Great River Hydro, LLC; 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. 2077-130] On November, 12, 2025, supplemented January 5, 2026, Great River Hydro, LLC filed an application for a temporary variance from minimum flows under Article 401 for the Fifteen Mile Falls Hydroelectric Project No. 2077. The project is located on the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, and Caledonia County, Vermont. The project does not occupy federal lands. Due to drought conditions, Great River Hydro, LLC reduced minimum flows from the Comerford Development, beginning on September 29, 2025. A variance in the minimum flows required by Article 401 was necessary to preserve the depleted storage capacity of its upstream Moore reservoir. The variance allowed the licensee to decrease the seasonal minimum flows of 818 cubic feet per second (cfs) from June 1 to September 30, and 1,145 cfs from October 1 to March 31, to 600 cfs. The reduction in flows occurred from September 29 to December 15, 2025. A public notice was issued on December 5, 2025, and no comments were received. This notice identifies Commission staff's intention to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) under the National Environmental Policy Act ( 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq) for the project. [ 1 ] Commission staff plans to issue an EA by April 10, 2026. Revisions to the schedule may be made as appropriate. The EA will be issued for a 30-day comment period. All comments filed on the EA will be reviewed by staff and considered i…