27320 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2018 / Notices 

and 214 of the Commission’s 

Regulations (18 CFR 385.211 and 

385.214) on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern 

time on the specified comment date. 

Protests may be considered, but 

intervention is necessary to become a 

party to the proceeding. 

eFiling is encouraged. More detailed 

information relating to filing 

requirements, interventions, protests, 

service, and qualifying facilities filings 

can be found at: http://www.ferc.gov/ 

docs-filing/efiling/filing-req.pdf. For 

other information, call (866) 208–3676 

(toll free). For TTY, call (202) 502–8659. 

Dated: June 6, 2018. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12581 Filed 6–11–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP18–186–000] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Assessment for the 

Proposed Transcontinental Gas Pipe 

Line Company, LLC Southeastern Trail 

Project, Request for Comments on 

Environmental Issues, and Notice of 

Public Scoping Sessions 

The staff of the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission (FERC or 

Commission) will prepare an 

environmental assessment (EA) that will 

discuss the environmental impacts of 

the Southeastern Trail Project involving 

construction and operation of facilities 

by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line 

Company, LLC (Transco) across 

Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and 

Louisiana. The Commission will use 

this EA in its decision-making process 

to determine whether the project is in 

the public convenience and necessity. 

This notice announces the opening of 

the scoping process the Commission 

will use to gather input from the public 

and interested agencies on the project. 

You can make a difference by providing 

us with your specific comments or 

concerns about the project. Your 

comments should focus on the potential 

environmental effects, reasonable 

alternatives, and measures to avoid or 

lessen environmental impacts. Your 

input will help the Commission staff 

determine what issues they need to 

evaluate in the EA. To ensure that your 

comments are timely and properly 

recorded, please send your comments so 

that the Commission receives them in 

Washington, DC on or before 5:00 p.m. 

Eastern Daylight Time on July 2, 2018. 

If you sent comments on this project 

to the Commission before the opening of 

this docket on April 11, 2018, you will 

need to file those comments in Docket 

No. CP18–186–000 to ensure they are 

considered as part of this proceeding. 

This notice is being sent to the 

Commission’s current environmental 

mailing list for this project. State and 

local government representatives should 

notify their constituents of this 

proposed project and encourage them to 

comment on their areas of concern. 

If you are a landowner receiving this 

notice, a pipeline company 

representative may contact you about 

the acquisition of an easement to 

construct, operate, and maintain the 

proposed facilities. The company would 

seek to negotiate a mutually acceptable 

agreement. However, if the Commission 

approves the project, that approval 

conveys with it the right of eminent 

domain. Therefore, if easement 

negotiations fail to produce an 

agreement, the pipeline company could 

initiate condemnation proceedings 

where compensation would be 

determined in accordance with state 

law. 

Transco provided landowners with a 

fact sheet prepared by the FERC entitled 

‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas Facility On 

My Land? What Do I Need To Know?’’ 

This fact sheet addresses a number of 

typically asked questions, including the 

use of eminent domain and how to 

participate in the Commission’s 

proceedings. It is also available for 

viewing on the FERC website 

(www.ferc.gov). 

Public Participation 

For your convenience, there are four 

methods you can use to submit your 

comments to the Commission. The 

Commission will provide equal 

consideration to all comments received, 

whether filed in written form or 

provided verbally. The Commission 

encourages electronic filing of 

comments and has expert staff available 

to assist you at (202) 502–8258 or 

FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. Please 

carefully follow these instructions so 

that your comments are properly 

recorded. 

(1) You can file your comments 

electronically using the eComment 

feature on the Commission’s website 

(www.ferc.gov) under the link to 

Documents and Filings. This is an easy 

method for submitting brief, text-only 

comments on a project; 

(2) You can file your comments 

electronically by using the eFiling 

feature on the Commission’s website 

(www.ferc.gov) under the link to 

Documents and Filings. With eFiling, 

you can provide comments in a variety 

of formats by attaching them as a file 

with your submission. New eFiling 

users must first create an account by 

clicking on ‘‘eRegister.’’ If you are filing 

a comment on a particular project, 

please select ‘‘Comment on a Filing’’ as 

the filing type; or 

(3) You can file a paper copy of your 

comments by mailing them to the 

following address. Be sure to reference 

the project docket number (CP18–186– 

000) with your submission: Kimberly D. 

Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street 

NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. 

(4) In lieu of sending written or 

electronic comments, the Commission 

invites you to attend one of the public 

scoping sessions its staff will conduct in 

the project area, scheduled as follows: 

Date and time Location 

Monday, June 18, 2018, 4:30–8:00 p.m .................................................. Brentsville High School, 12109 Aden Rd., Nokesville, VA 20181, (703) 

594–2161. 

