Docket No. P-14787-004
Commission staff prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the environmental effects of licensing the 972-megawatt (MW) Seminoe Pumped Storage Project proposed by Black Canyon Hydro, LLC (BCH), which would be located at the Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River in Carbon County, Wyoming, approximately 35 miles northeast of Rawlins, Wyoming. The project would occupy 1,025.94 acres of land managed by Bureau of Land Management (BLM), 77.00 acres managed by Reclamation, and 830 acres of private lands. The project would involve constructing a new upper reservoir, water conveyance and maintenance tunnel system, underground powerhouse, access bridge, emergency spillway, and two overhead transmission lines. The project would also involve relocating two overhead transmission lines operated by Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). It would use Reclamation’s existing Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River as its lower reservoir. Reclamation, BLM, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, WAPA, the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins Conservation District, the Medicine Bow Conservation District, and the Carbon County Board of Commissioners participated as cooperating agencies to prepare the EIS.
On January 18, 2023, rPlus Hydro, LLLP, on behalf of BCH, filed an application for an original major license to construct and operate the project, which was supplemented with many additional information filings between May 1, 2023, and April 23, 2025.
The primary issues involved with constructing and operating the project are: (1) soil disturbance and vegetation removal (including limber pine and old growth forest); (2) potential changes in water quality (including within a downstream river reach that supports a blue ribbon trout fishery); (3) potential entrainment and loss of fish; (4) loss of wildlife habitat and noise effects on wildlife (including big game species); and (5) potential effects on recreation (including noise, air quality, public access, use, and viewscapes in and around the project).
In the Draft EIS, Commission staff recommends licensing the project under the staff alternative, which includes most of the applicant’s proposed measures, as well as certain staff modifications and additional measures recommended by stakeholders to further minimize project-related effects on aquatic resources, terrestrial resources, threatened and endangered species, cultural resources, and paleontological resources.
The deadline to comment on the Draft EIS is January 2, 2026.