Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Department of Energy Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 2735-104] ( printed page 38781) On April 18, 2024, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) filed a relicense application for the 1,212-megawatt Helms Pumped Storage Project No. 2735 (project). The existing project is located approximately 50 miles northeast of the city of Fresno, on the North Fork Kings River and Helms Creek, in Fresno and Madera Counties, California. The project currently occupies 3,346.6 acres of federal land administered by the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service), 28.36 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), and 0.07 acres of land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). As proposed, the project would occupy 458.9 less acres of federal land administered by the Forest Service, an additional 0.14 acre of land managed by the BOR, and an additional 2.15 acres of land managed by the BOR. In accordance with the Commission's regulations, on May 29, 2025, Commission staff issued a notice that the project was ready for environmental analysis (REA Notice). Based on the information in the record, including comments filed on the REA Notice, staff does not anticipate that licensing the project would constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. Therefore, staff intends to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) on the application to relicense the project. [ 1 ] The EA will be issued and circulated for…