Tuesday, June 19, 2018, 4:30–8:00 p.m ................................................. Scottsville Public Library, 330 Bird Street, Scottsville, VA 24590–0759, 

(434) 286–3541. 

Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 4:30–8:00 p.m ............................................ Old Dominion Education Center, 19783 U.S. Hwy. 29 South, Chatham, 

VA 24531, (434) 432–8026. 

The primary goal of these scoping 

sessions is to have you identify the 

specific environmental issues and 

concerns that should be considered in 

the EA to be prepared for this Project. 

Individual verbal comments will be 

taken on a one-on-one basis with a court 

reporter. This format is designed to 

receive the maximum amount of verbal 

comments, in a convenient way during 

the timeframe allotted. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2018 / Notices 27321 

1The appendices referenced in this notice will 

not appear in the Federal Register. Copies of the 

appendices were sent to all those receiving this 

notice in the mail and are available at www.ferc.gov 

using the link called ‘‘eLibrary’’ or from the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room, 888 First 

Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 502– 

8371. For instructions on connecting to eLibrary, 

refer to the last page of this notice. 

2The appendices referenced in this notice will 

not appear in the Federal Register. Copies of the 

appendices were sent to all those receiving this 

notice in the mail and are available at www.ferc.gov 

using the link called ‘‘eLibrary’’ or from the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room, 888 First 

Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 502– 

8371. For instructions on connecting to eLibrary, 

refer to the last page of this notice. 

3A pipeline loop is a segment of pipe constructed 

parallel to an existing pipeline to increase capacity. 

4 ‘‘We,’’ ‘‘us,’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to the 

environmental staff of the Commission’s Office of 

Energy Projects. 

Each scoping session is scheduled 

from 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. EDT. You 

may arrive at any time after 4:30 p.m. 

There will not be a formal presentation 

by Commission staff when the session 

opens. If you wish to speak, the 

Commission staff will hand out 

numbers in the order of your arrival. 

Comments will be taken until 8:00 p.m. 

However, if no additional numbers have 

been handed out and all individuals 

who wish to provide comments have 

had an opportunity to do so, staff may 

conclude the session at 7:30 p.m. Please 

see appendix 1 for additional 

information on the session format and 

conduct.1

Your scoping comments will be 

recorded by the court reporter (with 

FERC staff or representative present) 

and become part of the public record for 

this proceeding. Transcripts will be 

publicly available on FERC’s eLibrary 

system (see below for instructions on 

using eLibrary). If a significant number 

of people are interested in providing 

verbal comments in the one-on-one 

settings, a time limit of 5 minutes may 

be implemented for each commentor. 

It is important to note that verbal 

comments hold the same weight as 

written or electronically submitted 

comments. Although there will not be a 

formal presentation, Commission staff 

will be available throughout the 

comment session to answer your 

questions about the environmental 

review process. Representatives from 

Transco will also be present to answer 

project-specific questions. 

Please note this is not your only 

public input opportunity; please refer to 

the review process flow chart in 

appendix 2.2

Summary of the Proposed Project 

Transco proposes to construct and 

operate about 7.7 miles of new natural 

gas pipeline (Manassas Loop) located 

along the existing Transco Mainline, 

expand three existing compressor 

stations in Virginia (Stations 185, 175, 

and 165), and modify 21 existing 

facilities in South Carolina, Georgia, and 

Louisiana as part of the Southeastern 

Trail Project. According to Transco, its 

project would provide 296.4 million 

standard cubic feet of natural gas per 

day (MMcf/d) of additional firm 

transportation capacity from the 

Pleasant Valley Interconnect facility in 

Fairfax County, Virginia to the existing 

Station 65 pooling point in St. Helena 

Parish, Louisiana, to serve the following 

customers: Public Service Company of 

North Carolina Incorporated (60 MMcf/ 

d), South Carolina Electric and Gas (215 

MMcf/d), Virginia Natural Gas (14.6 

MMcf/d), and the cities of Buford (3.8 

MMcf/d) and LaGrange (3 MMcf/d) in 

Georgia. 

The specific facilities proposed as 

part of the Southeastern Trail Project are 

as follows: 

• Construction of approximately 7.7 

miles of new 42-inch-diameter pipeline 

loop 3 (referred to as the Manassas Loop) 

in Fauquier and Prince William 

Counties, Virginia. The Manassas Loop 

would be collocated along the Transco 

Mainline from milepost 1568.13 to 

1575.85 between Station 180 and 

Station 185. 

• Expansion of existing compressor 

stations in Virginia 

Æ Uprating the existing electricdriven compression unit driver from 

25,000 to 30,000 horsepower (HP) and 

re-gearing the associated variable speed 

drive at Station 185 in Prince William 

County. 

