FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT

FOR COVE POINT LIQUEFACTION PROJECT REGARDING

DOMINION COVE POINT LNG, LP, APPLICATION SEEKING

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AUTHORIZATION TO EXPORT

LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS FROM DOMINION COVE POINT LNG TERMINAL TO

NON-FREE TRADE AGREEMENT NATIONS

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy

ACTION: Finding of No Significant Impact

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 1501.6 of the regulations of the Council on Environmental

Quality (CEQ), 40 CFR 1501.6, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) participated as a 

cooperating agency with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the 

preparation of an environmental assessment (EA) that analyzed the potential environmental

impacts associated with applications submitted by Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP (Dominion)

with FERC and the Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy (DOE/FE) seeking 

authorization to site, construct, and operate liquefaction and export facilities at the existing Cove 

Point LNG Terminal in Calvert County, Maryland.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 1, 2013, Dominion filed an application with 

FERC in Docket No. CP13-113-000 under section 3(a) of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and the 

procedures of Part 153 of FERC’s regulations seeking authority to site, construct, modify, and 

operate facilities to be used for the liquefaction of natural gas for export at Dominion’s existing 

Cove Point LNG Terminal in Calvert County, Maryland. In addition, Dominion’s application 

requested authorization under section 7(c) of the NGA and Part 157 of FERC’s regulations to 

construct, install, own, operate, and maintain facilities at Dominion’s existing Pleasant Valley 

Compressor Station in Fairfax County, Virginia, and existing Loudoun Compressor Station in 

Loudoun County, Virginia, for the transportation of natural gas associated with Dominion’s

proposed liquefaction plant. The facilities proposed under sections 3(a) and 7(c) of the NGA are 

collectively referred to as the Cove Point Liquefaction Project (Project). Prior to filing its 

application, Dominion participated in the FERC’s pre-filing process under Docket No. PF12-16-

000.

On October 3, 2011, Dominion filed an Application for Long-Term Authorization to Export LNG 

to Non-Free Trade Agreement Countries with DOE/FE (FE Docket No. 11-128-LNG). In its 

application, Dominion requested approval to export LNG up to the equivalent of 1 billion cubic 

feet of natural gas per day (Bcf/d), or approximately 7.82 million metric tons per year (mtpy) to 

any country with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement (FTA) and with 

which trade is not prohibited by U.S. law or policy. On May 2, 2013, Dominion notified 

DOE/FE that Dominion had requested FERC authorization to construct and operate liquefaction 

facilities with LNG production capacity of up to 5.75 mtpy (estimated by DOE/FE to be 0.77 

Bcf/d), instead of 7.82 mtpy (1 Bcf/d). 
On September 11, 2013, DOE/FE issued Order No. 3331 conditionally authorizing Dominion to 

export LNG up to the equivalent of 0.77 Bcf/d of natural gas to non-FTA nations subject to the 

satisfactory completion of the environmental review being prepared by FERC on Dominion’s 

application to build and operate the Project. The purpose and need for DOE action is to comply

with section 3(a) of the NGA, which requires DOE to issue an order granting an application

for authority to export natural gas unless, after opportunity for hearing, it finds that the

proposed export will not be consistent with the public interest.

FERC prepared an EA for the Project, which it released for comment in May 2014, and finalized 

in its Order Granting Section 3 Authorization, issued September 29, 2014. 148 FERC ¶ 61,244.

The FERC Order, inter alia, granted Dominion’s application to construct and operate the Project 

subject to appropriate mitigating measures set forth as an appendix to the order.

DOE’s Addendum: On June 4, 2014, DOE/FE published the Draft Addendum to Environmental 

Review Documents Concerning Exports of Natural Gas from the United States for public 

comment (79 FR 32258). Although not required by NEPA, DOE/FE prepared the Addendum in 

an effort to be responsive to the public and to provide the best information available on a subject 

that had been raised by commenters. The Addendum addresses unconventional natural gas 

production in the nation as a whole. It does not attempt to identify or characterize the 

incremental environmental impacts that would result from LNG exports to non-FTA nations.

