(a) Request for acceleration.

(1) No later than five and one-half years prior to expiration of an existing license, a licensee may file with the Commission, in accordance with the formal filing requirements in subpart T of part 385 of this chapter, a written request for acceleration of the expiration date of its existing license, containing the statements and information specified in §16.6(b) of this chapter and a detailed explanation of the basis for the acceleration request.

(2) If the Commission grants the request for acceleration pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section, the Commission will deem the request for acceleration to be a notice of intent under §16.6 of this chapter and, unless the Commission directs otherwise, the licensee must make available the Pre-Application Document provided for in §5.6 no later than 90 days from the date that the Commission grants the request for acceleration.

(b) Notice of request for acceleration.

(1) Upon receipt of a request for acceleration, the Commission will give notice of the licensee's request and provide a 45-day period for comments by interested persons by:

(i) Publishing notice in the Federal Register;

(ii) Publishing notice once in a daily or weekly newspaper published in the county or counties in which the project or any part thereof or the lands affected thereby are situated; and

(iii) Notifying appropriate Federal, state, and interstate resource agencies and Indian tribes, and non-governmental organizations likely to be interested, by electronic means if practical, otherwise by mail.

(2) The notice issued pursuant to paragraphs (b)(1)(A) and (B) and the written notice given pursuant to paragraph (b)(1)(C) will be considered as fulfilling the notice provisions of §16.6(d) of this chapter should the Commission grant the acceleration request and will include an explanation of the basis for the licensee's acceleration request.

(c) Commission order. If the Commission determines it is in the public interest, the Commission will issue an order accelerating the expiration date of the license to not less than five years and 90 days from the date of the Commission order.

[Order 2002, 68 FR 51121, Aug. 25, 2003, as amended by Order 653, 70 FR 8724, Feb. 23, 2005]