Æ Addition of one new 22,490 HP 

turbine-driven compression unit and 

station cooling, and uprating of the 

existing electric driven compression 

unit driver from 33,000- to 41,250-HP 

and rewheeling the associated 

centrifugal compressor at Station 175 in 

Fluvanna County. 

Æ Addition of two new 22,490 HP 

turbine-driven compression units, 

station cooling, and miscellaneous 

piping modifications; the abandonment 

and removal of ten reciprocating 

compressor units totaling 20,000 HP; 

and demolition of an existing 

compressor building at Station 165 in 

Pittsylvania County. 

• Mainline Facility Modifications in 

South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana 

Æ Flow reversal modifications to 

existing Station 65 in St. Helena Parish, 

Louisiana and existing Station 140 in 

Spartanburg County, South Carolina. 

Æ Flow reversal modifications and 

installation of deodorization at existing 

Station 130 in Madison County, Georgia 

and existing Station 115 in Coweta 

County, Georgia. 

Æ Installation of deodorization at 

existing Stations 116, 120, and 125 in 

Carroll, Henry, and Walton Counties, 

Georgia and Station 135 in Anderson 

County, South Carolina. 

Æ Installation of deodorization at 13 

existing mainline valve facilities in 

South Carolina and Georgia along the 

Transco Mainline. 

The general location of the project 

facilities is shown in appendix 3. 

Land Requirements for Construction 

Construction of the proposed facilities 

would disturb about 185 acres of land 

for the aboveground facilities and the 

pipeline, the majority of which is 

associated with the Manassas Loop (76.4 

acres) in Fauquier and Prince William 

Counties, Virginia, and the Station 165 

expansion (72.8 acres) in Pittsylvania 

County, Virginia. About 96 percent of 

the proposed Manassas Loop pipeline 

route would be co-located at a 25-foot 

offset from the existing Transco 

Mainline C pipeline, expanding the 

existing permanent right-of-way by 25 

feet. In addition, one new permanent 

access road would be constructed and 

maintained to provide access to the new 

mainline valve for the Manassas Loop at 

Station 180. In total, Transco would 

maintain about 34.2 acres for permanent 

operation of the project’s facilities, 

including 24.0 acres for the Manassas 

Loop and 10.0 acres for the Station 165 

expansion. The remaining acreage 

would be restored and revert to former 

uses. 

The EA Process 

The National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) requires the Commission to 

take into account the environmental 

impacts that could result from an action 

whenever it considers the issuance of a 

Certificate of Public Convenience and 

Necessity. NEPA also requires us 4 to 

discover and address concerns the 

public may have about proposals. This 

process is referred to as ‘‘scoping.’’ The 

main goal of the scoping process is to 

focus the analysis in the EA on the 

important environmental issues. By this 

notice, the Commission requests public 

comments on the scope of the issues to 

address in the EA. We will consider all 

filed comments during the preparation 

of the EA. 

In the EA we will discuss impacts that 

could occur as a result of the 

construction and operation of the 

proposed project under these general 

headings: 

• Geology and soils; 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
27322 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 113 / Tuesday, June 12, 2018 / Notices 

5The Council on Environmental Quality 

regulations addressing cooperating agency 

responsibilities are at Title 40, Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 1501.6. 

6The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s 

regulations are at Title 36, Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 800. Those regulations define 

historic properties as any prehistoric or historic 

district, site, building, structure, or object included 

in or eligible for inclusion in the National Register 

of Historic Places. 

• Land use; 

• Water resources, fisheries, and 

wetlands; 

• Cultural resources; 

• Vegetation and wildlife; 

• Air quality and noise; 

• Endangered and threatened species; 

• Public safety; and 

• Cumulative impacts 

We will also evaluate reasonable 

alternatives to the proposed project or 

portions of the project, and make 

recommendations on how to lessen or 

avoid impacts on the various resource 

areas. 

The EA will present our independent 

analysis of the issues. The EA will be 

available in the public record through 

eLibrary. We will publish and distribute 

the EA to the public for an allotted 

comment period. We will consider all 

comments on the EA before making our 

recommendations to the Commission. 

To ensure we have the opportunity to 

consider and address your comments, 

please carefully follow the instructions 

in the Public Participation section, 

beginning on page 2. 

With this notice, we are asking 

agencies with jurisdiction by law and/ 

or special expertise with respect to the 

environmental issues of this project to 

formally cooperate with us in the 

preparation of the EA.5 Agencies that 

would like to request cooperating 

agency status should follow the 

instructions for filing comments 

provided under the Public Participation 

section of this notice. 

