[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 66 (Friday, April 5, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16364-16365]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-8336]


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 Notices
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
 or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 67, No. 66 / Friday, April 5, 2002 / 
Notices  

[[Page 16364]]



ADVISORY COUNCIL ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION


Exemption Regarding Historic Preservation Review Process for 
Projects Involving Historic Natural Gas Pipelines

AGENCY: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

ACTION: Notice of final exemption regarding historic natural gas 
pipelines.

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SUMMARY: The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is publishing a 
final exemption that relieves Federal agencies from the requirement of 
taking into account the effects of their undertakings on historic 
natural gas pipelines. The exemption goes into effect on April 5, 2002.

DATES: This final exemption will go into effect on April 5, 2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Address all questions about this 
exemption to Javier Marques, Office of General Counsel, Advisory 
Council on Historic Preservation, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Suite 
809, Washington, DC 20004. Fax (202) 606-8672. [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act, 16 U.S.C. 470f, requires Federal agencies to consider 
the effects of their undertakings on historic properties and provide 
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (``Council'') a 
reasonable opportunity to comment with regard to such undertakings. The 
Council has issued the regulations that set forth the process through 
which Federal agencies comply with these duties. Those regulations are 
codified under 36 CFR part 800 (``Section 106 regulations'').
    The National Historic Preservation Act (``Act'') authorizes the 
Council, with the concurrence of the National Park Service, to 
promulgate regulations for exempting undertakings ``from any or all of 
the requirements of'' the Act. 16 U.S.C. 470v. The Section 106 
regulations detail the process for the approval of such exemptions. 36 
CFR 800.14(c).
    According to that process, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(``Commission'') formally proposed an exemption regarding the effects 
of undertakings on historic natural gas pipelines. The Council 
preliminarily approved that exemption, pending the results of the 
public comment opportunity provided through an earlier notice (67 FR 
9429, March 1, 2002). Please refer to that earlier notice for a 
lengthier background on the exemption, and an explanation of how it 
meets the criteria for exemptions under the Section 106 regulations.
    At the end of the public comment period provided by that earlier 
notice, only three comments had been filed: the National Conference of 
State Historic Preservation Officers (``NCSHPO''), the Interstate 
Natural Gas Association of America (``INGAA''), and Duke Energy Gas 
Transmission (``Duke Energy''). Since all three comments supported the 
exemption, the Council's preliminary approval of the exemption was not 
withdrawn, and the exemption will go into effect on April 5, 2002.
    The exemption releases all Federal agencies from the Section 106 
requirement of having to consider the effects of their undertakings on 
historic natural gas pipelines. Historic natural gas pipelines are 
defined as those natural gas pipelines that meet the criteria for 
listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The exemption 
applies unconditionally for all undertakings except for those that 
entail the abandonment of a historic natural gas pipeline. The sole 
condition for those cases is that the historic natural gas pipeline 
gets documented prior to abandonment. The documentation requirements 
are enumerated in the exemption document. Finally, the exemption does 
not apply on tribal land.
    The comment filed by INGAA, and supported by Duke Energy, requested 
a clarification on the term ``abandonment.'' INGAA submitted that the 
Council clarify that term by specifically defining it as any 
abandonment filed pursuant to Section 7(b) of the National Gas Act, 15 
U.S.C. 717f(b) (2000), except for all abandonments described in the 
blanket certification provisions set forth in Subpart F, Section 
157.201 et seq of the regulations of the Commission, that is, those 
abandonments that are automatically authorized under the Commission's 
regulations or those that are filed under the Commission's prior notice 
regulations. The Council believed such a definition accurately 
reflected the intent of the proposed exemption and thereby incorporated 
it into the final exemption.
    Under this definition of ``abandonment,'' documentation of a 
historic natural gas pipeline is ensured when significant pipeline 
facilities are to be abandoned. This would include any abandonment of 
mainline facilities. Due to their age and their central importance to 
the resource as a whole, such mainline facilities are the most likely 
to contain or reflect the historically significant features of the 
pipeline.
    By the same token, the use of this specific definition of 
``abandonment'' underlines the fact that the exemption does not require 
documentation of the pipeline for the abandonment of relatively minor 
(and more recently constructed) facilities, such as gas supply 
facilities, receipt or delivery points, or related supply or delivery 
laterals. Such abandonments, by their nature, present much more 
limited, if not negligible, impacts on the pipeline as a whole. As the 
Council has noted before, natural gas pipelines exhibit considerable 
redundance and uniformity in form over their entire extent. 
Accordingly, these minor abandonments are unlikely to affect the 
integrity of the pipeline as a historic property or jeopardize adequate 
documentation of the pipeline in the future.
    The full text of the final exemption is reproduced below.

