Meetings

Participate in Meetings

Great River Hydro invites the public to participate in the meetings for the relicensing of the Wilder Hydroelectric Project, the Bellows Falls Hydroelectric Project, and the Vernon Hydroelectric Project.

Pursuant to 18 C.F.R. §5.8 (b), FERC held site visits on October 2nd and 3rd of 2012 and a series of Scoping Meetings in January 2013. FERC provided public notice of the scoping meetings.

On April 15, 2013, TransCanada (now Great River Hydro) filed a proposed study plan in response to study requests filed by stakeholders and FERC. In accordance with 18 C.F.R. § 5.11, TransCanada will hold study plan consultation meetings to discuss its proposed study plan in advance of filing its final study plan in July. The meetings are open to stakeholders including study requestors and the general public. FERC will also participate in these meetings as it will eventually make a final study plan determination in September. The initial meeting will review the entire suite of proposed studies while subsequent meetings will be centered on specific resources. Resource specific working groups composed of TransCanada, FERC and active stakeholders will examine each proposed study and provide feedback and input into the study designs. The date, time and location of all study plan working group meetings are and will continue to be posted on the Relicensing Calendar.

The purpose of the first meeting:

• A general overview of the entire suite of studies,
• Identification of resource specific working groups,
• Discussion of study requests not addressed and
• Immediate data collection initiatives for 2013

Subsequent meetings (2-6) will discuss study plans based upon common issues with interested stakeholder working groups. Additional meetings will be scheduled as needed.

The resource topics and study plans to be discussed are as follows:

• Meeting 2
• Erosion Study Nos. 1-3
• Water Resources and Modeling Study Nos. 4-6
• Meetings 3, 4 and 5
• Aquatics Study Nos. 7-25
• Terrestrial Study Nos. 26-29
• Meeting 6
  • Recreation Study Nos. 30-31
  • Aesthetics Study No. 32
  • Cultural and Historic Resources Study No. 33
• Meeting date change - TBD

With the exception of the first study plan meeting, there will be an opportunity to attend via telephone conference. Subsequent meetings on the subject study plans will be scheduled accordingly and either by teleconference or in person. Interested parties are encouraged to contact John Ragonese, the Relicensing Project Manager at jragonese@greatriverhydro.com if they wish to be notified of teleconference call-in information prior to the meetings. More information on teleconferencing will be provided on this website.