32258 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 107 / Wednesday, June 4, 2014 / Notices 

would not accept or process the used 

fuel. 

Potential Areas of Environmental 

Analysis 

DOE has tentatively identified the 

following areas for analysis in the 

German HEU Fuel EA. The list is 

presented to facilitate comment on the 

scope of the EA and is not intended to 

be comprehensive or to predetermine 

the potential impacts to be analyzed. 

• Impacts to the general population 

and workers from radiological and 

nonradiological releases, and other 

worker health and safety impacts. 

• Impacts of emissions on air and 

water quality, including impacts of 

greenhouse gas emissions on climate 

change. 

• Impacts on ecological systems and 

threatened and endangered species. 

• Impacts of waste management 

activities. 

• Impacts of the transportation of 

radioactive materials, including 

transport across the ocean. 

• Impacts that could occur as a result 

of postulated accidents and intentional 

destructive acts (terrorist actions and 

sabotage). 

• Potential disproportionately high 

and adverse effects on low-income and 

minority populations (environmental 

justice). 

• Short-term and long-term land use 

impacts, including potential impacts of 

disposal. 

• Cumulative impacts. 

NEPA Process 

Following the public scoping period 

and after consideration of all comments 

received during scoping, DOE will 

prepare a Draft German HEU Fuel EA. 

DOE will announce its availability to 

the public for comment, provide a 

public comment period, and conduct a 

public hearing to receive comments on 

the Draft EA. All comments submitted 

on the Draft EA during the public 

comment period will be considered and 

addressed in the Final German HEU 

Fuel EA. DOE will address comments 

submitted after the close of the public 

comment period on the Draft EA to the 

extent practicable. Based on the EA 

analysis, DOE will either issue a 

Finding of No Significant Impact or 

announce its intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement (EIS). 

If DOE determines that an EIS is 

needed, either during preparation of the 

EA or after completing the EA, DOE 

would issue in the Federal Register an 

NOI to prepare an EIS. In that case, the 

current scoping process would serve as 

the scoping process that normally 

would follow an NOI to prepare an EIS. 

DOE would not solicit additional 

scoping comments but would consider 

any comments on the scope of the EA 

received during this scoping process in 

preparing the EIS. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 29, 

2014. 

David Huizenga, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental 

Management. 

[FR Doc. 2014–12933 Filed 6–3–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

[DOE/EIS–0487; DOE/EIS–0488; DOE/EIS– 

0489; et. al.] 

Draft Addendum to Environmental 

Review Documents Concerning 

Exports of Natural Gas From the 

United States 

AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, 

Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of Availability of Draft 

Addendum to Environmental Review 

Documents Concerning Exports of 

Natural Gas from the United States. 

Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. and FLNG Liquefaction, LLCD .................................................................................................. [DOE/EIS–0487]. 

Cameron LNG, LLC ........................................................................................................................................................................ DOE/EIS–0488]. 

Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P ................................................................................................................................................... DOE/EIS–0489]. 

Lake Charles Exports, LLC and Trunkline LNG Export, LLC ..................................................................................................... DOE/EIS–0491]. 

LNG Development Company, LLC (d/b/a Oregon LNG) ............................................................................................................. DOE/EIS–0492]. 

Cheniere Marketing, LLC .............................................................................................................................................................. DOE/EIS–0493]. 

Excelerate Liquefaction Solutions I, LLC ..................................................................................................................................... DOE/EIS–0494]. 

CE FLNG, LLC ................................................................................................................................................................................ DOE/EIS–0497]. 

Magnolia LNG, LLC ....................................................................................................................................................................... DOE/EIS–0498]. 

Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP ..................................................................................................................................................... DOE/EA–1942]. 

Southern LNG Company, L.L.C .................................................................................................................................................... DOE/EA–1963]. 

Golden Pass Products LLC ............................................................................................................................................................ DOE/EA–1971]. 

Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC ...................................................................................................................................................... DOE/EA–1983]. 

SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy 

(FE) of the Department of Energy (DOE) 

announces the availability of the Draft 

Addendum to Environmental Review 

Documents Concerning Exports of 

Natural Gas From The United States 

(Addendum) for public review and 

comment. The purpose of this 

Addendum is to provide additional 

information to the public regarding the 

potential environmental impacts of 

unconventional natural gas exploration 

and production activities. DOE has 

received many comments in related 

proceedings expressing concerns about 

the potential impacts from increased 

development of unconventional natural 

gas resources in the United States, 

particularly production that involves 

hydraulic fracturing. While not required 

by the National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA), DOE has prepared this 

Addendum in an effort to be responsive 

to the public and provide the best 

information available. DOE is making 

this draft Addendum available for 

public review and comment, and will 

consider comments prior to finalizing 

this Addendum. 

DATES: Comments are to be filed using 

procedures detailed in the Public 

Comment section no later than 4:30 

p.m., Eastern Time, July 21, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: 

Electronic Filing Using Online Form: 

http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-UpstreamAddendum. 

Regular Mail: U.S. Department of 

Energy (FE–34), Attn: Addendum 

Comments, Office of Oil & Gas Global 

Security & Supply, Office of Fossil 

Energy, P.O. Box 44375, Washington, 

DC 20026–4375 

Hand Delivery or Private Delivery 

Services (e.g., FedEx, UPS, etc.): U.S. 

Department of Energy (FE–34), Attn: 

Addendum Comments, Office of Oil & 

Gas Global Security & Supply, Office of 

Fossil Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 

3E–042, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC 20585 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

John Anderson, U.S. Department of 

Energy (FE–34), Office of Natural Gas 

Regulatory Activities, Office of Fossil 

Energy, Forrestal Building, Room 3E– 

042, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586– 

0521. 

