[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 2, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44439-44440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-16609]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP02-387-000]


Petal Gas Storage, L.L.C.; Notice of Application

June 26, 2002.
    Take notice that on June 18, 2002, Petal Gas Storage, L.L.C. 
(Petal), Nine Greenway Plaza, Houston, Texas 77046, filed in Docket No. 
CP02-387-000 , for an application pursuant to Section 7(c) of the 
Natural Gas Act (NGA) for authorization to construct, install, own, 
operate, and maintain new natural gas underground storage facilities, 
and related above-ground facilities, located in Forrest County, 
Mississippi, all as more fully set forth in the application which is on 
file with the Commission and open to public inspection. Copies of this 
filing are on file with the Commission and are available for public 
inspection. This filing may be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov 
using the ``RIMS'' link, select ``Docket '' from the RIMS Menu 
and follow the instructions (call (202) 208-2222 for assistance).
    Petal seeks: (1) A certificate of public convenience and necessity 
that would authorize Petal to construct, install, own, operate, and 
maintain high-deliverability salt-dome gas storage facilities that will 
accommodate the injection, storage, and subsequent withdrawal of 
natural gas for redelivery in interstate commerce; (2) authorization to 
provide storage services at market-based rates; and (3) waiver of any 
Commission regulations necessary to grant the authorizations requested.
    Petal proposes to construct and operate one new subsurface natural 
gas storage cavern (Cavern No. 8), and convert an existing subsurface 
brine storage cavern (Cavern No. 3) to natural gas storage. Both of 
these natural gas storage caverns are located adjacent to Petal's 
existing facilities within the Petal Salt Dome subsurface geologic 
feature, located in Forrest County, Mississippi.
    In association with the construction of Cavern No. 8, Petal is 
proposing the construction of a 16-inch diameter natural gas pipeline 
approximately 1,276 feet long; a 12-inch diameter water line 
approximately 1,786 feet long; and a 12-inch diameter brine 
transmission line approximately 1,789 feet long. Petal also proposes to 
construct an additional 16-inch diameter natural gas transmission 
pipeline, approximately 2,407 feet in length, located between the Petal 
Cavern

[[Page 44440]]

No. 3 wellhead and the existing Petal No. 2 Compressor Station. In 
addition, Petal proposes to construct fiber optics communications 
cables between both the Cavern No. 8 and Cavern No. 3 wellheads, and 
the existing Petal No. 2 Compressor Station, for remote operations of 
the proposed wellhead facilities.
    Petal proposes to construct above-ground facilities. The above-
ground facilities consist of: (1) A 5,000 horsepower natural gas 
compression unit on an existing concrete pad located within the Petal 
No. 2 Compressor Station building; (2) a 250 MMcf/d dehydration 
contractor, knockout scrubber, and gas/glycol exchanger to the existing 
Petal dehydration system, adjacent to the Petal No. 2 Compressor 
Station; and (3) a pressure control system at the Petal No. 2 
Compressor Station to control the injection and withdrawal pressures 
between the station and Cavern No. 3 and Cavern No. 8.
    Petal states that the proposed facilities will provide additional 
gas storage capacity to Petal's storage system, in response to 
significant increased demand from both existing and new customers for 
additional firm and interruptible storage services. Petal asserts that 
currently, all available gas storage space in Petal's existing caverns 
is fully subscribed.
    Petal indicates that in order to accommodate these significant new 
market demands, Cavern No. 8 will be constructed with a working storage 
capacity of up to 5.0 Billion cubic feet (Bcf) and Cavern No. 3, once 
converted for natural gas storage, will have a working storage capacity 
of up to 3.0 Bcf. Petal states that upon completion of both caverns, 
the average daily withdrawal capacity for the entire Petal system (4 
caverns) will be 1.65 Bcf/d and the daily average injection capacity 
will be 0.825 Bcf/d.
    Any questions regarding this amendment should be directed to Thomas 
G. Joyce or Veronica Hill, El Paso Corporation, Nine Greenway Plaza, 
Houston, Texas 77046, at (832) 676-3295, or to J. Gordon Pennington, El 
Paso Corporation, 555 11th Street, NW, Suite 750, Washington, DC 20004, 
(202) 637-3544.
    There are two ways to become involved in the Commission's review of 
this project. First, any person wishing to obtain legal status by 
becoming a party to the proceedings for this project should, on or 
before July 17, 2002, file with the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426, a motion to 
intervene in accordance with the requirements of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedure (18 CFR 385.214 or 385.211) and the 
Regulations under the NGA (18 CFR 157.10). A person obtaining party 
status will be placed on the service list maintained by the Secretary 
of the Commission and will receive copies of all documents filed by the 
applicant and by all other parties. A party must submit 14 copies of 
filings made with the Commission and must mail a copy to the applicant 
and to every other party in the proceeding. Only parties to the 
proceeding can ask for court review of Commission orders in the 
proceeding.
    However, a person does not have to intervene in order to have 
comments considered. The second way to participate is by filing with 
the Secretary of the Commission, as soon as possible, an original and 
two copies of comments in support of or in opposition to this project. 
The Commission will consider these comments in determining the 
appropriate action to be taken, but the filing of a comment alone will 
not serve to make the filer a party to the proceeding. The Commission's 
rules require that persons filing comments in opposition to the project 
provide copies of their protests only to the party or parties directly 
involved in the protest.
    Persons who wish to comment only on the environmental review of 
this project should submit an original and two copies of their comments 
to the Secretary of the Commission. Environmental commenters will be 
placed on the Commission's environmental mailing list, will receive 
copies of the environmental documents, and will be notified of meetings 
associated with the Commission's environmental review process. 
Environmental commenters will not be required to serve copies of filed 
documents on all other parties. However, the non-party commenters will 
not receive copies of all documents filed by other parties or issued by 
the Commission (except for the mailing of environmental documents 
issued by the Commission) and will not have the right to seek court 
review of the Commission's final order.
    The Commission may issue a preliminary determination on non-
environmental issues prior to the completion of its review of the 
environmental aspects of the project. This preliminary determination 
typically considers such issues as the need for the project and its 
economic effect on existing customers of the applicant, on other 
pipelines in the area, and on landowners and communities. For example, 
the Commission considers the extent to which the applicant may need to 
exercise eminent domain to obtain rights-of-way for the proposed 
project and balances that against the non-environmental benefits to be 
provided by the project. Therefore, if a person has comments on 
community and landowner impacts from this proposal, it is important 
either to file comments or to intervene as early in the process as 
possible.
    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 under the ``e-Filing'' 
link.
    If the Commission decides to set the application for a formal 
hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, the Commission will issue 
another notice describing that process. At the end of the Commission's 
review process, a final Commission order approving or denying a 
certificate will be issued.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-16609 Filed 6-1-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P