Lovejoy Tool Company Inc.; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing With the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments

Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.

a. Type of Application: Subsequent Minor License.

b. Project No.: 9649-020.

c. Date Filed: June 28, 2024.

d. Applicant: Lovejoy Tool Company Inc. (Lovejoy Company).

e. Name of Project: Lovejoy Dam Hydroelectric Project.

f. Location: On the Black River, Windsor County, Vermont.

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).

h. Applicant Contact: Todd Priestley, Lovejoy Tool Company, Inc., 133 Main Street, Springfield, Vermont, 05156; Phone at (800) 843-8376 or email at todd.priestley@lovejoytool.com.

i. FERC Contact: Erin Kimsey at (202) 502-8621, or erin.kimsey@ferc.gov.

j. Cooperating Agencies: Federal, State, local, and Tribal agencies with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the environmental document should follow the instructions for filing such requests described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note the Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation of the environmental document cannot also intervene. See, 94 FERC ¶ 61,076 (2001).

k. Pursuant to § 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's regulations, if any resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person believes that an additional scientific study should be conducted in order to form an adequate factual basis for a complete analysis of the application on its merit, the resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person must file a request for a study with the Commission not later than 60 days from the date of filing of the application, and serve a copy of the request on the applicant.

l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status: August 27, 2024.

The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status using the Commission's eFiling system at https://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, you may submit a paper copy. Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service must be addressed to: Debbie-Anne A. Reese, Acting Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Debbie-Anne A. Reese, Acting Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852. All filings must clearly identify the project name and docket number on the first page: Lovejoy Dam Hydroelectric Project (P-9649-020).

m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this time.

n. The existing Lovejoy Dam Project consists of the following: (1) a 150-foot-long, 15-foot-high concrete gravity dam (Lovejoy Dam) that includes a spillway with 1-foot-high flashboards with a crest elevation of 345 feet mean sea level (msl) at top of the flashboards; (2) an impoundment with a surface area of 3.6 acres at an elevation of 345 feet msl; (3) an intake structure equipped with a headgate and trashrack with 1.5-inch clear bar spacing; (4) a 15-foot-long, 4-foot-wide, 8-foot-deep concrete penstock; (5) a 40-foot-long, 18-foot-wide, brick and concrete powerhouse with two Vertical Francis turbine-generator unit with a total authorized installed capacity of 150 kilowatts; (6) a 36-foot-long tailrace; (7) two 0.6 kilovolt (kV) generator leads; (8) a 0.6/4.16 kV step-up transformer; (9) a 100-foot-long 4.16 kV transmission line; (10) a downstream fish passage facility for Atlantic Salmon; and (11) appurtenant facilities.

The current license requires Lovejoy Company to operate the project in instantaneous run‐of‐river mode, so that flow in the Black River, as measured immediately downstream from the project tailrace, approximates the instantaneous sum of the inflow to the project impoundment. The current license also request Lovejoy Company to release a minimum flow of 4 cubic feet per second (cfs) over the dam spillway or through the fish passage facility during passage season, and operate the downstream fish passage facility from April 1 through June 15 with an attraction flow of 20 cfs plus the 4 cfs minimum flow. The project has an average annual generation of 500 megawatt-hours.

Lovejoy Tool Company Inc is not proposing any changes to project facilities or operation.

o. Copies of the application may be viewed on the Commission's website at https://www.ferc.gov using the “eLibrary” link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access the document (P-9649). For assistance, contact FERC Online Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call tollfree, (866) 208-3676 or (202) 502-8659 (TTY).

You may also register online at https://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

The Commission's Office of Public Participation (OPP) supports meaningful public engagement and participation in Commission proceedings. OPP can help members of the public, including landowners, environmental justice communities, Tribal members and others, access publicly available information and navigate Commission processes. For public inquiries and assistance with making filings such as interventions, comments, or requests for rehearing, the public is encouraged to contact OPP at (202) 502-6595 or OPP@ferc.gov.

p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions to the schedule will be made as appropriate.

Final amendments to the application must be filed with the Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice of ready for environmental analysis.