28898 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 102 / Friday, May 25, 2001 / Notices

1Columbia’s application was filed with the

Commission under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act

and Part 157 of the Commission’s regulations.

2The appendices referenced in this notice are not

being printed in Federal Register. Copies are

available on the Commission’s website at the

‘‘RIMS’’ link or from the Commission’s Public

Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 First

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, or call (202)

208–1371. For instructions on connecting to RIMS

refer to the last page of this notice. Copies of the

appendices were sent to all those receiving this

notice in the mail.

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

environmental staff of the Office of Energy Projects

(OEP).

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP01–260–000]

Columbia Gas Transmission

Corporation; Notice of Intent To

Prepare an Environmental Assessment

for the Proposed Columbia Line 10357

Project and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

May 21, 2001.

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 Columbia Line 10357 Project

involving construction and operation of

facilities by Columbia Gas Transmission

Corporation (Columbia) in New Castle

County, Delaware, and Delaware and

Chester Counties, Pennsylvania.1 These

facilities would consist of about 1.37

miles of pipeline and 12,000

horsepower (hp) of compression. This

EA will be used by the Commission in

its decision-making process to

determine whether the project is in the

public convenience and necessity.

If you are a landowner receiving this

notice, you may be contacted by a

pipeline company representative about

the acquisition of an easement to

construct, operate, and maintain the

proposed facilities. The pipeline

company would seek to negotiate a

mutually acceptable agreement.

However, if the project is approved by

the Commission, 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 in accordance with state

law.

A fact sheet prepared by the FERC

entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas

Facility On My Land? What Do I Need

To Know?’’ was attached to the project

notice Columbia provided to

landowners. 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

available for viewing on the FERC

Internet website (www.ferc.fed.us).

Summary of the Proposed Project

Columbia wants to expand the

capacity of its facilities in Delaware and

Pennsylvania to transport an additional

125,000 million British thermal units

per day of natural gas to a planned FPL

Energy Marcus Hook, L.P. 750-megawatt

electric generating power plant to be

built in the both New Castle County,

Delaware and Delaware County,

Pennsylvania. Columbia seeks authority

to:

• Construct 1.3 miles of 20-inch

pipeline to be located in New Castle

County, Delaware and Delaware County,

Pennsylvania.

• Construct a 6,000 hp electric driven

compressor unit at existing Eagle

Compressor Station located in Chester

County, Pennsylvania.

• Construct a 6,000 hp electric driven

compressor unit at existing

Downingtown Compressor Station

located in Chester County,

Pennsylvania.

• Construct a new M&R Station on

FPL Energy Marcus Hook Power Plant

property to be located in Delaware

County, Pennsylvania.

• Abandon two 1,250 hp compressor

units at Downingtown Compressor

Station.

Also, Philadelphia Electric Company

(PECO) would make minor

modifications to its existing electricity

delivery system at the Eagle and

Downingtown Compressor Station

locations. PECO would feed the

Downingtown substation off of an

existing powerline. One pole would be

installed within the Downingtown

Compressor Station lot to facilitate

bringing the tie-in line into the

substation. In addition, PECO would

install a new line from its existing

Crombie substation in Chester County,

Pennsylvania to the Eagle Compressor

Station. The new line would be

installed on a combination of new and

existing poles, and would be entirely

within existing PECO rights-of-way. No

new electric rights-of-way would be

required.

The exact locations of the project

facilities are shown on maps in

appendix 1.2

Land Requirement for Construction

Construction of the proposed facilities

would require about 34.3 acres of land.

Following construction, about 21.1 acres

would be maintained as new

aboveground facility sits. The remaining

13.2 acres of land would be restored and

allowed to revert to its former use.

The EA Process

The National Environmental Policy

Act (NEPA) requires 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 3 to

discover and address concerns the

public may have about proposals. We

call this ‘‘scoping’’. The main goal of the

scooping process is to focus the analysis

in the EA on the important

environmental issues. By this Notice of

Intent, the Commission requests public

comments on the scope of the issues it

will address in the EA. All comments

received are considered during the

preparation of the EA. State and local

government representatives are

encouraged to notify their constituents

of this proposed action and encourage

them to comment on their areas of

concern.

The EA 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

• Land use

• Water resources

• Cultural resources

• Vegetation and wildlife

• Air quality and noise

• Endangered and threatened species

• Hazardous waste

• Public safety

We will not discuss impacts to the

following resource areas since they are

not present in the project area, or would

not be affected by the proposed

facilities.

• Fisheries and wetlands

We will also evaluate possible

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.

Our independent analysis of the

issues will be in the EA. Depending on

the comments received during the

scoping process, the EA may be

published and mailed to Federal, state,

and local agencies, public interest

groups, interested individuals, affected

landowners, newspapers, libraries, and

the Commission’s official service list for

this proceeding. A comment period will

be allotted for review if the EA is

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 102 / Friday, May 25, 2001 / Notices 28899

4 Interventions may also filed electronically via

the Internet in lieu of paper. See the previous

discussion on filing comments electronically.

1Southern’s application was filed with the

Commission under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act

and Part 157 of the Commission’s regulations.

published. We will consider all

comments on the EA before we make

our recommendations to the

Commission.

