RUMFORD — Rumford Falls Hydro LLC recently filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remove two small parcels from its hydropower project on the Androscoggin River.
It is owned by Brookfield Renewable Power LLC of Marlborough, Mass.
The Rumford Falls Hydroelectric Project will reconvey an existing easement on one parcel to Rumford paper mill NewPage Corp. to allow it to make improvements to its wastewater treatment plant, the application filed on Dec. 12 states.
That property is adjacent to the existing penstocks — big pipes or tubing that the water runs through to get into the power plant — at the Lower Station Development.
“I guess when the plant was originally designed almost 100 years ago, there was some talk of maybe putting in a third penstock, a third unit, but that’s no longer necessary, so we don’t need that land anymore,” Julie Smith-Galvin, Brookfield spokeswoman, said Tuesday evening.
The second parcel is less than an acre in size and has an existing easement that allows third-party utilities to cross the land. However, Rumford Falls Hydro recently learned that there’s a gap in the easement that needs to be corrected.
“It looks like the utility needs it for a transmission line and I think that wasn’t done when we transferred the license, so this is just cleaning that up so they have a continuous easement,” Smith-Galvin said.
That’s why it’s proposing to remove the parcel from the project boundary, because it never served any specific use.
Smith-Galvin said that to remove parcels from their FERC boundary, they have to go through this process.
“Pretty minor stuff, really,” she said.
Still, the hydroelectric application is available for public inspection, with the deadline for comments, motions to intervene and protests being 30 days from the issuance date of the notice. That was Dec. 27, according to the document.
All documents can be filed electronically via the Internet on FERC’s website at www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. The project number is P-2333-078. Brief comments up to 6,000 characters can be submitted without prior registration.
To paper-file documents, an original and seven copies should be mailed to: Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.
For assistance, call 1-866-208-3676 or write FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov.
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