Edward LeDuc, U.S. Department of 

Energy (GC–51), Office of the 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 107 / Wednesday, June 4, 2014 / Notices 32259 

Assistant General Counsel for 

Environment, Forrestal Building, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586– 

4007 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

3(a) of the Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. 

717b(a), directs the U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) to authorize proposed 

exports of natural gas to countries with 

which the United States does not have 

a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) requiring 

national treatment for trade in natural 

gas (non-FTA countries), unless DOE 

finds that the proposed exportation will 

not be consistent with the public 

interest. 

DOE presently has before it numerous 

applications to export liquefied natural 

gas (LNG) to non-FTA countries. The 

project proponents in these applications 

also have applied to the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission (FERC) for 

approvals related to onshore LNG 

facilities. FERC is the lead federal 

agency for the preparation of 

environmental assessments (EAs) and 

environmental impact statements (EISs) 

required under the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for 

the applications that are pending before 

both federal agencies. DOE is 

participating as a cooperating agency in 

these NEPA reviews. 

Several parties and commenters to 

these proceedings have urged DOE to 

review the potential environmental 

impacts of natural gas production 

activities, particularly the hydraulic 

fracturing of shale formations. These 

parties and commenters reason that 

authorizing exports of LNG to non-FTA 

countries would induce additional 

natural gas production in the United 

States, and that the environmental 

impacts of the additional natural gas 

production should be considered as a 

factor affecting the public interest. 

Fundamental uncertainties constrain 

the ability to predict what, if any, 

domestic natural gas production would 

be induced by granting any specific 

authorization or authorizations to export 

LNG to non-FTA countries. Receiving a 

non-FTA authorization from DOE does 

not guarantee that a particular facility 

would be financed and built; nor does 

it guarantee that, even if built, market 

conditions would continue to favor 

export once the facility is operational. 

Numerous LNG import facilities were 

previously authorized by DOE, received 

financing, and were built, only to see 

declining use over the past decade. 

The current rapid development of 

unconventional natural gas resources 

will likely continue, with or without the 

export of natural gas. Potential impacts 

associated with the development of 

unconventional natural gas resources 

will exist whenever it is produced, 

much the same as the conventional 

natural gas industry has for decades. 

Exporting natural gas may accelerate the 

timing of the development 

unconventional resources and the 

associated potential impacts. However, 

it is not reasonable to assume that 

unconventional natural gas production 

and the associated potential impacts 

will not occur if natural gas exports to 

non-FTA countries are prohibited. 

Accordingly, to provide the public 

with a more complete understanding of 

potential impacts, DOE has prepared 

this draft Addendum to discuss the 

potential environmental impacts 

associated with unconventional natural 

gas production in the lower-48 states. 

By including this discussion of natural 

gas production activities, DOE is going 

beyond what NEPA requires. While 

DOE has made broad projections about 

the types of resources from which 

additional production may come, DOE 

cannot meaningfully estimate where, 

when, or by what method any 

additional natural gas would be 

produced. Therefore, DOE cannot 

meaningfully analyze the specific 

environmental impacts of such 

production, which are nearly all local or 

regional in nature. As DOE explained in 

Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC, DOE/FE 

Order No. 2961–A (Aug. 7, 2012), 

lacking an understanding of where and 

when additional 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 

Council on Environmental Quality’s 

(CEQ) NEPA regulations (40 CFR 

1508.7). 

The Addendum is intended to 

provide information only on the impact 

areas most often associated with 

unconventional natural gas production. 

The Addendum is not the result of new 

analysis or research, but rather is based 

on DOE’s review of existing studies and 

analyses. A key resource in preparing 

the Addendum was the report 

Environmental Impacts of 

Unconventional Natural Gas 

Development and Production (May 29, 

2014), prepared by the National Energy 

Technology Laboratory, a DOE 

Laboratory. 

Public Comment 

In response to this Notice, any person 

may file comments. DOE prefers 

comments to be filed using the online 

form (method 1). However, for those 

lacking access to the Internet, comments 

may be filed using method 2 or 3. The 

three methods are: (1) submission of 

comments using the online form at 

http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-UpstreamAddendum; (2) mailing comments to the 

Office of Oil and Gas Global Security 

and Supply at the address listed in 

ADDRESSES; or (3) delivering comments 

(by hand or courier) to the Office of Oil 

and Gas Global Security and Supply at 

the address listed in ADDRESSES. All 

filings must include a reference to Draft 

Upstream Addendum. PLEASE NOTE: 

DOE/FE is not accepting any comments 

by email. Any hardcopy filing submitted 

that is greater in length than 50 pages 

must also include, at the time of the 

filing, a digital copy on disk of the 

entire submission in PDF format. Please 

do not include any active hyperlinks or 

password protection in any of the 

electronic documents related to the 

filing. All electronic filings submitted to 

DOE must follow these guidelines to 

ensure that all documents are filed in a 

timely manner. All comments filed in 

response to this Notice will be publicly 

available on the DOE/FE Web site 

(http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-UpstreamAddendum). 

DOE will consider all comments 

received until the close of the comment 

period. Comments must be limited to 

the issues and potential impacts 

addressed in the Addendum, and DOE 

may disregard comments that are not 

germane. 

Commenters should be advised that 

filings with DOE shall be subject to 

public disclosure, so submissions 

should be free of any personally 

identifiable information (PII) or other 

information that the individual does not 

wish to be revealed in a public forum. 

The Addendum and other relevant 

documents are available for download at 

http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-UpstreamAddendum and for inspection and 

copying in the Division of Natural Gas 

Regulatory Activities docket room, 

Room 3E–042, 1000 Independence 

Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585. 

The docket room is open between the 

hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on May 29, 

2014. 

Christopher A. Smith, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office 

of Fossil Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2014–12931 Filed 6–3–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES