51234 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 212 / Friday, November 3, 2017 / Notices 

and the Regulations under the NGA (18 

CFR 157.10). A person obtaining party 

status will be placed on the service list 

maintained by the Secretary of the 

Commission and will receive copies of 

all documents filed by the applicant and 

by all other parties. A party must submit 

five copies of filings made with the 

Commission and must mail a copy to 

the applicant and to every other party in 

the proceeding. Only parties to the 

proceeding can ask for court review of 

Commission orders in the proceeding. 

However, a person does not have to 

intervene in order to have comments 

considered. The second way to 

participate is by filing with the 

Secretary of the Commission, as soon as 

possible, an original and two copies of 

comments in support of or in opposition 

to this project. The Commission will 

consider these comments in 

determining the appropriate action to be 

taken, but the filing of a comment alone 

will not serve to make the filer a party 

to the proceeding. The Commission’s 

rules require that persons filing 

comments in opposition to the project 

provide copies of their protests only to 

the party or parties directly involved in 

the protest. 

Persons who wish to comment only 

on the environmental review of this 

project should submit an original and 

two copies of their comments to the 

Secretary of the Commission. 

Environmental commenters will be 

placed on the Commission’s 

environmental mailing list, will receive 

copies of the environmental documents, 

and will be notified of meetings 

associated with the Commission’s 

environmental review process. 

Environmental commenters will not be 

required to serve copies of filed 

documents on all other parties. 

However, the non-party commenters 

will not receive copies of all documents 

filed by other parties or issued by the 

Commission (except for the mailing of 

environmental documents issued by the 

Commission) and will not have the right 

to seek court review of the 

Commission’s final order. 

The Commission strongly encourages 

electronic filings of comments, protests 

and interventions in lieu of paper using 

the eFiling link at http://www.ferc.gov. 

Persons unable to file electronically 

should submit an original and five 

copies of the protest or intervention to 

the Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission, 888 First Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20426. 

Comment Date: 5:00 p.m. Eastern 

Time on November 20, 2017. 

Dated: October 30, 2017. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23940 Filed 11–2–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. PF17–9–000] 

Fourchon LNG LLC; Notice of Intent To 

Prepare an Environmental Impact 

Statement for The Planned Fourchon 

Lng Project, Request for Comments on 

Environmental Issues, and Notice of 

Public Scoping Session 

The staff of the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission (FERC or 

Commission) will prepare an 

environmental impact statement (EIS) 

that will discuss the environmental 

impacts of the Fourchon LNG Project 

involving construction and operation of 

facilities by Fourchon LNG LLC 

(Fourchon LNG)] in Lafourche Parish, 

Louisiana. The Commission will use 

this EIS in its decision-making process 

to determine whether the project is in 

the public interest. 

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 EIS. 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 December 

6, 2017. 

If you sent comments on this project 

to the Commission before the opening of 

this docket on August 3, 2017, you will 

need to file those comments in Docket 

No. PF17–9–000 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 planned 

project and encourage them to comment 

on their areas of concern. 

A fact sheet prepared by the FERC 

entitled An Interstate Natural Gas 

Facility On My Land? What Do I Need 

To Know? is available for viewing on 

the FERC Web site (www.ferc.gov). This 

fact sheet addresses a number of 

typically asked questions, including 

how to participate in the Commission’s 

proceedings. 

Public Participation 

For your convenience, there are four 

methods you can use to submit your 

comments to the Commission. The 

Commission will provide equal 

consideration to all comments received, 

whether filed in written form or 

provided verbally. 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 (PF17–9–000) 

with your submission: Kimberly D. 

Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street 

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

(4) In lieu of sending written or 

electronic comments, the Commission 

invites you to attend the public scoping 

session its staff will conduct in the 

project area, scheduled as follows: 

Date and time Location 

Thursday, November 16, 

2017, 5:00 

to 8:00 p.m.

South LaFourche High 

School, 16911 E Main 

Street, Cut Off, LA 70345, 

985–632–5721. 

The primary goal of the scoping 

session is to have you identify the 

specific environmental issues and 

concerns that should be considered in 

the EIS to be prepared by FERC for this 

project. Individual verbal comments 

will be taken on a one-on-one basis with 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 212 / Friday, November 3, 2017 / Notices 51235 

1The appendices referenced in this notice will 

not appear in the Federal Register. Copies of the 

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. 

2We, us, and our refer to the environmental staff 

of the Commission’s Office of Energy Projects. 

