FERC opens comment through Sept. 10 on surrender of Chignik hydro license

Residents of Chignik have until Sept. 10 to tell federal regulators what they think about ending the federal license on the community's hydroelectric project. The project has not generated power since about 2012.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's notice of availability of an environmental assessment for Project No. 620-025 was dated Aug. 11, filed Aug. 13 and scheduled for publication Aug. 14. The project sits on Indian Creek in the City of Chignik, in the Lake and Peninsula Borough. The city filed its surrender application on March 2, telling FERC in a June 3 notice that "surrendering the license for the existing project and developing a replacement water supply line and hydroelectric facility, under state jurisdiction, is in the best interest of the community." The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the borough are identified as funding supporters of that replacement work, though the notices reviewed for this article do not say what it will cost or when it would come online.

Commission staff concluded that the proposed surrender would not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. That finding is a staff conclusion in the environmental assessment, not a final decision on the surrender.

No Chignik resident or ratepayer perspective on the transition was available in the federal record reviewed for this article. The comment process is the route FERC provides for residents to weigh in. The case follows a pattern familiar in small Alaska communities, where an idle federally licensed hydro project gives way to replacement water and power infrastructure built under state jurisdiction.

Comments must be filed by 5 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 10. The commission encourages electronic filing through its eFiling system or eComment, which takes brief comments up to 6,000 characters without registration. Paper copies go to the secretary of the commission in Washington, D.C., or Rockville, Maryland, with docket number P-620-025 on the first page. The environmental assessment itself can be reviewed through FERC's eLibrary system by entering docket number P-620. The Office of Public Participation takes questions about comments, interventions and rehearing requests at (202) 502-6595. Rebecca Martin is the commission's contact for the notice, which was signed by Debbie-Anne A. Reese, the commission's secretary. No comments were filed on the earlier surrender notice.