmail.com
http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp

LONGER VERSION of how these meetings came about: go to www.ferc.gov and then eLibrary and enter the docket number: P-11175-024. Interesting stuff, it's not been on my radar. For those very interested in this, it's easy to intervene, and all electronic. If you're interested in intervention, take a look at the "Friends of the Riverfront" intervention for boilerplate language. It's particularly important to state your interests, and show that they're different from other parties intervening. You'd have to register to file, but it's easy compared to other federal agencies/comimssions I've dealt with.