Fundamental uncertainties constrain our ability to foresee and analyze the incremental natural 

gas production that may be induced by permitting exports of LNG to non-FTA countries. Such 

impacts are not reasonably foreseeable and cannot be analyzed with any particularity. There is 

uncertainty as to the aggregate quantity of natural gas that ultimately may be exported to nonFTA countries. Receiving a non-FTA authorization from DOE/FE does not guarantee that a 

particular facility will be financed and built; nor does it guarantee that, if built, market conditions 

would continue to favor export once the facility is operational.

There is also fundamental uncertainty as to where any additional production would occur and in 

what quantity. As the Addendum illustrates, nearly all of the environmental issues presented by 

unconventional natural gas production are local in nature, affecting local water resources, local 

air quality, and local land use patterns, all under the auspices of state and local regulatory 

authority. As DOE explained in Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC, DOE/FE Order No. 2961,

without knowing where, in what quantity, and under what circumstances additional natural gas 

production will arise, the environmental impacts resulting from production activity induced by 

LNG exports to non-FTA countries are not “reasonably foreseeable” within the meaning of the 

CEQ’s NEPA regulations.1

The 45-day comment period on the Draft Addendum closed on July 21, 2014. DOE/FE received 

40,745 comments in 18 separate submissions, and considered those comments in issuing the 

Addendum on August 15, 2014. DOE provided a summary of the comments received and 

responses to substantive comments in Appendix B of the Addendum. DOE/FE has incorporated 

1 Sabine Pass, DOE/FE Order No. 2961-A, at 11 (quoting 40 C.F.R. § 1508.7).

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the Draft Addendum, comments, and final Addendum into the record in its Dominion Cove Point 

proceeding. 

Adoption: All discussion and analyses related to the potential impacts of a grant of the export 

application are contained within the EA prepared by FERC, "Environmental Assessment for 

the Cove Point Liquefaction Project," 2 which is herein adopted (DOE/EA-1942) and 

incorporated by reference, and in FERC's September 29 Order Granting Section 3 Authorization. 

The EA examined potential impacts in the following areas and found that with appropriate 

mitigating measures, none would constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the 

quality of the human environment: geology and soils; water resources; fisheries, vegetation, 

and wildlife resources; land use, recreation, and visual resources; socioeconomics; cultural 

resources; air quality and noise; reliability and safety; and cumulative impacts. While not 

required by NEPA, DOE also considered the Addendum, as discussed above. 

DETERMINATION: On the basis of the EA, the Addendum and FERC's September 29 order, 

DOE has determined that granting Dominion's application for authority to export LNG, 

subject to the environmental conditions imposed on Dominion that are set fmih in the EA and 

FERC's September 29 Order Granting Section 3 Authorization, will not have a significant 

effect on the human environment. The preparation of an environmental impact statement, 

therefore, is not required and DOE is issuing this Finding of No Significant Impact. 

Copies of the EA and FONSI will be available on the DOE/FE website at 

http://www.fossil. energy. gov /programs/ gasregulation/ authorizations/2011 _ applications/D 

ominion Cove Point LNG%2C LP 11-128-LNG.html. The EA and FONSI will also be - - - - -

available at: 

www.gc.energy.gov/NEP A, under DOE NEPA Documents. 

Signed in Washington, D.C., on November 5, 2014. 

~ :i--CQ_-~ P. - Christopher A. Smith ~ ----.. 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary 

Office of Fossil Energy 

U.S. Department of Energy 

2 E11viron111ental Assess111entfor the Cove Point Liquefaction Project, FERC Docket No. CP13-l 13-000, Septe1nber 

2014; DOE EA-1942, DOE/FE Docket No. 11-128-LNG. 

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