Consultations Under Section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act 

In accordance with the Advisory 

Council on Historic Preservation’s 

implementing regulations for section 

106 of the National Historic 

Preservation Act, we are using this 

notice to initiate consultation with the 

applicable State Historic Preservation 

Offices (SHPO), and to solicit their 

views and those of other government 

agencies, interested Indian tribes, and 

the public on the project’s potential 

effects on historic properties.6 We will 

define the project-specific Area of 

Potential Effects (APE) in consultation 

with the SHPOs as the project develops. 

On natural gas facility projects, the APE 

at a minimum encompasses all areas 

subject to ground disturbance (examples 

include construction right-of-way, 

contractor/pipe storage yards, 

compressor stations, and access roads). 

Our EA for this project will document 

our findings on the impacts on historic 

properties and summarize the status of 

consultations under section 106. 

Environmental Mailing List 

The environmental mailing list 

includes federal, state, and local 

government representatives and 

agencies; elected officials; 

environmental and public interest 

groups; Native American Tribes; other 

interested parties; and local libraries 

and newspapers. This list also includes 

all affected landowners (as defined in 

the Commission’s regulations) who are 

potential right-of-way grantors, whose 

property may be used temporarily for 

project purposes, or who own homes 

within certain distances of aboveground 

facilities, and anyone who submits 

comments on the project. We will 

update the environmental mailing list as 

the analysis proceeds to ensure that we 

send the information related to this 

environmental review to all individuals, 

organizations, and government entities 

interested in and/or potentially affected 

by the proposed project. 

Copies of the EA will be sent to the 

environmental mailing list for public 

review and comment. If you would 

prefer to receive a paper copy of the 

document instead of the CD version or 

would like to remove your name from 

the mailing list, please return the 

attached Information Request (appendix 

2). 

Notice of Onsite Review 

On June 18–20, 2018, the Office of 

Energy Projects staff will be in Fauquier, 

Prince William, Fluvanna, and 

Pittsylvania Counties, Virginia to gather 

data related to the environmental 

analysis of the Southeastern Trail 

Project. Staff will review environmental 

resources on the proposed Manassas 

Loop and visit Stations 175 and 165 to 

review the extent of proposed grounddisturbing activities. This will assist 

staff in completing its comparative 

evaluation of environmental impacts of 

the proposed project. Viewing of these 

facilities is anticipated to be from 

existing Transco right-of-way and at 

existing Transco stations. 

Additional Information 

Additional information about the 

project is available from the 

Commission’s Office of External Affairs, 

at (866) 208–FERC, or on the FERC 

website at www.ferc.gov using the 

‘‘eLibrary’’ link. Click on the eLibrary 

link, click on ‘‘General Search’’ and 

enter the docket number, excluding the 

last three digits in the Docket Number 

field (i.e., CP18–186). Be sure you have 

selected an appropriate date range. For 

assistance, please contact FERC Online 

Support at FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov 

or toll free at (866) 208–3676, or for 

TTY, contact (202) 502–8659. The 

eLibrary link also provides access to the 

texts of formal documents issued by the 

Commission, such as orders, notices, 

and rulemakings. 

In addition, the Commission offers a 

free service called eSubscription which 

allows you to keep track of all formal 

issuances and submittals in specific 

dockets. This can reduce the amount of 

time you spend researching proceedings 

by automatically providing you with 

notification of these filings, document 

summaries, and direct links to the 

documents. Go to www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/esubscription.asp. 

Finally, public sessions or site visits 

will be posted on the Commission’s 

calendar located at www.ferc.gov/ 

EventCalendar/EventsList.aspx along 

with other related information. 

Dated: June 1, 2018. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–12598 Filed 6–11–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP18–491–000] 

Notice of Request Under Blanket 

Authorization: National Fuel Gas 

Supply Corporation 

Take notice that on May 24, 2018, 

National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation 

(National Fuel), 6363 Main Street, 

Williamsville, New York 14221, filed in 

the above referenced docket, a prior 

notice request pursuant to sections 

157.205, 157.208, and 157.210 of the 

Commission’s regulations under the 

Natural Gas Act (NGA) and National 

Fuel’s blanket certificate issued in 

Docket No. CP83–4–000, for 

authorization to (1) increase certificated 

maximum allowable operating pressure 

(MAOP) of a 10.6-mile-long portion of 

existing 16-inch-diameter Line KNYS, 

(2) install a new Over Pressure 

Protection Station, and (3) install 

appurtenances, all located in 

Cattaraugus County, New York and 

McKean County, Pennsylvania (Line 

KNYS Update Project). Increasing 

MAOP from 335 pounds per square inch 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES