16664 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 60 / Monday, March 30, 2015 / Notices 

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. 

Currently Identified Environmental 

Issues 

We have already identified several 

issues that we think deserve attention 

based on a preliminary review of the 

proposed facilities and the 

environmental information provided by 

East Tennessee. This preliminary list of 

issues may be changed based on your 

comments and our analysis. These 

include impacts on: 

• Waterbodies; 

• Karst geology, including caves; 

• Soils; 

• Migratory birds; 

• Vegetation; 

• Candidate and listed threatened or 

endangered species; 

• Land use; 

• Air quality and noise; 

• Safety; and 

• Alternative routes. 

Public Participation 

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. 

The more specific your comments, the 

more useful they will be. 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 April 23, 

2015. 

For your convenience, there are three 

methods which you can use to submit 

your comments to the Commission. In 

all instances please reference the project 

docket number (CP15–91–000) with 

your submission. The Commission 

encourages electronic filing of 

comments and has expert staff available 

to assist you at (202) 502–8258 or 

efiling@ferc.gov. 

(1) You can file your comments 

electronically using the eComment 

feature on the Commission’s Web site 

(www.ferc.gov) under the link to 

Documents and Filings. This is an easy 

method for interested persons to submit 

brief, text-only comments on a project; 

(2) You can file your comments 

electronically using the eFiling feature 

on the Commission’s Web site 

(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.’’ You must select 

the type of filing you are making. If you 

are filing a comment on a particular 

project, please select ‘‘Comment on a 

Filing’’; or 

(3) You can file a paper copy of your 

comments by mailing them to the 

following address: Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 888 First Street NE., Room 

1A, Washington, DC 20426. 

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. 

If we publish and distribute the EA, 

copies 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). 

Becoming an Intervenor 

In addition to involvement in the EA 

scoping process, you may want to 

become an ‘‘intervenor’’ which is an 

official party to the Commission’s 

proceeding. Intervenors play a more 

formal role in the process and are able 

to file briefs, appear at hearings, and be 

heard by the courts if they choose to 

appeal the Commission’s final ruling. 

An intervenor formally participates in 

the proceeding by filing a request to 

intervene. Instructions for becoming an 

intervenor are in the User’s Guide under 

the ‘‘e-filing’’ link on the Commission’s 

Web site. 

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 Web 

site 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., CP15–91). 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 now 

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/ 

docs-filing/esubscription.asp. 

Finally, public meetings 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: March 24, 2015. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2015–07202 Filed 3–27–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP15–87–000] 

Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC; 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Assessment for the 

Proposed UTICA Access Project and 

Request for Comments on 

Environmental Issues 

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 Utica Access Project involving 

construction and operation of facilities 

by Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC. 

(Columbia) in Clay and Kanawha 

Counties, West Virginia. The 

Commission will use this EA in its 

decision-making process to determine 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 60 / Monday, March 30, 2015 / Notices 16665 

1The appendices referenced in this notice will 

not appear in the Federal Register. Copies of 

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. 

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

environmental staff of the Commission’s Office of 

Energy Projects. 

3The Council on Environmental Quality 

regulations addressing cooperating agency 

responsibilities are at Title 40, Code of Federal 

Regulations, Part 1501.6. 

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. 

Your input will help the Commission 

staff determine what issues they need to 

evaluate in the EA. Please note that the 

scoping period will close on April 20, 

2015. 

You may submit comments in written 

form. Further details on how to submit 

written comments are in the Public 

Participation section of this notice. If 

you sent comments on this project to the 

Commission before the opening of this 

docket on February 12, 2015, you will 

need to file those comments in Docket 

No. CP15–87–000 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. 

Columbia 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 Web 

site (www.ferc.gov). 

Summary of the Proposed Project 

According to Columbia, the Utica 

Access Project would result in a 

capacity of 205,000 dekatherms per day 

of firm transportation service of 

stranded Utica natural gas into 

Columbia’s system and regional market. 

Specifically, the Utica Access Project 

would consist of the installation of 

approximately 4.8 miles of new 24-inchdiameter pipeline and the following 

appurtenant facilities in Clay and 

Kanawha Counties, West Virginia: 

• Four new bi-directional pig 

launcher and receiver systems at the 

following locations: one each at MP 0.0 

and MP 4.8 of the new 24-inch-diameter 

pipeline, and one each at the existing 

Coco and Cobb Compressor Stations 

(which are on Columbia’s existing Line 

X52–M1); 

• a new mainline valve setting on 

Line X52–M1 at a proposed new tap at 

MP 0.0; 

• two new 10-inch pressure 

regulating valves and modifications 

within the existing Coco Compressor 

Station; 

• one new remote terminal unit 

building at MP 4.8; 

• twenty-one existing and two 

partially new access roads; and 

• three temporary contractor yards. 