Section 106  Exemption Regarding Effects to Historic Natural Gas 
Pipelines

I. Exemption Regarding Effects to Historic Natural Gas Pipelines

    Except as noted on Section II, all Federal agencies are exempt from 
the Section 106 requirement of taking into account the effects of their 
undertakings on historic natural gas pipelines.

[[Page 16365]]

II. Abandonment of Historic Natural Gas Pipelines

    Abandonment of a historic natural gas pipeline, in part or in 
whole, will qualify for the exemption under Section I, provided that 
the Federal agency or its applicant has documented the historic natural 
gas pipeline by:
    (a) Completing a determination of eligibility for the pipeline as a 
whole, which identifies contributing and non-contributing components of 
the pipeline, using standard information required on a National 
Register nomination form. The documentation must be prepared by an 
individual meeting the Secretary of the Interior's Professional 
Qualification Standards (48 FR 44738-9). The documentation must include 
the following components:
    (i) a brief history of construction of the line with a bibliography 
recording the primary and secondary sources that were used;
    (ii) documentation through as-built drawings, historical 
photographs or, 35 mm photographs, as appropriate, of representative 
examples of significant features associated with the line;
    (iii) a map of the historic property set at an appropriate scale; 
and
    (iv) an annotated bibliography of other primary and secondary 
sources identified during research; and
    (b) Placing the documentation in an appropriate repository, 
accessible to the general public, in each State crossed by the 
pipeline, and filing the documentation with the relevant State Historic 
Preservation Officer(s).
    When the abandonment involved only a section of the historic 
natural gas pipeline, Federal agencies or applicants handling 
subsequent abandonments of other sections of the historic natural gas 
pipeline will not have to repeat the documentation requirements set 
forth above.

III. Existing Agreements

    This exemption is not intended to amend, invalidate or otherwise 
modify Section 106 Programmatic Agreements (PAs) in existence at the 
time this exemption goes into effect. Parties to such PAs may amend 
them according to their terms.

IV. Tribal Lands

    This exemption does not apply to those portions of undertakings 
that take place on tribal lands.

V. Definitions

    (a) ``Section 106'' means Section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act, 16 U.S.C. 470f, and its implementing regulations, 
found under 36 CFR part 800.
    (b) ``Undertaking'' means a project, activity, or program funded in 
whole or in part under the direct or indirect jurisdiction of a Federal 
agency, including those carried out by or on behalf of a Federal 
agency; those carried out with Federal financial assistance; those 
requiring a Federal permit, license or approval; and those subject to 
State or local regulation administered pursuant to a delegation or 
approval by a Federal agency.
    (c) ``Historic natural gas pipelines'' means natural gas pipelines, 
and their appurtenant facilities, that are listed, or eligible for 
listing, on the National Register of Historic Places.
    (d) ``Tribal lands'' means all lands within the exterior boundaries 
of any Indian reservation and all dependent Indian communities.
    (e) ``Abandonment'' means any abandonment that would be filed 
pursuant to Section 7(b) of the National Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. 
717f(b)(2000), except for all abandonments described in the blanket 
certification provisions set forth in Subpart F, 18 CFR 157.201 et seq. 
of the regulations of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 470v; 36 CFR 800.14(c).

    Dated: April 1, 2002.
John M. Fowler,
Executive Director.
[FR Doc. 02-8336 Filed 4-4-02; 8:45 am]
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