Document ID: FERC-2010-0485-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Environmental Impact Statements; Availability, etc.: Questar Overthrust Pipeline Co.; Proposed Mainline 133 Loop Expansion Project
Posted Date: 2010-04-09T04:00Z

[Federal Register: April 9, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 68)]
[Notices]               
[Page 18196-18198]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09ap10-70]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. CP10-3-000; CP10-3-001]

 
Questar Overthrust Pipeline Company; Amended Notice of Intent To 
Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Mainline 133 Loop 
Expansion Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues

March 30, 2010.
    As previously noticed on April 10, 2009, and amended herein, 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 Mainline 133 Loop Expansion Project (Loop 
Expansion Project), involving construction and operation of facilities 
by Questar Overthrust Pipeline Company (Overthrust) in Uinta and 
Sweetwater Counties, Wyoming. This EA will be used by the Commission in 
its decision-making process to determine whether the project is in the 
public convenience and necessity.
    This notice announces the opening of a second scoping period (due 
to pipeline route changes in the project design) the Commission will 
use to gather input from the public and interested agencies on the 
project. Your input will help the Commission staff determine what 
issues need to be evaluated in the EA. Please note that the scoping 
period will close on April 29, 2010.
    This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental 
mailing list for this project, as well as newly-affected landowners 
along the revised pipeline routes. State and local government 
representatives are asked to 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, you may be contacted 
by a pipeline company representative 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 project is approved by the Commission, 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 in accordance with State law.
    A fact sheet prepared by the FERC entitled ``An Interstate Natural 
Gas Facility on My Land? What Do I Need

[[Page 18197]]

To Know?'' was attached to the project notice Overthrust provided to 
landowners. 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 (http://www.ferc.gov).

Summary of the Proposed Project

    Overthrust proposes to construct the following facilities:
     About 43 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipeline in Uinta and 
Sweetwater Counties, Wyoming;
     A bypass valve assembly tie-in at the Rock Springs 
Compressor Station in Rock Springs, Wyoming;
     A new crossover valve assembly at about milepost (MP) 
43.3; and
     Two 36-inch-diameter block valves at about MPs 18.6 and 
38.5.
    The Loop Expansion Project would allow Overthrust to provide up to 
800,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas westbound to Kern River Gas 
Transmission Company and to El Paso Corporation's proposed Ruby 
Pipeline.
    Since issuance of our \1\ April 10, 2009 notice, Overthrust has 
changed its proposed 43-mile-long pipeline route in two locations to 
address concerns by General Chemical (Soda Ash) Partners (General 
Chemical) and FMC Corporation (FMC) regarding impacts on active mining 
operations in the project area. Overthrust revised its route from MP 
19.7 to 26 and MP 30.2 to 38.4 to avoid and/or mitigate impacts in the 
General Chemical and FMC mining areas, respectively. These revised 
sections are similar in length and are within proximity to the 
originally-proposed sections of the pipeline route.
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    \1\ ``We'', ``us'', and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff 
of the Commission's Office of Energy Projects.
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    The general location of the originally-proposed route and the 
revised sections are shown in the appendix.\2\
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    \2\ The appendix referenced in this notice is not being printed 
in the Federal Register. Copies of the appendix were sent to all 
those receiving this notice in the mail and are available at http://
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 page 6 of this notice.
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Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction of Overthrust's proposed facilities would disturb 
about 833 acres of land including aboveground facilities and the 
pipeline. Overthrust would use existing public roads to access the work 
areas. Following construction, about 262.3 acres would be maintained 
for permanent operation of the project's facilities while the remaining 
acreage would be restored and allowed to revert to former uses. About 
90 percent (39.1 miles) of the pipeline would be collocated with 
existing pipeline, utility, or road rights-of-ways.

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 
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. All comments 
received will be considered 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;
     Land use;
     Water resources, fisheries, and wetlands;
     Cultural resources;
     Vegetation and wildlife;
     Air quality and noise;
     Endangered and threatened species; and
     Public safety.
    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.
    Our independent analysis of the issues will be presented in the EA. 
The EA will be placed in the public record and will be published and 
distributed to the public. A comment period will be allotted for public 
review when the EA is published. We will consider all comments on the 
EA before we make our recommendations to the Commission. To ensure your 
comments are considered, please carefully follow the instructions in 
the Public Participation section below.
    With this notice, we are asking agencies with jurisdiction and/or 
special expertise with respect to environmental issues to formally 
cooperate with us in the preparation of the EA. These agencies may 
choose to participate once they have evaluated the proposal relative to 
their responsibilities. 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 Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management 
has expressed its intention to participate as a cooperating agency in 
the preparation of the EA to satisfy its NEPA responsibilities related 
to this project.

Consultations Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 
Act

    In accordance with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's 
implementing regulations for the section 106 process, we are using this 
notice to solicit the views of the public on the project's potential 
effects on historic properties.\3\ We will document our findings on the 
impacts on cultural resources and summarize the status of consultations 
under section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act in our EA.
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    \3\ The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's regulations 
are at Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 800. Historic 
properties are defined in those regulations as any prehistoric or 
historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in 
or eligible for inclusion in the National Register for Historic 
Places.
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Currently Identified Environmental Issues

    We have already identified several issues that we think deserve 
attention based on a preliminary review of the revised facilities and 
the environmental information provided by Overthrust. This preliminary 
list of issues may be changed based on your comments and our analysis:
     Geologic concerns in the active mining areas, and
     Cultural resources.

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 they will be received in Washington, DC on or before April 29, 
2010.
    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 eFiling staff available to assist you 
at (202) 502-8258 or efiling@ferc.gov.

[[Page 18198]]

    (1) You may file your comments electronically by using the Quick 
Comment feature, which is located at http://www.ferc.gov under the link 
called Documents and Filings. A Quick Comment is an easy method for 
interested persons to submit text-only comments on a project;
    (2) You may file your comments electronically by using the 
``eFiling'' feature that is listed under the Documents and Filings 
link. eFiling involves preparing your submission in the same manner as 
you would if filing on paper, and then saving the file on your 
computer's hard drive. You will attach that file to your submission. 
New eFiling users must first create an account by clicking on the links 
called Sign up or 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 may file a paper copy of your comments at 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 General Chemical and FMC; 
Federal, State, and local government representatives and agencies; 
elected officials; environmental and public interest groups; Native 
American Tribes; 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. When the EA is published for distribution, copies 
will be sent to the environmental mailing list for public review and 
comment.

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 
included 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 (http://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., CP10-3). 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 http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm.
    Finally, any public meetings or site visits related to this project 
will be posted on the Commission's calendar located at http://
www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/EventsList.aspx along with other related 
information.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-8057 Filed 4-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P