3The Council on Environmental Quality 

regulations implementing NEPA addresses 

cooperating agency responsibilities at Title 40, Code 

of Federal Regulations, Part 1501.6. 

a court reporter. This format is designed 

to receive the maximum amount of 

verbal comments, in a convenient way 

during the timeframe allotted. 

The scoping session is scheduled 

from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. (Central 

time). You may arrive at any time after 

4:30 p.m. If you wish to speak, the 

Commission staff will hand out 

numbers in the order of your arrival. 

Comments will be taken in the order of 

the numbers handed out until 8:00 p.m.; 

unless all numbers have been 

distributed before 7:00 p.m., and all 

individuals who wish to provide 

comments have had an opportunity to 

do so by that time, in which case staff 

may conclude the session at 7:00 p.m. 

Please see appendix 1 for additional 

information on the session format and 

conduct.1

Your scoping comments will be 

recorded by the court reporter (with 

FERC staff or representative present) 

and become part of the public record for 

this proceeding. Transcripts will be 

publicly available on FERC’s eLibrary 

system (see below for instructions on 

using eLibrary). If a significant number 

of people are interested in providing 

verbal comments in the one-on-one 

settings, a time limit of 5 minutes per 

speaker may be implemented. 

There will not be a formal 

presentation by Commission staff when 

the session opens. Commission staff will 

be available throughout the session to 

answer your questions about the FERC’s 

environmental review process. 

Representatives from Fourchon LNG 

will also be present to answer projectspecific questions. 

It is important to note that verbal 

comments hold the same weight as 

written or electronically submitted 

comments. Likewise, the session is not 

your only public input opportunity; 

please refer to the review process flow 

chart in appendix 2. 

Summary of the Planned Project 

Fourchon LNG plans to construct and 

operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) 

terminal on Belle Pass, within Port 

Fourchon, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana. 

The terminal would be located on land 

leased from the Greater Laforche Port 

Commission. Fourchon LNG intends to 

use the terminal to liquefy, store, and 

deliver LNG to domestic LNG fueled 

marine vessels and LNG carriers for 

export to overseas markets. The terminal 

would have a peak capacity of five 

million metric tonnes of LNG per 

annum (MTPA). Fourchon LNG would 

also dredge a ship berth and turning 

basin at the terminal. 

The Fourchon LNG Project would 

consist of the following facilities: 

• Two 0.7-mile-long, parallel 16-inchdiameter natural gas receiving pipelines 

extending from existing pipelines 

operated by Kinetica Partners LLC to the 

terminal; 

• five 1.0 MTPA gas pre-treatment 

trains; 

• ten liquefaction trains, with a 

maximum LNG production capacity of 

approximately 0.5 MTPA each; 

• two LNG storage tanks, each with a 

capacity of 88,000 cubic meters (m3); 

• electric plant powered by a 20- 

megawatt gas turbine; 

• boil-off gas handling system, 

utilities, and communications system; 

and 

• one marine berth sized to 

accommodate LNG carriers up to about 

180,000 m3 in capacity. 

The general location of the project 

facilities is shown in appendix 3. 

Land Requirements for Construction 

Construction of the planned facilities 

would disturb about 55 acres of land for 

the planned upland terminal and 

pipelines. About 40.6 acres would be 

affected in the Belle Pass Channel for 

the creation of the turning basin. 

Following construction, Fourchon LNG 

would maintain about 53 acres for 

permanent operation of the upland 

terminal and pipeline rights-of-way. 

Temporary construction areas would be 

restored and revert to former uses. 

The EIS 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 an 

Order under Sections 3 or 7 of the 

Natural Gas Act for authorization to 

construct, install, and operate LNG 

facilities. 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 EIS on the 

important environmental issues. By this 

notice, the Commission requests public 

comments on the scope of the issues to 

address in the EIS. We will consider all 

filed comments during the preparation 

of the EIS. 

In the EIS we will discuss impacts 

that could occur as a result of the 

construction and operation of the 

planned project under these general 

headings: 

• Geology and soils; 

• water resources and wetlands; 

• vegetation and wildlife; 

• cultural resources; 

• socioeconomics; 

• land use, recreation, and visual 

resources; 

• air quality and noise; 

• public safety; and 

• cumulative impacts. 

We will also evaluate possible 

alternatives to the planned project or 

portions of the project, and make 

recommendations on how to lessen or 

avoid impacts on the various resource 

areas. 