The general location of the project 

facilities is shown in appendix 1. 1

Land Requirements for Construction 

The total land requirement to 

construct the project is approximately 

118.9 acres, of which 36.6 acres would 

be permanently altered and converted to 

pipeline right-of-way, access road, or 

commercial/industrial land use. Upland 

forest would make up approximately 

27.2 acres of the 36.6 acres of permanent 

impacts. Upon completion of the 

project, the remaining land used for 

temporary workspace would be regraded, stabilized and re-vegetated, and 

allowed to revert to pre-construction 

conditions. 

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 2 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: 

• Land use; 

• geology and soils; 

• 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. Depending on the comments 

received during the scoping process, we 

may also 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 

below. 

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.3 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 

West Virginia State Historic 

Preservation Office (SHPO), and to 

solicit their views and those of other 

government agencies, interested Indian 

tribes, and the public on the project’s 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

16666 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 60 / Monday, March 30, 2015 / Notices 

4The 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. 

potential effects on historic properties. 4

We will define the project-specific Area 

of Potential Effects (APE) in 

consultation with the SHPO 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. 

Public Participation 

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. 

The more specific your comments, the 

more useful they will be. 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 April 20, 

2015. 

For your convenience, there are three 

methods which you can use to submit 

your comments to the Commission. In 

all instances please reference the project 

docket number (CP15–87–000) with 

your submission. The Commission 

encourages electronic filing of 

comments and has expert staff available 

to assist you at (202) 502–8258 or 

efiling@ferc.gov. 

(1) You can file your comments 

electronically using the eComment 

feature on the Commission’s Web site 

(www.ferc.gov) under the link to 

Documents and Filings. This is an easy 

method for interested persons to submit 

brief, text-only comments on a project; 

(2) You can file your comments 

electronically using the eFiling feature 

on the Commission’s Web site 

(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.’’ You must select 

the type of filing you are making. If you 

are filing a comment on a particular 

project, please select ‘‘Comment on a 

Filing’’; or 

(3) You can file a paper copy of your 

comments by mailing them to the 

following address: Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 888 First Street NE., Room 

1A, Washington, DC 20426. 

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. 

If we publish and distribute the EA, 

copies 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). 

Becoming an Intervenor 

In addition to involvement in the EA 

scoping process, you may want to 

become an ‘‘intervenor’’ which is an 

official party to the Commission’s 

proceeding. Intervenors play a more 

formal role in the process and are able 

to file briefs, appear at hearings, and be 

heard by the courts if they choose to 

appeal the Commission’s final ruling. 

An intervenor formally participates in 

the proceeding by filing a request to 

intervene. Instructions for becoming an 

intervenor are in the User’s Guide under 

the ‘‘e-filing’’ link on the Commission’s 

Web site. 

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 Web 

site 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., CP15–87). 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 now 

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/ 

docs-filing/esubscription.asp. 

Finally, public meetings 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: March 20, 2015. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2015–07143 Filed 3–27–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Bonneville Power Administration 

Hooper Springs Transmission Project 

AGENCY: Bonneville Power 

Administration (BPA), Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice of availability of Record 

of Decision (ROD). 

SUMMARY: This notice announces the 

availability of the ROD to implement the 

Hooper Springs Transmission Project in 

Caribou County, Idaho. BPA has 

decided to implement the South 

Alternative’s Option 3A (Option 3A) 

identified in the Hooper Springs 

Transmission Project Final 

Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/ 

EIS–0451, January 2015). Option 3A 

consists of: (1) A new 138/115-kilovolt 

(kV) Hooper Springs Substation located 

near the city of Soda Springs, Idaho; (2) 

a new, approximately 24-mile-long, 

double-circuit 115-kV transmission line 

extending generally north then east from 

the Hooper Springs Substation to a new 

BPA connection facility that will 

connect the new line to Lower Valley 

Energy’s (LVE) existing transmission 

system in northeastern Caribou County; 

(3) a new, approximately 0.2-mile-long, 

single-circuit 138-kV transmission line 

extending generally south from the 

Hooper Springs Substation to 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES