[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 20, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65324-65326]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-22617]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. PF08-3-000]


White River Hub, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment for the White River Hub Project and Request 
for Comments oOn Environmental Issues

November 9, 2007.
    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) and 
the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
are evaluating the White River Hub Project, planned by White River Hub, 
LLC (White River). The project includes construction of about 6.5 miles 
of new pipeline and related facilities; a new compressor station; and 
acquisition of about 3 miles of existing pipeline, all in Rio Blanco 
County, Colorado. As part of this evaluation, the Commission staff (as 
the lead federal agency for satisfying the requirements of the National 
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 [NEPA]) will prepare an environmental 
assessment (EA) to identify and address environmental impacts that 
could result from construction and operation of the project. The EA 
will be prepared with the assistance and cooperation of the BLM's White 
River Field Office staff in Meeker, Colorado. The Commission and the 
BLM (Agencies) will use the EA in their respective decision-making 
processes to determine whether to authorize the planned project.
    This Notice describes the project-related facilities and explains 
the scoping process that the Agencies will use to gather input from the 
public and interested agencies on the planned project. Your input will 
help determine the issues that need to be addressed in the EA. Please 
note that the scoping period for the planned project will close on 
December 10, 2007.
    This Notice is being sent to federal, state, and local government 
agencies; elected officials; environmental and public interest groups; 
Native American tribes; other interested parties; and local libraries 
and newspapers. This includes all landowners who are potential right-
of-way grantors, whose property may be used temporarily for project 
purposes, or who own homes within distances defined in the Commission's 
regulations of certain aboveground facilities. We encourage government 
representatives to notify their constituents of this planned project 
and encourage them to comment on their areas of concern. To ensure that 
your comments are considered, please follow the instructions in the 
Public Participation section below.
    With this Notice, we \1\ are asking other federal, state, and local 
agencies with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to 
environmental issues in the project area to formally cooperate with us 
in the preparation of this EA. These agencies may choose to participate 
once they have evaluated the planned project relative to their 
responsibilities. Entities that would like to request cooperating 
agency status should follow the instructions for filing comments 
described in the Public Participation section of this Notice.
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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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    If you are a landowner receiving this Notice, you may be contacted 
by a White River representative about the acquisition of an easement to 
construct, operate, and maintain the proposed pipeline facilities. The 
pipeline company would seek to negotiate a mutually acceptable 
agreement to cover

[[Page 65325]]

the easement, damages that may occur during construction, and any other 
issues raised by the landowner. The Commission encourages pipeline 
companies to acquire as much of the right-of-way (ROW) as possible by 
negotiation with the landowners. If the FERC approves the project, that 
approval will convey with it the right of eminent domain to secure 
easements for the facilities. Eminent domain is intended for use when 
easement negotiations fail to produce an agreement. In such instances, 
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?'' is available for 
viewing on the FERC Internet Web site (http://www.ferc.gov). This fact 
sheet addresses a number of typically asked questions, including the 
use of eminent domain for pipeline facilities and how to participate in 
the FERC's proceedings.

Summary of the Planned Project

    White River plans to construct and operate the following 
facilities:
     About 6.5 miles of 30-inch-diameter pipeline, extending 
westward from the Greasewood Hub and a new interconnection (``tie-in'') 
with an existing 36-inch-diameter pipeline owned by Enterprise Products 
Operating LLC (Enterprise) near the Piceance Creek;
     A new tie-in with the Enterprise pipeline, including pig 
\2\ launching/receiving facilities and a new access road from County 
Road 5;
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    \2\ A pipeline ``pig'' is a device to clean or inspect the 
pipeline internally. A pig launcher/receiver is an aboveground 
facility where pigs are inserted or retrieved from the pipeline.
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     A new meter station at the Greasewood Hub end of the new 
pipeline, including a common header for interconnections with existing 
gas transporters at the Hub and pig launching/receiving facilities; and
     Other appurtenant facilities.
    Within the fenced area of the new meter station, Questar Pipeline 
Company (Questar) would construct and operate new compression 
facilities consisting of up to three reciprocating engine-driven 
compressors totaling 7,700 horsepower. Equipment related to the 
compressor station would include gas coolers, a standby generator, and 
buildings to house the compressors and generators. While Questar would 
construct the compression facilities under its FERC-issued Blanket 
Certificate, potential impacts would be addressed in the EA.
    White River would also acquire from Enterprise about 3 miles of 36-
inch-diameter pipeline, extending between Enterprise's existing natural 
gas processing plant and the Rockies Express Compressor Station. All of 
the planned and existing facilities that constitute the White River Hub 
Project would be located in Rio Blanco County, Colorado. The general 
location of the project is shown in appendix 1.

