dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – Lake Lynn Generation’s Lake Lynn Hydroelectric Project license expired Nov. 30. The federal Energy Regulatory Commission answered a few questions from The Dominion Hope as the company awaits a FERC decision on its license renewal.
FERC said, “When a license expires and the commission has not acted on a pending license application, the commission issues an annual license. An annual license provides for the continued operation of the project under the existing license terms until the commission acts on the pending license application.”
The case docket doesn’t show that an annual license has been issued to date, and FERC did not respond in time for deadline Monday whether issuance is automatic or whether is hasn’t been issued yet and will be posted at a later date.
As far as what’s ahead, FERC said the next milestone is a notice that the application is ready to begin the environmental analysis process.
Lake Lynn Generation is a subsidiary of Maryland-based Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, which in turn is a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation, a Canadian company.
Eagle Creek owns 85 hydro-power stations in 18 states and has been the owner. Lake Lynn Generation has been this project’s licensee and owner since 2105. The current license was issued on Dec. 27, 1994, and expired Nov. 30.
Lake Lynn Generation filed its license renewal application in November 2022.
The application process has generated a couple areas of public concern. One is a proposal to remove 243.8 acres of project land no longer needed for project purposes from its project boundary (down from 307.1 acres originally proposed, then revised after Lake Lynn located a more accurate map.
This proposal stirred worry that the land might be sold to commercial interests and developed, contrary to the interests of Cheat Lake residents.
The company has said it has no plans to sell the land.
Lake Lynn’s alleged poor maintenance of recreation areas, particularly Cheat Lake Park, has also been a subject of criticism in numerous public comments submitted to FERC.
Last week, Lake Lynn submitted to FERC its 2024 shoreline erosion survey report, including measurements and photos from 33 monitoring stations.
Regarding annual change, erosion at all but one site was termed minimal, meaning “no appreciable change in condition” compared to 2023. One site was termed moderate, meaning “some additional erosion and bank deterioration is apparent.”
Historic erosion at 32 of the sites has been termed moderate, with the remaining one historically and this year termed minimal.
Lake Lynn said, “The 2024 Cheat Lake shoreline erosion survey indicated continued shoreline deposition at an annual rate consistent with past surveys.”
