167 FERC ¶ 62,026 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
RE: FreedomWorks, LLC Project No. 14889-000 ORDER DENYING PRELIMINARY PERMIT APPLICATION (Issued April 12, 2019)
On August 24, 2018, and amended on October 15, 2018, and December 27, 2018, FreedomWorks, LLC, (FreedomWorks) filed an application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), to study the feasibility of the proposed Big Run Pump Storage Hydro Project No. 14889 (Big Run Project). The project would be located near the City of Parsons in Tucker County, West Virginia, and would occupy U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) land within the Monongahela National Forest (Monongahela Forest).
The Forest Service has made clear through its January 3 and March 11 comments that it would be unlikely to issue a special use authorization for the project should it be licensed; and that it has denied FreedomWorks to enter Forest Service lands to conduct feasibility studies under a preliminary permit, which are necessary to the development of a license application for the proposed project within the Monongahela Forest.
Although the upper reservoir and part of the lower reservoir would be located on private land, the project is partially located on and surrounded by the Monongahela Forest, and the location where FreedomWorks proposes to conduct drilling would be on Forest Service land. Thus, FreedomWorks would not be able to determine the feasibility of the proposed project without permission from the Forest Service to access the land within the Monongahela Forest.
The Commission has previously determined that it would be ineffectual to issue preliminary permits for non-federal projects at federal facilities if the agencies that operate the facilities indicate opposition to the proposed projects.
Similarly, there would be no purpose in issuing a preliminary permit here where the Forest Service has indicated that it is unlikely to issue the necessary authorizations for the project. Therefore, the application is denied.
The Director orders: The preliminary permit application filed by FreedomWorks, LLC on August 24, 2018, for the Big Run Pump Storage Hydro Project No. 14889 is denied.