ENB Region 9 Completed Applications 09/28/2005

The applicant proposes to stabilize with stone or willow log toe protection and plantings, three sections of Little Valley Creek totalling 550 linear feet.  The project site is located east of NYS Route 353 between Baker Road and Whig Street.

The Department has made a determination to issue a Water Quality Certificate (WQC) to the New York Power Authority (NYPA) for the Niagara Power Project.  The facility has been in operation since 1961 and consists of two river-water intake structures, twin underground concrete conduits, an open forebay, the Lewiston Reservoir, the Lewiston Pump Generating Plant, the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant and a 35-acre switchyard.  The WQC application was submitted to NYSDEC on 18 August 2005 in connection with the filing of an application for the relicensing of the Niagara Power Project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  The FERC application contains a preliminary draft environmental assessment, as well as the Power Authority’s Offer of Settlement which identifies, among other things, eight primary Habitat Improvement Projects, three public access points, a Fish and Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Fund, proposed for inclusion in the FERC license, as well as a land acquisition fund. The Project, as conditioned in the WQC, complies with applicable sections of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and also will comply with applicable New York State effluent limitations, water quality standards and thermal discharge criteria.  A copy of the draft permit and all supporting documentation is available for review at the NYSDEC Central Office Headquarters in Albany, the NYSDEC Region 9 Headquarters in Buffalo, and the City of Niagara Falls City Hall.

The applicant proposes installation of a new 8 inch watermain as part of the infrastructure for the construction of an 83 lot Shawnee Meadows Residential Development.  The utility will traverse .27 acre of Federal Wetland and a currently unmapped State regulated Freshwater Wetland.  The utility will also extend into .27 acre of the State regulated 100 foot wide wetland adjacent area, located on Schultz Road, at the southeast corner of the Moyer Road intersection.