[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 22, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2875-2877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-1463]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP02-44-000, Docket No. CP02-46-000, and Docket No. CP02-
53-000]


Dominion Transmission, Inc., Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, 
National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation Dominion Transmission, Inc.; 
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Leidy 
Extension Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues

January 15, 2002.
    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 Leidy Extension Project in 
Potter County, Pennsylvania involving

[[Page 2876]]

construction and operation of natural gas pipeline facilities. Dominion 
Transmission, Inc. (Dominion), proposes to add compression under Docket 
No. CP02-44-000. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (Tennessee) proposes to 
build the Ellisburg Compressor Station under Docket No. CP02-46-000. 
National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation (National) and Dominion propose to 
add compression and uprate their jointly-owned Ellisburg-Leidy Line 
under Docket No. CP02-53-000.\1\ This EA will be used by the Commission 
in its decision-making process to determine whether the projects \2\ 
are in the public convenience and necessity.
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    \1\ Tennessee's, National's, and Dominion's applications were 
filed with the Commission under section 7 of the Natural Gas Act and 
part 157 of the Commission's regulations.
    \2\ These three component projects of the overall Leidy 
Extension Project would together comprise the facility expansions 
and upgrades in Potter County necessary for the shipment of an 
additional 150,000 dekatherms per day (Dt/d) of natural gas to the 
Leidy Meter and Regulating Station in Clinton County, Pennsylvania.
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    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 pipeline 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 To Know?'' addresses a number 
of typically asked questions, including the use of eminent domain and 
how to participate in the Commission's proceedings. This fact sheet can 
be viewed on the FERC Internet web site (www.ferc.fed.us).

Summary of the Proposed Project

    Dominion, under Docket No. CP02-44-000, proposes to build a 4,735-
horsepower (hp) relay compressor, along with an associated building and 
access driveway, inside the fenced-in area of its existing Little 
Greenlick Relay Station. The Little Greenlick Relay Station is 
immediately adjacent to the Greenlick Compressor Station containing 
four existing compressors.
    Tennessee, under Docket No. CP02-46-000, proposes to build a new 
Ellisburg Compressor Station and associated meter station. This 
compressor station would be built on newly acquired property 
immediately adjacent to the Dominion's existing Ellisburg Storage Field 
Compressor Station. The Ellisburg Compressor Station would include two 
gas-driven 2,365-hp compressors and an associated compressor building, 
gas cooler, and an auxiliary building. Tennessee would construct the 
meter station in a previously-disturbed fenced-in area within 
Dominion's Ellisburg Storage Field Compressor Station.
    National, under Docket No. CP02-53-000, proposes to build an 8,070-
hp compressor and an associated building in a previously-disturbed 
fenced-in area within National's Ellisburg Compressor Station. National 
and Dominion would jointly own this compressor. National would also 
uprate the maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) of their 
jointly-owned 41-mile-long, 24-inch-diameter Ellisburg-Leidy Line by 
replacing two block valves and installing one new block valve at 
milepost (MP) 1.3. The two block valves to be modified are at MP 0.0 
inside National's Ellisburg Compressor Station and at MP 34.2 at Kettle 
Creek. Dominion would make aboveground modifications to the Leidy M&R 
Station (owned jointly with National) at the southern end of the 
Ellisburg-Leidy Line separately under sections 2.55(a) and 157.211 of 
the Commission's regulations.
    The locations of the facilities for the Leidy Extension Project are 
shown in appendix 1.\3\
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    \3\ The appendices referenced in this notice are not being 
printed in the Federal Register. Copies are available on the 
Commission's website at the ``RIMS'' link or from the Commission's 
Public Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 First Street, 
NE., Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 208-1371. For instructions 
on connecting to RIMS refer to the last page of this notice. Copies 
of the appendices were sent to all those receiving this notice in 
the mail.
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Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction of the 4,735-hp relay compressor in the Little 
Greenlick Relay Station would require 5.24 acres of previously-
disturbed land within the station. Construction of two gas-driven 
2,365-hp compressors for the proposed Ellisburg Compressor Station 
would require 5.16 acres of which 2.27 acres would be restored and 
allowed to revert to its former use following construction. A small 
area of previously-disturbed ground within Dominion's adjacent 
Ellisburg Storage Field Compressor Station would be required for 
construction of a new meter station. In addition, 0.5 acre would be 
used for access roads along the Ellisburg Storage Field Compressor 
Station.
    Construction of the 8,070-hp compressor and an associated building 
would require use of a previously-disturbed fenced-in area within 
National's Ellisburg Compressor Station. Uprating the MAOP of the 41-
mile-long Ellisburg-Leidy Pipeline would require temporary use of 0.11 
acre of existing mowed right-of-way at MP 1.33 of the Ellisburg-Leidy 
Pipeline for installation of a new block valve. No ground disturbance 
would be required for the modification of the two block valves at MPs 
0.0 and 34.2.

