BLM opens supplemental EIS on Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, moving FERC license order to October 2027, P-14787-004

What the record shows

The notice opens with BLM, not the Commission. It states that BLM staff “requires additional environmental analysis to support its decision on a right-of-way (ROW) application” for the project, and that BLM, “in cooperation with” FERC staff, will prepare a supplement to the final environmental impact statement issued June 12, 2026 [1]. The Commission’s secretary, Debbie-Anne A. Reese, signed it on September 11 [1].

Two decisions ride on the supplement. The first is the right-of-way itself: whether BLM approves it, and on what terms and conditions [1]. The second is a resource management plan amendment that the BLM Wyoming State Director intends to prepare, because the right-of-way “would require amending the existing Rawlins RMP” [1]. The amendment would address two subjects, Visual Resource Management and Big Game Crucial Ranges [1]. A footnote says the planning process will not evaluate or designate Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, and BLM is not taking nominations for them [1].

BLM lists five preliminary issues, each phrased as a question [1]:

• whether the right-of-way is compatible with the visual resource management classes in the approved plan;
• whether it is compatible with the plan’s allocations for crucial big game ranges;
• the reasonably foreseeable effects on the central Wyoming economy, “including the hunting, fishing, and tourism industries”;
• effects on aquatic habitat and water quality of the North Platte River Blue Ribbon trout fishery, the Miracle Mile reach;
• effects on recreational access to nearby BLM-administered land.

On alternatives, BLM will incorporate by reference the action alternatives from the final EIS that cover the right-of-way application, may describe additional design features from that application, and may consider further mitigation [1]. The notice asks commenters to identify other reasonable alternatives [1].

The cooperating agencies are the same group that worked on the Commission’s EIS: Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Western Area Power Administration, the Saratoga-Encampment-Rawlins and Medicine Bow conservation districts, and the Carbon County commissioners [1, 3]. The roles are reversed. In the original review, Commission staff wrote the EIS and BLM cooperated [4]. In the supplement, the notice says it “will present BLM’s independent analysis,” with the Commission among the cooperators [1].

The project as now described

Black Canyon Hydro, LLC, through rPlus Hydro, LLLP, filed for an original major license under Part I of the Federal Power Act on January 18, 2023 [1]. The project would build a new upper reservoir, a tunnel system, an underground powerhouse, an access bridge and two overhead transmission lines, with Seminoe Reservoir as the lower reservoir [1]. Three pump-turbines rated at 324 megawatts each would give it 972 megawatts and about 2,916 gigawatt-hours a year [1]. Initial fill would take 13,400 acre-feet from Seminoe Reservoir, with roughly 672 acre-feet a year of make-up water and about 10,800 acre-feet cycled between the reservoirs [1].

The footprint has shifted between notices. The March 2025 notice put BLM land at 1,025.94 acres and Reclamation land at 77.00 acres, with 284.0 acres permanently and 328.7 acres temporarily disturbed [4]. The September 2026 notice gives 1,043.9 BLM acres, 88.2 Reclamation acres, 283.3 acres of permanent disturbance and 296.2 acres of temporary disturbance [1]. The final EIS notice also lists 831.7 acres of private land [3].

Where it sits in the process

When will FERC issue the Seminoe license order?

The project is a FAST-41 covered project, so the Commission publishes target dates [1]. It has now published three for the license order:

The September 17, 2026, target fell one day after the new notice was published [1, 2]. The March 2026 revision followed Black Canyon Hydro’s December 15, 2025, proposal to move a batch plant, spoil pile and construction area onto Reclamation land, along with new plans for traffic, wildlife seasonal restrictions and bighorn sheep [2]. The Commission extended the draft EIS comment deadline from January 2 to February 13, 2026, after stakeholders asked for more time [2, 5].

When are comments due on the Seminoe supplemental EIS?

Scoping comments are due at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 13, 2026, filed with the Commission under P-14787-004 [1]. After that, the notice lays out these steps [1]:

• a notice of availability of the draft supplemental EIS on January 14, 2027, opening a 90-day comment period under 43 CFR 1610.2(e);
• a final supplemental EIS on July 16, 2027;
• a proposed plan amendment, with a 30-day protest period and a 60-day Governor’s consistency review, which BLM expects in “Summer 2027” alongside an approved amendment and record of decision;
• the license order, no later than October 21, 2027.

Why does BLM need its own review?

BLM’s role was in the record from the start of the Commission’s environmental review. The March 2025 notice listed a BLM “Right-of-Way Permit; Resource Management Plan Amendment” among the authorizations the project would need, beside a Reclamation lease of power privilege, a Corps section 404 permit and Wyoming water quality certification [4]. That notice also built a 90-day draft EIS comment period into the schedule “to accommodate BLM’s requirements” under the same planning regulation now cited for the supplement [4].

The divided jurisdiction goes back further. In 2020 Reclamation invited proposals for non-federal pumped storage at Seminoe Reservoir under its lease of power privilege process, with the Western Area Power Administration given “the first opportunity to purchase and/or market the power” [6]. Reclamation said then that Commission jurisdiction would cover the upper reservoir, much of the penstock and facilities such as transmission lines and access roads outside Reclamation land [6]. Seminoe Dam, the main storage feature of the Kendrick Project, was built from 1936 to 1939 [6].

Positions on the record

BLM. The agency’s position is set out in its preliminary issues, which name the Miracle Mile trout fishery, big game habitat and the hunting, fishing and tourism economy [1].

