Industries 
Environmental Impact Statements (EISs)
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Catawba-Wateree Hydroelectric Project No. 2232
Issued: March 6, 2009
Commission Staff prepared a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the relicensing of the existing Duke Power Company, LLC Catawba-Wateree Project. The developments analyzed in the document are located in the counties of Burke, McDowell, Caldwell, Catawba, Alexander, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Lincoln, and Gaston in North Carolina, and the counties of York, Lancaster, Chester, Fairfield, and Kershaw in South Carolina.
Duke Energy used the Traditional Licensing Process and filed the license application for the Catawba-Wateree project on August 29, 2006, and filed a Revised Comprehensive Relicensing Agreement on December 28, 2006. Duke Energy requested that the measures included in the Revised CRA be considered by the Commission as their proposed action, which Commission staff did in its scoping documents. Duke Energy proposes no new capacity or operating changes, but does propose measures for the protection and enhancement of environmental resources, including increased minimum flows, measures to increase dissolved oxygen levels and water quality, measures to improve aquatic habitat and protect threatened and endangered species, and measures to maintain and enhance recreational opportunities.
In the draft EIS, Commission staff recommended the staff alternative, which consisted of the proposed action, with some recommended changes to the proposed settlement articles. The deadline to comment on the draft EIS is May 8, 2009.
