[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 17 (Thursday, January 25, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2248-2249]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-1110]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. CP96-52-000]


Pine Needle LNG Company, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Pine Needle LNG Project and 
Request for Comments on Environmental Issues and Notice of Technical 
Conference and Site Visits

January 19, 1996.
    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 construction and operation of 
the facilities proposed in the Pine Needle LNG Project. This EA will be 
used by the Commission in its decision-making process to determine 
whether an environmental impact statement (EIS) is necessary and 
whether to approve the project.\1\

    \1\ Pine Needle LNG Company, LLC's application was filed with 
the Commission under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act and Part 157 
of the Commission's regulations.
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Summary of the Proposed Project

    Pine Needle LNG Company, LLC (Pine Needle), is seeking approval to 
construct and operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) production and 
storage facility approximately 13 miles northwest of Greensboro in 
Guilford County, North Carolina. The purpose of the facility is to meet 
winter peak shaving requirements of several customers, including 
Piedmont Natural Gas Company, Inc., Public Service Company of North 
Carolina, Inc., North Carolina Natural Gas Corporation, and the 
Municipal Gas Authority of Georgia.
    The primary components of the LNG facility would include:
    <bullet> Two double-wall, suspended-deck LNG storage tanks, each 
with a gas-equivalent capacity of 2 billion cubic feet;
    <bullet> A pretreatment and liquefaction system with the capacity 
of 20 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd);
    <bullet> A boil-off recompression system;
    <bullet> A vaporization and sendout system with the capacity of 400 
MMcfd;
    <bullet> 1.05 miles of 10- and 24-inch-diameter pipelines;
    <bullet> Fire protection systems; and
    <bullet> A 54.5 acre-foot firewater pond and earthen dam.
    The storage tanks would be approximately 161 feet in height and 206 
feet in diameter. Each storage tank would be surrounded by a 30-foot 
high earthen dike to form individual spill containment areas sized to 
hold 150 percent of the volume of LNG contained within each tank. The 
proposed project facilities would be designed, constructed, and 
maintained to comply with the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal 
Safety Standards for Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities (49 CFR Part 
193). The facilities constructed at the site would also meet the 
National Fire Protection Association 59A LNG standards.
    Natural gas would be delivered to and from the LNG facility through 
a 10-inch-diameter inlet pipeline and a 24-inch-diameter outlet 
pipeline, respectively. These pipelines would be constructed from the 
LNG facility to Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corporation's Mainline 
transmission system, a distance of 1.05 miles. A new 1.6-mile-long, 100 
kV transmission powerline would be provided by Duke Power Company to 
supply power for a step-down substation at the proposed LNG facility. 
The majority of this powerline would be constructed parallel and 
adjacent to the new pipelines.
    The proposed LNG facility would be accessed during construction and 
operation using a 3,900-foot-long road extending from the facility 
eastward to a public road. The location of the proposed Pine Needle LNG 
Project is shown in appendix 1.\2\

    \2\ The appendices referenced in this notice are not being 
printed in the Federal Register. Copies are available from the 
Commission's Public Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 
First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 208-1371. 
Copies of the appendices were sent to all those receiving this 
notice in the mail.
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Land Requirements for Construction

    The proposed facilities would affect approximately 86.6 acres of an 
828-acre site. Pine Needle would permanently clear approximately 57.9 
acres for the LNG facility site and security buffer, 10.0 acres for the 
firewater pond and associated dam, 6.4 acres for the new pipeline 
right-of-way, and 3.0 acres for the permanent access road. An 
additional 9.5 acres would be temporarily disturbed during construction 
but would be allowed to revert back to its original condition following 
construction.

The EA Process/Environmental Issues

    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 
to discover and address concerns the public may have about proposals. 
We call this ``scoping''. The main goal of the scoping 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 and whether an EIS is 
necessary. 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:

    <bullet> Geology and Soils.
--Seismology and soil liquefaction.
--Effect of blasting.
--Erosion control.
--Facility site and right-of-way restoration.