The applicant. The notice states the project’s purpose as providing “a new source of hydroelectric power and energy storage to the existing electricity grid” and ancillary services for reliability and grid stabilization [1]. Cowboy State Daily reported in June that an rPlus Hydro spokesman told a Wyoming legislative committee the project could provide high-paying jobs and backup power for the state [7]. According to the final EIS as quoted by Cowboy State Daily, the company sought to lift seasonal work restrictions related to bighorn sheep, sage-grouse and other species “to retain maximum flexibility needed to timely complete each segment of construction,” allowing work “up to 24-hours per day, seven days a week” [7].

Opponents. Cowboy State Daily reported that the final EIS recommended licensing the project and waiving seasonal timing restrictions based on BLM policy, and that the recommendations hinged on BLM agreeing to revised sections of the Rawlins plan [7]. Katie Cheesbrough, executive director of the Wyoming Wild Sheep Foundation, told the outlet, “It seems like they’re pushing a lot of the burden of this onto the BLM now” [7]. Craig Benjamin, executive director of the Wyoming Wildlife Federation, said, “It’s an energy loser” [7]. Patrick Harrington of Trout Unlimited said, “This thing seems it’s on railroad tracks, moving forward” [7].

Those comments came three months before BLM’s notice. Whether the groups will file scoping comments by October 13, and what they will ask BLM to study, is not yet in the record [1].

Reading-room questions

Questions readers bring to this record, answered from the documents cited below.

When are scoping comments due on the Seminoe Pumped Storage supplemental EIS?

By 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on October 13, 2026, filed with FERC under docket P-14787-004 [1]. Comments can go through eComment, eFiling or paper mail [1].

When will FERC decide on the Seminoe Pumped Storage license?

FERC now anticipates issuing the license order no later than October 21, 2027 [1]. Its March 2026 schedule had targeted September 17, 2026 [2].

Why is BLM doing a separate review of the Seminoe project after FERC's final EIS?

The notice says BLM requires additional environmental analysis to decide Black Canyon Hydro's right-of-way application, and the right-of-way would require amending the Rawlins Resource Management Plan [1]. A right-of-way permit and plan amendment were listed as BLM authorizations as early as March 2025 [4].

Will there be another public comment period on the Seminoe project?

Yes. BLM plans a 90-day comment period on the draft plan amendment and supplemental EIS, expected around January 14, 2027, followed by a 30-day protest period on the proposed amendment [1].

How big is the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project?

It is proposed at 972 megawatts from three 324-megawatt pump-turbines, capable of about 2,916 gigawatt-hours a year [1]. It would use Reclamation's Seminoe Reservoir on the North Platte River as its lower reservoir [1].

Note on sourcing

The supplemental EIS notice states in its schedule text that the draft supplemental EIS would issue on January 14, 2026, while the schedule line beneath it gives January 14, 2027; this report uses the 2027 date, which is the only one consistent with the notice's other dates. The final EIS's recommendation to license the project, and the passages quoted from it, are as reported by Cowboy State Daily; this report does not draw on the 478-page final EIS itself. BLM gives only 'Summer 2027' for the proposed resource management plan amendment and protest period, and this report does not assign a day to it. Neither Black Canyon Hydro nor its parent rPlus Hydro had made a public statement on the supplemental review in the record cited here as of publication.

Sources

1. Black Canyon Hydro, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, Schedule for Environmental Review, and Request For Comments, 91 FR 58667 (FR Doc. 2026-18988)Federal Register (FERC), September 16, 2026 · federalregister.gov
2. Black Canyon Hydro, LLC; Notice of Revised Schedule for the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, 91 FR 12413 (FR Doc. 2026-04953)Federal Register (FERC), March 13, 2026 · federalregister.gov
3. Black Canyon Hydro, LLC; Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, 91 FR 36818 (FR Doc. 2026-12220)Federal Register (FERC), June 18, 2026 · federalregister.gov
4. Black Canyon Hydro, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, Schedule for Environmental Review, and Request for Comments, 90 FR 14820 (FR Doc. 2025-05766)Federal Register (FERC), April 4, 2025 · federalregister.gov
5. Black Canyon Hydro, LLC; Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Seminoe Pumped Storage Project, 90 FR 47305 (FR Doc. 2025-19157)Federal Register (FERC), October 1, 2025 · federalregister.gov
6. Pumped-Storage Hydroelectric Power Development on Seminoe Reservoir, Kendrick Project, Wyoming, 85 FR 23373 (FR Doc. 2020-08832)Federal Register (Bureau of Reclamation), April 27, 2020 · federalregister.gov
7. After Feds OK Controversial Seminoe Power Projects, Critics Vow To FightCowboy State Daily, June 17, 2026 · cowboystatedaily.com

Subject headings

• BLM
• FERC
• hydropower
• pumped storage
• NEPA
• Wyoming
• FAST-41
• Bureau of Reclamation

Cross-references

Other register entries filed under the same subject headings.

1. July 24, 2026No. 0007 · Authorization · 3 shared headingsFERC adds categorical exclusion for hydropower license terminations and revocations, Docket RM26-7-000
2. Nov. 5, 2026No. 0031 · Floor order · 2 shared headingsSenate order sets Nov. 9 cloture vote on motion to proceed to H.R. 2347, the vehicle for a permitting package
3. Nov. 3, 2026No. 0030 · Report · 2 shared headingsFERC opens scoping on Longboard LNG import terminal off Oʻahu, Docket No. PF26-10-000