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 
\4\ to discover and address concerns the public may have about 
proposals. We call this ``scoping''. The main goal of the scoping 
process is to focus the analysis in the EA on the important 
environmental issues. By this Notice of Intent, the Commission requests 
public comments on the scope of the issues it will address in the EA. 
All comments received are considered during the preparation of the EA. 
State and local government representatives are encouraged to notify 
their constituents of this proposed action and encourage them to 
comment on their areas of concern.
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    \4\ ''We'', ``us'', and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff 
of the Office of Energy Projects (OEP).
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    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, fisheries, and wetlands
     Vegetation and wildlife
     Endangered and threatened species
     Public safety
     Land use
     Cultural resources
     Air and noise quality
     Hazardous waste
    We will also evaluate possible 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 in the EA. Depending 
on the comments received during the scoping process, the EA may be 
published and mailed to Federal, state,

[[Page 2877]]

and local agencies, public interest groups, interested individuals, 
affected landowners, newspapers, libraries, and the Commission's 
official service list for this proceeding. A comment period will be 
allotted for review if 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.

Currently Identified Environmental Issues

    We have already identified several issues that we think deserve 
attention based on a preliminary review of the proposed facilities and 
the environmental information provided by Tennessee, National and 
Dominion. This preliminary list of issues may be changed based on your 
comments and our analysis.
     Impacts to Rose Lake Run from (1) the clearing of 5.16 
acres of vegetation and from disturbance of a hazardous waste 
remediation site adjacent to Tennessee's proposed Ellisburg Compressor 
Station, and (2) construction activities at National's Ellisburg 
Compressor Station within which Rose Lake Run crosses.
     Noise increases for noise sensitive areas near Tennessee's 
proposed Ellisburg Compressor Station.

Public Participation

    You can make a difference by providing us with your specific 
comments or concerns about the project. By becoming a commentor, your 
concerns will be addressed in the EA and considered by the Commission. 
You should focus on the potential environmental effects of the 
proposal, alternatives to the proposal, and measures to avoid or lessen 
environmental impact. The more specific your comments, the more useful 
they will be. Please carefully follow these instructions to ensure that 
your comments are received in time and properly recorded:
    Send an original and two copies of your letter to: Linwood A. 
Watson, Jr., Acting Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
888 First St., NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.
     Label one copy of the comments for the attention of Gas 2.
     Reference Docket Nos. CP02-44-000, CP02-46-000, and CP02-
53-000.
     Mail your comments so that they will be received in 
Washington, DC on or before February 15, 2002.
    Comments, protests and interventions may be filed electronically 
via the Internet in lieu of paper. See, 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and 
the instructions on the Commission's web site at http://www.ferc.gov 
under the ``e-Filing'' link and link to the User's Guide. Before you 
can file comments you will need to create an account which can be 
created by clicking on ``Login to File'' and then ``New User Account.''
    Due to current events, we cannot guarantee that we will receive 
mail on a timely basis from the U.S. Postal Service, and we do not know 
how long this situation will continue. However, we continue to receive 
filings from private mail delivery services, including messenger 
services in a reliable manner. The Commission encourages electronic 
filing of any comments or interventions or protests to this proceeding. 
We will include all comments that we receive within a reasonable time 
frame in our environmental analysis of this project.

Becoming an Intervenor

    In addition to involvement in the EA scoping process, you may want 
to become an official party to the proceeding known as an 
``intervenor''. Intervenors play a more formal role in the process. 
Among other things, intervenors have the right to receive copies of 
case-related Commission documents and filings by other intervenors. 
Likewise, each intervenor must provide 14 copies of its filings to the 
Secretary of the Commission and must send a copy of its filings to all 
other parties on the Commission's service list for this proceeding. If 
you want to become an intervenor you must file a motion to intervene 
according to rule 214 of the Commission's rules of practice and 
procedure (18 CFR 385.214) (see appendix 2).\5\ Only intervenors have 
the right to seek rehearing of the Commission's decision.
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    \5\ Interventions may also be filed electronically via the 
Internet in lieu of paper. See the previous discussion on filing 
comments electronically.
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    Affected landowners and parties with environmental concerns may be 
granted intervenor status upon showing good cause by stating that they 
have a clear and direct interest in this proceeding which would not be 
adequately represented by any other parties. You do not need intervenor 
status to have your environmental comments considered.
    Additional information about the proposed project is available from 
the Commission's Office of External Affairs at (202) 208-1088 or on the 
FERC web site (www.ferc.fed.us) using the ``RIMS'' link to information 
in this docket number. Click on the ``RIMS'' link, select ``Docket #'' 
from the RIMS Menu, and follow the instructions. For assistance with 
access to RIMS, the RIMS help line can be reached at (202) 208-2222.
    Similarly, the ``CIPS'' link on the FERC Internet website provides 
access to the texts of formal documents issued by the Commission, such 
as orders, notices, and rulemakings. From the FERC Internet web site, 
click on the ``CIPS'' link, select ``Docket #'' from the CIPS menu, and 
follow the instructions. For assistance with access to CIPS, the CIPS 
help line can be reached at (202) 208-2474.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-1463 Filed 1-18-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P