Document ID: FERC-2015-0514-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Environmental Assessments; Availability, etc.: Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co., LLC; Rock Springs Expansion Project
Posted Date: 2015-04-27T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 80 (Monday, April 27, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23267-23269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-09689]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP15-169-000]

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC; Notice of Intent To 
Prepare a Supplement Environmental Assessment for the Amended Rock 
Springs Expansion Project and Request for Comments on Environmental 
Issues

    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) will prepare a supplemental environmental assessment (EA) 
that will discuss the environmental impacts of the amendment to the 
Rock Springs Expansion Project (Project) involving construction and 
operation of facilities by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC 
(Transco) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The Commission will use 
this supplemental EA in its decision-making process to determine 
whether the amendment to 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. 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 supplemental 
EA. Please note that the scoping period will close on May 20, 2015.
    You may submit comments in written form or verbally. Further 
details on how to submit written comments are in the Public 
Participation section of this notice. If you sent comments on this 
project to the Commission before the opening of this docket on April 
13, 2015 you will need to file those comments in Docket No. CP15-169-
000 to ensure they are considered as part of this proceeding.
    This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental 
mailing list and includes landowners affected by the amended 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 planned 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.
    Transco 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).

Summary of the Project and Proposed Route Modification

    On March 19, 2015, FERC issued an Order Issuing Certificate (Order) 
to Transco authorizing the Rock Springs Expansion Project. The EA for 
the Project in Docket No. CP14-504-000 was issued on November 14, 2014. 
On March 19, 2015, Transco accepted the Order pursuant to section 
157.20(a) of the Commission's Regulations. The Project is an expansion 
of Transco's existing pipeline system which will enable Transco to 
provide 192,000 dekatherms per day of incremental firm transportation 
capacity from Transco's Station 210 Zone 6 Pool in Mercer County, New 
Jersey to Old Dominion Electric Cooperative's approved Wildcat Point 
Generating Facility in Cecil County, Maryland.
    In this amendment, Transco proposes to modify the previously 
authorized pipeline route in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The 
proposed alignment modification occurs from milepost (MP) 7.60 to MP 
8.29 (a total of 0.69 mile). Transco is proposing to adjust the 
pipeline centerline alignment from the originally authorized property 
to the adjacent property to the east. The proposed minor route 
modification would not affect any new landowners, as the adjacent 
property owner owns other parcels on which the pipeline is sited. 
Additionally, the route modification would result in minor changes in 
workspace configurations on two other properties, including a reduction 
in permanent easement.
    The general location map of the project facilities is shown 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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Land Requirements for Construction

    No new workspace impacts would occur as a result of the proposed 
minor route modification. The minor route modification has been 
designed to result in no net gain of workspace required for Project 
construction.

The EA 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 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 supplemental EA on 
the important environmental issues. By this notice, the Commission 
requests public comments on the scope of the issues to address in the 
supplemental EA. We will consider all filed comments during the 
preparation of the supplemental EA.
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    \2\ ``We,'' ``us,'' and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff 
of the Commission's Office of Energy Projects.
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    In the supplemental 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;
     land use;
     water resources, fisheries, and wetlands;
     cultural resources;
     vegetation and wildlife;
     air quality and noise;
     endangered and threatened species;

[[Page 23268]]

     public safety; and
     cumulative impacts.
    We will also evaluate reasonable alternatives to the proposed route 
modification.
    The supplemental EA will present our independent analysis of the 
issues. The EA will be available in the public record through eLibrary. 
Depending on the comments received during the scoping process, we may 
also publish and 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 5.
    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 supplemental 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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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 supplemental EA for this project will 
document our 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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Currently Identified Environmental Issues

    The change in land use impacts includes reductions of 0.37 acre of 
forest land and 0.07 acre of agricultural land, and increases of 0.39 
acre of open land and 0.04 acre of commercial/industrial land.

Public Participation

    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. The more specific 
your comments, the more useful they will be. 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 May 
20, 2015.
    For your convenience, there are three methods you can use to submit 
your comments to the Commission. In all instances, please reference the 
project docket number (CP15-169-000) with your submission. The 
Commission encourages electronic filing of comments and has expert 
staff available to assist you at (202) 502-8258 or efiling@ferc.gov.
    (1) You can file your comments electronically using the eComment 
feature located on the Commission's Web site (www.ferc.gov) under the 
link to Documents and Filings. This is an easy method for interested 
persons to submit brief, text-only comments on a project;
    (2) You can file your comments electronically using the eFiling 
feature located 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.'' You must select the type of filing you are making. If 
you are filing a comment on a particular project, please select 
``Comment on a Filing''; or
    (3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to 
the following address: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC 
20426.

Environmental Mailing List

    The environmental mailing list includes landowners affected by the 
route modification, 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.
    If we publish and distribute the supplemental EA, copies 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 supplemental 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 User's Guide under the ``e-filing'' link on the Commission's Web 
site.

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., CP15-
169). 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

[[Page 23269]]

by automatically providing you with notification of these filings, 
document summaries, and direct links to the documents. Go to 
www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp.
    Finally, public meetings 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: April 20, 2015.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-09689 Filed 4-24-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P