Document ID: FERC-2020-0985-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Environmental Assessments; Availability, etc.: Northern Natural Gas; 2021 Auburn A-line Abandonment and Capacity Replacement Project
Posted Date: 2020-07-30T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 147 (Thursday, July 30, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45872-45874]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16514]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP20-479-000]

Northern Natural Gas; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment for the Proposed 2021 Auburn A-Line 
Abandonment and Capacity Replacement 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 2021 Auburn A-line Abandonment 
and Capacity Replacement Project involving construction, operation, and 
abandonment of facilities by Northern Natural Gas (Northern) in 
Lancaster, Otoe, Johnson, and Nemaha counties, Nebraska. 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

[[Page 45873]]

will use to gather input from the public and interested agencies about 
issues regarding the project. The National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) requires the Commission to consider the environmental impacts 
that could result from its action whenever it considers the issuance of 
a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity/authorization. NEPA 
also requires the Commission to discover 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 issues to address in the EA. To ensure 
that your comments are timely and properly recorded, please submit your 
comments so that the Commission receives them in Washington, DC on or 
before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 23, 2020.
    You can make a difference by submitting 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. Commission 
staff will consider all filed comments during the preparation of the 
EA.
    If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the 
opening of this docket on June 11, 2020, you will need to file those 
comments in Docket No. CP20-479-000 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 easement agreement. You 
are not required to enter into an agreement. However, if the Commission 
approves the project, that approval conveys with it the right of 
eminent domain. Therefore, if you and the company do not reach an 
easement agreement, the pipeline company could initiate condemnation 
proceedings in court. In such instances, compensation would be 
determined by a judge in accordance with state law.
    Northern 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 several 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 
website (www.ferc.gov) under the natural gas Landowner Topics link.

Public Participation

    The Commission offers a free service called eSubscription which 
makes it easy to stay informed of all issuances and submittals 
regarding the dockets/projects to which you subscribe. These instant 
email notifications are the fastest way to receive notification and 
provide a link to the document files which can reduce the amount of 
time you spend researching proceedings. Go to https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/overview to register for eSubscription.
    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 staff available to assist you at (866) 208-
3676 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, which is located on the Commission's website (www.ferc.gov) 
under the link to FERC Online. Using eComment 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, which is located on the Commission's website (www.ferc.gov) 
under the link to FERC Online. 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 will be asked to select the type of filing you are 
making; a comment on a particular project is considered a ``Comment on 
a Filing''; or
    (3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to 
the following address using the U.S. Postal Service. Be sure to 
reference the project docket number (CP20-479-000) with your 
submission: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426. 
Submissions sent through carriers other than the U.S. Postal Service 
must be sent to 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852 for 
processing.
    Please note this is not your only public input opportunity; please 
refer to the review process flow chart in appendix 1.\1\
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    \1\ The 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.
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Summary of the Proposed Project

    Northern proposes to construct and operate 4.4 miles of new 8-inch-
diameter pipeline, abandon in-place 31.7 miles of 4- to 6-inch-diameter 
A-line, and install a launcher and a regulation station. The 2021 
Auburn A-line Abandonment and Capacity Replacement Project is part of 
Northern's ongoing modernization efforts and review of vintage and 
mechanically jointed or acetylene welded pipeline segments. According 
to Northern, it would modernize Northern's existing system, improve 
reliability, and enable safer long-term operation of Northern's system.
    The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix 
2.

Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction of the proposed facilities would disturb about 74 
acres of land for the aboveground facilities and the pipeline. 
Following construction, Northern would maintain about 23 acres for 
permanent operation of the project's facilities; the remaining acreage 
would be restored and revert to former uses. About 32 percent of the 
proposed pipeline route parallels existing pipeline, utility, or road 
rights-of-way.

The EA Process

    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;
 water resources and wetlands;
 vegetation and wildlife;
 threatened and endangered species;
 cultural resources;
 land use;
 air quality and noise;
 public safety; and
 cumulative impacts.

    Commission staff will also evaluate reasonable alternatives to the 
proposed project or portions of the project, and make recommendations 
on how to

[[Page 45874]]

lessen or avoid impacts on the various resource areas.
    The EA will present Commission staffs' independent analysis of the 
issues. The EA will be available in electronic format in the public 
record through eLibrary \2\ and the Commission's natural gas 
environmental documents web page (https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/natural-gas/environment/environmental-documents). If eSubscribed, you 
will receive instant email notification when the EA is issued. The EA 
may be issued for an allotted public comment period. Commission staff 
will consider all comments on the EA before making recommendations to 
the Commission. To ensure Commission staff can address your comments, 
please carefully follow the instructions in the Public Participation 
section, beginning on page 2.
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    \2\ For instructions on connecting to eLibrary, refer to the 
last page of this notice.
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    With this notice, the Commission is asking agencies with 
jurisdiction by law and/or special expertise with respect to the 
environmental issues of this project to formally cooperate 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.
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    \3\ The Council on Environmental Quality regulations addressing 
cooperating agency responsibilities are at Title 40, Code of Federal 
Regulations, Part 1501.6.
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Consultation 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, the Commission is using this notice to initiate 
consultation with the applicable State Historic Preservation Office, 
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\ The EA for this project will 
document findings on the impacts on historic properties and summarize 
the status of consultations under section 106.
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    \4\ The 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.
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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. Commission staff will update the environmental 
mailing list as the analysis proceeds to ensure that Commission notices 
related to this environmental review are sent to all individuals, 
organizations, and government entities interested in and/or potentially 
affected by the proposed project.
    If the Commission issues the EA for an allotted public comment 
period, a Notice of Availability of the EA will be sent to the 
environmental mailing list and will provide instructions to access the 
electronic document on the FERC's website (www.ferc.gov). If you need 
to make changes to your name/address, or if you would like to remove 
your name from the mailing list, please return the attached ``Mailing 
List Update Form'' (appendix 3).

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 website at www.ferc.gov using the eLibrary link. Click on the 
eLibrary link, click on General Search and enter the docket number in 
the Docket Number field, excluding the last three digits (i.e., CP20-
479). Be sure you have selected an appropriate date range. For 
assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at 
FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or (866) 208-3676, or for TTY, contact (202) 
502-8659. The eLibrary link also provides access to the texts of all 
formal documents issued by the Commission, such as orders, notices, and 
rulemakings.
    Public sessions or site visits will be posted on the Commission's 
calendar located at https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/events along with 
other related information.

    Dated: July 24, 2020.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-16514 Filed 7-29-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P