Although no formal application has 

been filed, we have already initiated our 

NEPA review under the Commission’s 

pre-filing process. The purpose of the 

pre-filing process is to encourage early 

involvement of interested stakeholders 

and to identify and resolve issues before 

FERC receives an application. As part of 

our pre-filing review, we have begun to 

contact some other federal and state 

resources agencies to discuss their 

involvement in the scoping process and 

the preparation of the EIS. 

With this notice, we are asking 

agencies with jurisdiction by law and/ 

or special expertise with respect to the 

environmental issues related to this 

project to formally cooperate with us in 

the preparation of the EIS.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. Currently, the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. 

Coast Guard, and Lafourche Parish have 

expressed an interest in participating as 

cooperating agencies in the preparation 

of the EIS to satisfy their NEPA 

responsibilities related to this project. 

The EIS will present our independent 

analysis of the issues. We will publish 

and distribute the draft EIS for public 

comment. After the comment period, we 

will consider all timely comments and 

revise the document, as necessary, 

before issuing a final EIS. To ensure we 

have the opportunity to consider and 

address your comments, please carefully 

follow the instructions in the Public 

Participation section of this notice, 

above. 


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51236 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 212 / Friday, November 3, 2017 / Notices 

4The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 

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. 

Consultations Under Section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act 

In accordance with the Advisory 

Council on Historic Preservation’s 

regulations for Section 106 of the 

National Historic Preservation Act, we 

are using this notice to initiate 

consultations with the Louisiana 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 projectspecific 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. Our EIS 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 

planned facilities and the 

environmental information provided by 

Fourchon LNG. This preliminary list of 

issues may change based on your 

comments and our analysis. 

• Evaluation of temporary and 

permanent impacts on wetlands and the 

development of appropriate mitigation; 

• potential impacts to fish and 

wildlife habitat, including potential 

impacts to federally listed threatened 

and endangered species; 

• potential visual effects of the 

aboveground facilities; 

• potential impacts of the 

construction workforce on local 

housing, infrastructure, public services, 

transportation, and economy; 

• impacts on air quality and noise 

associated with construction and 

operation of the Fourchon LNG Project; 

and 

• public safety and hazards 

associated with LNG facilities. 

Environmental Mailing List 

The environmental mailing list 

compiled by Commission staff includes 

federal, state, and local government 

representatives and agencies; elected 

officials; environmental groups and 

non-government organizations; Native 

Americans and Indian Tribes; and local 

libraries and newspapers. This list also 

includes all affected landowners (as 

defined in the Commission’s 

regulations) who are potential right-ofway grantors, whose property may be 

used temporarily for project purposes, 

or who are directly adjacent to facilities. 

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 planned 

project, and anyone who submits 

comments on the project. 

Copies of the completed draft EIS 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 compact 

disc version or would like to remove 

your name from the mailing list, please 

return the attached Information Request 

(appendix 4). 

Becoming an Intervenor 

Once Fourchon LNG files its 

application with the Commission, 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. Motions to 

intervene are more fully described at 

http://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/ 

how-to/intervene.asp. Instructions for 

becoming an intervenor are in the 

‘‘Document-less Intervention Guide’’ 

under the e-filing link on the 

Commission’s Web site. Please note that 

the Commission will not accept requests 

for intervenor status at this time. You 

must wait until the Commission 

receives a formal application for the 

project. 

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 (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., PF17– 

9). 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: October 30, 2017. 

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–23943 Filed 11–2–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP18–8–000] 

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line 

Company, LLC; Notice of Application 

Take notice that on October 16, 2017, 

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line 

Company, LLC (Transco), P.O. Box 

1396, Houston, Texas 77251 filed in 

Docket No. CP17–10–000 an abbreviated 

application pursuant to section 7(b) of 

the Natural Gas Act (NGA) and Part 157 

of the Commission’s Regulations, 

requesting retroactive authorization to 

abandon certain natural gas facilities, 

including gas supply metering and 

regulating facilities and pipeline 

laterals, that are located in Louisiana, 

Mississippi, Texas, New Jersey, and 

offshore Louisiana and are no longer in 

service. Transco is requesting this 

abandonment authorization to clarify 

the regulatory status of facilities that 

were previously erroneously abandoned 

pursuant to Transco’s automatic blanket 

certificate authority, all as more fully set 

forth in the application which is on file 

with the Commission and open to 

public inspection. 

The filing may also be viewed on the 

web at http://www.ferc.gov using the 

eLibrary link. Enter the docket number 

excluding the last three digits in the 

docket number field to access the 

document. For assistance, please contact 

FERC Online Support at 


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