Currently Identified Environmental

Issues

We have already identified an issue

that we think deserves attention based

on a preliminary review of the proposed

facilities and the environmental

information provided by Columbia and

FPL Energy Marcus Hook, L.P. This

preliminary issue may be changed based

on your comments and our analysis.

• There may be changes in noise

impacts from the compressor unit

additions at the existing compressor

stations. We have not identified any

other significant environmental issues.

Also, we have made a preliminary

decision to not address the impacts of

the FPL Energy Marcus Hook, L.P.

nonjurisdictional cogeneration plant

facilities. We will briefly described its

location and status in the EA.

Public Participation

You can make a difference by

providing us with your specific

comments or concerns about the project.

By becoming a commentar, your

concerns will be addressed in the EA

and considered by the Commission. You

should focus on the potential

environmental effects of the proposal,

alternatives to the proposal (including

alternative locations/routes), and

measures to avoid or lessen

environmental impact. The more

specific your comments, the more useful

they will be. Please carefully follow

these instructions to ensure that your

comments are received in time and

properly recorded:

• Send an original and two copies of

your letter to: David P. Boergers,

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First St., NE., Room

1A, Washington, DC 20426.

• Label one copy of the comments for

the attention of Gas 2.

• Reference Docket No. CP01–260–

000.

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC on

or before June 20, 2001.

Comments, protests and interventions

may also be filed electronically via the

Internet in lieu of paper. See 18 CFR

385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instruction

on the Commission’s web site at

http://www.ferc.fed.us/efi/doorbell.htm

under the link to the User’s Guide.

Before you can file comments you will

need to create an account which can be

created by clicking on ‘‘Login to File’’

and then ‘‘New User Account.’’

We may issue the EA for comment. If

you are interested in receiving it, please

return the Information Request

(appendix 3). If you do not return the

Information Request, you will be taken

off the mailing list.

Becoming an Intervenor

In addition to involvement in the EA

scoping process, you may want to

become an official party to the

processing known as an ‘‘intervenor.’’

Intervenors play a more formal role in

the process. Among other things,

intervenors have the right to receive

copies of case-related Commission

documents and filings by other

intervenors. Likewise, each intervenor

must provide 14 copies of its filings to

the Secretary of the Commission and

must send a copy of its filings to all

other parties on the Commission’s

service list for this proceeding. If you

want to become an intervenor you must

file a motion to intervene according to

Rule 214 of the Commission’s Rules of

Practice and Procedure (18 CFR

385.214) (see appendix 2).4 Only

intervenors have the right to seek

rehearing of the Commission’s decision.

Affected landowners and parties with

environmental concerns may be granted

intervenor status upon showing good

cause by stating that they have a clear

and direct interest in this proceeding

which would not be adequately

represented by any other parties. You do

not need intervenor status to have your

environmental comments considered.

Additional information about the

proposed project is available from the

Commission’s Office of External Affairs

at (202) 208–1088 or on the FERC

website (www.ferc.fed.us) using the

‘‘RIMS’’ link to information in this

docket number. Click on the ‘‘RIMS’’

link, select ‘‘Docket #’’ from the RIMS

Menu, and follow the instructions. For

assistance with access to RIMS, the

RIMS helpline can be reached at (202)

208–2222.

Similarly, the ‘‘CIPS’’ link on the

FERC Internet website provides access

to the texts of formal documents issued

by the Commission, such as orders,

notices, and rulemakings. From the

FERC Internet website, click on the

‘‘CIPS’’ link, select ‘‘DOCKET #’’ from

the CIPS menu, and follow the

instructions. For assistance with access

to CIPS, the CIPS helpline can be

reached at (202) 208–2474.

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 01–13218 Filed 5–24–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP01–161–000]

Southern Natural Gas Company;

Notice of Intent To Prepare an

Environmental Assessment for the

Proposed North System Expansion II

Project and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

May 21, 2001.

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 North System Expansion II Project

involving construction and operation of

facilities by Southern Natural Gas

Company (Southern) in Pickens,

Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega,

and Calhoun Counties in Alabama, and

Noxubee and Lowndes Counties in

Mississippi.1 These facilities would

consist of about 4.6 miles of new

pipeline loop on Southern’s 24-inch

diameter 2nd North Main Line,

replacement of about 11 miles of various

diameter pipeline segments in Alabama,

and requalifying pipeline segments by

hydrostatic testing, and/or adding,

removing, abandoning, replacing,

requalifying and/or modifying

appurtenant facilities within the project

area. In addition, Southern proposes to

add about 6,000 horsepower (hp) of

compression at the existing Pell City

Compressor Station in St. Clair County,

Alabama. This EA will be used by the

Commission in its decision-making

process to determine whether the

project is in the public convenience and

necessity.

If you are a landowner receiving this

notice, you may be contacted by a

pipeline company representative about

the acquisition of an easement to

construct, operate, and maintain the

proposed facilities. The pipeline

company would seek to negotiate a

mutually acceptable agreement.

However, if the project is approved by

the Commission, that approval conveys

with it the right of eminent domain.