42668 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 174 / Monday, September 11, 2017 / Notices 

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. 

should submit an original and 5 copies 

of the protest or intervention to the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 

888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 

20426. 

This filing is accessible on-line at 

http://www.ferc.gov, using the eLibrary 

link and is available for electronic 

review in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room in Washington, DC 

There is an eSubscription link on the 

Web site that enables subscribers to 

receive email notification when a 

document is added to a subscribed 

docket(s). For assistance with any FERC 

Online service, please email 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or call 

(866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call 

(202) 502–8659. 

Comment Date: 5:00 p.m. Eastern 

Time on September 20, 2017. 

Dated: September 1, 2017. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19144 Filed 9–8–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP17–476–000] 

Gulf South Pipeline Company, LP; 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Assessment for the 

Proposed Westlake Expansion 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 Westlake Expansion Project 

involving construction and operation of 

facilities by Gulf South Pipeline 

Company, LP (Gulf South) in Calcasieu 

Parish, 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 September 

29, 2017. 

If you sent comments on this project 

to the Commission before the opening of 

this docket on July 20, 2017, you will 

need to file those comments in Docket 

No. CP17–476–000 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. 

Gulf South 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). 

Public Participation 

For your convenience, there are three 

methods you can use to submit your 

comments to the Commission. 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 Web site 

(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 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. 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 (CP17–476– 

000) with your submission: Kimberly D. 

Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street 

NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. 

Summary of the Proposed Project 

Gulf South proposes to construct and 

operate the following facilities as part of 

the Westlake Expansion Project in 

Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana: 

• One new 10,000 horsepower 

compressor station (Westlake 

Compressor Station) and appurtenant 

facilities; 

• approximately 1,600 feet of 16-inchdiamater natural gas pipeline lateral; 

and 

• two new metering and regulating 

stations (Entergy Lake Charles and 

Varibus M&R Stations). 

The project would provide about 200 

million cubic feet of natural gas per day 

to the proposed 980 megawatt natural 

gas-fired combined cycle electric 

generating plant near Westlake, 

Louisiana. 

The general location of the project 

facilities is shown in appendix 1.1

Land Requirements for Construction 

Construction of the pipeline facilities, 

including additional temporary 

workspace and a temporary access road, 

would disturb about 11.8 acres of land, 

of which Gulf South would permanently 

maintain 0.9 acre. Construction of the 

aboveground facilities (Westlake 

Compressor Station, Entergy Lake 

Charles M&R Station, and Varibus M&R 

Station) and access roads would disturb 

about 30 acres, of which Gulf South 

would permanently maintain 10.7 acres. 

The EA Process 

The National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) requires the Commission to 

take into account the environmental 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 174 / Monday, September 11, 2017 / Notices 42669 

2We, 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. 

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. 

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: 

• Geology and soils; 

• water resources and wetlands; 

• vegetation and wildlife; 

• endangered and threatened species; 

• cultural resources; 

• land use; 

• air quality and noise; 

• 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 may also 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.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 

applicable 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 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. 

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 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). 

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 ‘‘Document-less 

Intervention Guide’’ under the ‘‘e-filing’’ 

link on the Commission’s Web site. 

Motions to intervene are more fully 

described at http://www.ferc.gov/ 

resources/guides/how-to/intervene.asp. 

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., CP17– 

476). 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: August 30, 2017. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–19114 Filed 9–8–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 


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