[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 51 (Monday, March 17, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12693-12695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6011]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP03-46-000]


Dominion Transmission, Inc., Texas Eastern Transmission, LP; 
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the 
Proposed Oakford HP Project and Request for Comments on Environmental 
Issues

March 11, 2003.
    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 Oakford HP Project involving 
the upgrade of horsepower at the Oakford and South Oakford Compressor 
Stations by Dominion Transmission, Inc. (DTI) and Texas Eastern 
Transmission, LP (Texas Eastern) in Westmoreland County, 
Pennsylvania.\1\ The project involves increasing the horsepower on two 
electrical motor-driven compressor units at the South Oakford Station 
and increasing the horsepower on three

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eletrical motor-driven compressor units at the Oakford Station in 
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. 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.
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    \1\ DTI and Teaxs Eastern's application was filed with the 
Commission under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act and part 157 of 
the Commission's regulations.
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Summary of the Proposed Project

    In Docket No. CP03-46-000, DTI and Texas Eastern request 
authorization to increase the horsepower on two existing electrical 
motor-driven compressor units at the South Oakford Station and three 
eletrical motor-driven compressor units at the Oakford Station in order 
to provide greater operating flexibility. This increase in horsepower 
would allow the stations to increase the daily withdrawl rate as 
needed. DTI and Texas Eastern proposes to:
    [sbull] increase the horsepower of engines 3 and 
4 from 5,000 to 5,750 at the South Oakford Compressor Station
    [sbull] increase the horsepower of engines 13, 
14, and 15 from 4,000 to 4,600 at the Oakford 
Compressor Station.
    DTI and Texas Eastern would modify the software controls so that 
each of the engines may be operated at the design rating as described 
above. This operation would not require any installation, construction, 
or facility reconfiguration beyond the modifications of the software 
controls. Therefore, there would be no issues involving land use, 
vegetation and wildlife, water use and quality, cultural resources, 
socioeconomics, geological resources, and soils. There would be no 
issues regarding air emissions because these compressor units are 
powered by electrical motors. However, based on a comment letter, 
preliminary review of the proposed modifications and the environmental 
information provided by DTI and Texas Eastern, existing and proposed 
noise levels attributed to the South Oakford Compressor Station may 
warrant additional public comment.

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 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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    \2\ ''We'', ``us'', and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff 
of the Office of Energy Projects (OEP).
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    Our independent analysis of the issues will be presented in the EA. 
Depending on the comments received during the scoping process, the EA 
may be published and mailed to Federal, state, 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.

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:
    [sbull] Send an original and two copies of your letter to: Magalie 
R. Salas, Jr., Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First St., NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.
    [sbull] Label one copy of the comments for the attention of the Gas 
1, PJ-11.1.
    [sbull] Reference Docket No. CP03-46-000
    [sbull] Mail your comments so that they will be received in 
Washington, DC on or before April 14, 2003.
    Please note that we are continuing to experience delays in mail 
deliveries from the U.S. Postal Service. As a result, we will include 
all comments that we receive within a reasonable time frame in our 
environmental analysis of this project. However, the Commission 
strongly encourages electronic filing of any comments or interventions 
or protests to this proceeding. 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 the link to the User's Guide. Before you can 
file comments you will need to create a free account which can be 
created by clicking on ``Login to File'' and then ``New User Account.''

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 1).\3\ Only intervenors have 
the right to seek rehearing of the Commission's decision.
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    \3\ Interventions may also be filed electronically via the 
Internet in lieu of paper. See the previous discussion on filing 
comments electronically. The appendices referenced in this notice 
are not being printed in the Federal Register. Copies are available 
on the Commission's Web site at the ``FERRIS'' link or from the 
Commission's Public Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 502-8371. For 
instructions on connecting to FERRIS, refer to the section of this 
notice titled Additional Information. Copies of the appendices were 
sent to all those receiving this notice in the mail.
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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.

Environmental Mailing List

    This notice is being sent to individuals, organizations, and 
government entities interested in and/or potentially affected by the 
proposed project. It is also being sent to all identified potentially 
affected landowners.

Additional Information

    Additional information about the project is available from the 
Commission's Office of External Affairs, at 1-866-208-FERC or on the 
FERC

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Internet Web site (http://www.ferc.gov) using the FERRIS link. Click on 
the FERRIS link, enter the docket number excluding the last three 
digits in the Docket Number field. Be sure you have selected an 
appropriate date range. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support at 
[email protected] or toll-free at (866) 208-3676, or for TTY, 
contact (202) 502-8659. The FERRIS link on the FERC Internet Web site 
also provides access to the texts of formal documents issued by the 
Commission, such as orders, notices, and rulemakings.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-6011 Filed 3-14-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P