1. Facilities
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  3. Rock River Hydro Facilities

Rock River Relicensing Information

Overview

Subsidiaries of Eagle Creek Renewable Energy own and operate four hydroelectric facilties on the Rock River in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois: the Central facility in Janesville, WI (also known as the Janesville facility), the Beloit facility in Beloit, WI, the Rockton facility in Rockton, IL, and the Dixon facility in Dixon, IL. All four facilities operate under licenses issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC): license numbers P-2347, P-2348, P-2373, and P-2446, respectively. The current license for the Janesville facility expires in August, 2024. The licenses for the other three facilities were scheduled to expire within the year preceding that date and have been extended by the FERC to coincide with the expiration date of the Janesville license to allow for a simultaneous re-licensing process.

Midwest Hydro, LLC is the licensee for the Janesville, Beloit, and Rockton projects. STS Hydropower, LLC is the licensee for the Dixon project. On August 30, 2019, the licensees submitted documentation to the FERC to initiate the process of re-licensing all four projects.

Licensing Process

The licensees are following a FERC process known as the Traditional Licensing Process (TLP). The TLP is one of three approved processes, described on the FERC website here: https://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/gen-info/licensing/licen-pro.asp. Currently, the process is in the first stage: the licensees have filed notices of intent, preliminary application documents, requests to use TLP, and newspaper notices. Once the FERC has approved the use of the TLP, the licensees will conduct one or two Joint Agency Meetings and Site Visits covering the four projects.

NOIs, PADs, and TLP Requests

On August 30, 2019, the licensees filed with the FERC a Notice of Intent (NOI) to file an application for a new license, a Pre-Application Document (PAD), and a request for approval to use the Traditional Licensing Process (TLP) for the Janesville and Beloit projects, as well as a separate Notice of Intent (NOI) to file an application for a new license, Pre-Application Document (PAD), and request for approval to use the Traditional Licensing Process (TLP) for the Rockton and Dixon projects. These documents are available for download below. The filing of the NOIs officially initiates the process of relicensing for each facility. The TLP requests specify which of the three approved processes the licensees are choosing to follow in the relicensing application process. The PADs contain detailed summaries of information about the projects for all stakeholders to review at the beginning of the process. Some of the information presented in the PADs is considered Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII) as defined by 18 CFR §388.113(c). Such information has been removed from the public versions of the PADs. In accordance with the FERC's filing guidelines, all CEII is included in separate volumes. In addition, some of the information presented in the PADs is considered confidential financial information as defined by 18 CFR §388.112, and such information has been removed from the public version of the PADs and has been filed in accordance with the FERC's filing guidelines as separate volumes.

Comments and Study Requests

On December 10 and 11, 2019, the licensees conducted Joint Agency Meetings (JAM) and Site Visits. The JAM presentations are available for download below. As described in the JAM presentations, the licensees are proposing studies including SHPO consultation and shoreline surveys. Interested parties have 60 days from the date of the JAM and Site Visit (until February 10, 2020) to provide comments or study requests to the licensees. The proposed studies and process for providing comments and study requests are described on pages 43-46 of each JAM presentation.

Documents

All filings related to the relicensing process are available from the FERC's eLibrary website: elibrary.ferc.gov. Search for filings by project number: P-2347 (Janesville), P-2348 (Beloit), P-2373 (Rockton), or P-2446 (Dixon).

The licensees are making available major document submissions, major FERC orders, and other relevant documents on this website.

Initial Submission on August 30, 2019:

Joint Agency Meetings December 10-11, 2019:

Draft License Application filed on March 30th, 2022:

Final License Application filed on August 30th, 2022:

 

The licensees also filed with FERC drawings classified as Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII) as defined by 18 CFR §388.113(c), as well as financial information considered Privileged as defined by 18 CFR §388.112. These were filed as Volumes II and III of the PADs and are not available for public distribution.

These documents are available on this site via the links above.

The licensees will also provide hard copies of any of the above documents upon request. A reproduction cost fee of $0.25/page will apply to such requests. Please use the link below to download a request form and mail the completed form, along with a check for the reproduction cost fee, to Eagle Creek Renewable Energy to request a hard copy of any document.

Contact and Communications

Questions about the relicensing process may be directed to Melissa Sonnleitner at or Shawn Puzen with Mead & Hunt at .

The licensees will continue to post public information regarding the relicensing of the Rock River facilities as the process continues.