    <bullet> Water Resources.
--Groundwater withdrawal and discharge to surrounding surface waters.
--Effect of dam and pond construction on Rock Branch and downstream 
flows.
--The directional drilling of the Haw River and the potential to affect 
water quality and riparian resources.

    <bullet> Biological Resources.
    
[[Page 2249]]

--Effect of facility construction and operation on wildlife and 
fisheries habitat, including threatened, endangered, or sensitive 
animal and plant species and their habitats (i.e., Carolina darter and 
burreed community).
--Effect on wetland habitats.

    <bullet> Cultural Resources.
--Effect on historic and prehistoric sites.
--Native American and tribal concerns.

    <bullet> Socioeconomics.
--Impact of a peak workforce of about 115 workers on the surrounding 
area.
--Long-term effects of increased employment and taxes on the local 
economy.

    <bullet> Land Use.
--Impact on state areas of critical environmental concern.
--Effect of aboveground facilities on visual aesthetics in the area.
--Consistency with local land use plans and zoning.
--Impact on residences and recreation areas.

    <bullet> Air Quality and Noise.
--Air quality and noise impacts associated with construction.
--Impact on regional air quality and noise-sensitive areas associated 
with operation of the proposed LNG facility.

    <bullet> Public Safety.
--Compliance with 49 CFR 193 for exclusion zones (thermal and vapor gas 
dispersion), siting criteria, seismic criteria, and cryogenic criteria.
--Consequences of a major spill.
--Safety concerns associated with design of firewater pond dam.

    We will also evaluate possible site and technology 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 published. We will consider all comments on the EA before we 
recommend that the Commission approve or not approve the project.

Public Participation/Scoping Meeting

    You can make a difference by sending a letter addressing your 
specific comments or concerns about the project. You should focus on 
the potential environmental effects of the proposal, alternatives to 
the proposal (including alternative sites), and measures to avoid or 
lessen environmental impact. The more specific your comments, the more 
useful they will be. Please follow the instructions below to ensure 
that your comments are received and properly recorded:
    <bullet> Address your letter to: Lois Cashell, Secretary, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First St., NE., Washington, DC 20426;
    <bullet> Reference Docket No. CP96-52-000;
    <bullet> Send a copy of your letter to: Mr. Michael Boyle, EA 
Project Manager, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First St., 
NE., Room 72-59, Washington, DC 20426; and
    <bullet> Mail your comments so that they will be received in 
Washington, DC on or before March 22, 1996.
    If you wish to receive a copy of the EA, you should request one 
from Mr. Boyle at the above address.
    Beyond asking for written comments, we invite you to attend our 
public scoping meeting that will be held on February 15, 1996, at 7:00 
p.m., at the Stokesdale Elementary School, Stokesdale, North Carolina. 
This public meeting will be designed to provide you with more detailed 
information and another opportunity to offer your comments on the 
proposed project. The staff will also visit the proposed site on 
February 15, 1996.
    On March 19, 1996, at 9:00 a.m., the FERC staff will meet with 
representatives of Pine Needle to conduct a cryogenic design and 
engineering review of the proposed LNG facilities. This technical 
conference will be held at the Stokesdale Town Hall, U.S. Hwy 158, 
Stokesdale, North Carolina. The staff will also visit the proposed site 
area.

Becoming an Intervenor

    In addition to involvement in the EA scoping process, you may want 
to become an official party to the proceeding or become an 
``intervenor''. 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 copies of its 
filings to all other parties. 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).
    The date for filing timely motions to intervene in this proceeding 
has passed. Therefore, parties now seeking to file late interventions 
must show good cause, as required by section 385.214(b)(3), why this 
time limitation should be waived. Environmental issues have been viewed 
as good cause for late intervention. You do not need intervenor status 
to have your scoping comments considered.
    Additional information about the proposed project and site visits 
is available from Mr. Michael Boyle, EA Project Manager, at (202) 208-
0839. Additional information concerning the March 19 cryogenic design 
and engineering technical conference is available from Mr. Robert 
Arvedlund, Chief, Environmental Review and Compliance Branch I, at 
(202) 208-0091.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-1110 Filed 1-24-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M