Land Requirements for Construction

    White River's pipeline construction design includes a 100-foot-wide 
ROW. The wide construction ROW would enable White River to store 
topsoil stripped from the full ROW separate from subsoils removed from 
the trench. At some locations, this width would be increased to 125-150 
feet to accommodate rugged terrain, steep side-slopes, foreign pipeline 
crossings, access approaches, etc. Additional temporary extra workspace 
would also be required where the planned pipeline crosses roads and 
foreign utilities. Construction of the planned pipeline would disturb 
about 100 acres.
    The 50-foot-square Enterprise tie-in would require about 0.3 acre 
during construction, while construction of the meter station at the 
Greasewood Hub would take place within the planned 4.6-acre permanent 
site. With the exception of the 25-foot-wide by 400-foot-long (0.2 
acre) new access road to the Enterprise tie-in, existing access roads 
would be used to construct the new pipeline. Of these roads, about 3 
miles would have to be upgraded to handle construction vehicles 
(totaling about 9 acres of temporary disturbance). Finally, truck ramps 
would be constructed where the new pipeline crosses County Road 5 (0.5 
acre of temporary disturbance). Overall, construction is estimated to 
temporarily disturb about 114 acres, not including pipe storage and 
contractor yards which have yet to be located.
    Following construction, White River plans to maintain a 50-foot-
wide permanent ROW for the new pipeline. In addition to the new access 
road to the Enterprise tie-in facility and the new meter station at 
Greasewood, land permanently affected by the planned White River Hub 
Project would total about 44 acres.\3\ All temporary workspaces outside 
the permanent ROW would be restored and allowed to revert to current 
uses.
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    \3\ Because the tie-in would be sited entirely within the 
existing Enterprise ROW, this facility would not contribute to the 
land area permanently affected.
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The EA Process

    We are preparing this EA to comply with NEPA, which requires the 
Commission to take into account the environmental impacts that could 
result if it authorizes White River's planned project. NEPA also 
requires us to discover and address concerns the public may have about 
proposal. 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 and reasonable alternatives. With this Notice, we 
are requesting public comments on the scope of the issues to be 
addressed in the EA. All comments received will be considered during 
preparation of the EA.
    The EA will present our independent analysis of the issues. 
Depending upon 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, potentially affected 
landowners, newspapers and libraries in the project area, 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 timely 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.
    Although no formal application has been filed with the FERC, we 
have already initiated our NEPA review under the Commission's Pre-
Filing Process. The purpose of the Pre-Filing Process is to encourage 
early involvement of interested stakeholders and to identify and 
resolve issues before an application is filed with the FERC.

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. 
Your comments should focus on the potential environmental effects, 
reasonable alternatives (including alternative facility sites and 
pipeline routes), 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 
follow these instructions:
     Send an original and two copies of your letter to: 
Kimberly D. Bose,

[[Page 65326]]

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426;
     Label one copy of your comments for the attention of Gas 
Branch 1, DG2E;
     Reference Docket No. PF08-3-000 on the original and both 
copies; and
     Mail your comments so that they will be received in 
Washington, DC on or before December 10, 2007.
    If you submit comments by mail, submit them in an unbound format, 
no larger than 8.5 by 11 inches, suitable for copying. However, the 
Commission strongly encourages electronic filing of any comments in 
response to this Notice. For information on electronically filing 
comments, please see 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, as well as information in 18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii). 
Before you can file comments you will need to create a free account, 
which can be accomplished on-line.
    We may mail the EA for comment. If you are interested in receiving 
it, please return the Mailing List Return Mailer (appendix 2). If you 
do not return the Return Mailer, you will be taken off the mailing 
list.

Additional Information

    Additional information about the project is available from the 
Commission's Office of External Affairs, at 1-866-208-FERC (3372) or on 
the FERC Internet Web site (www.ferc.gov) using the ``eLibrary'' link. 
Click on the eLibrary link, select ``General Search'' and enter the 
project docket number excluding the last three digits (i.e., PF06-14) 
in the ``Docket Number'' field. Be sure you have selected an 
appropriate date range. For assistance with eLibrary, the eLibrary 
helpline can be reached at 1-866-208-3676, TTY (202) 502-8659, or by e-
mail at [email protected]. The eLibrary 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 rule makings.
    In addition, the FERC now offers a free service called e-
Subscription that 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. To register for this service, go to http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm.
    Any public meetings or site visits for this project will be posted 
on the Commission's calendar located at http://www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/EventsList.aspx along with other related information.
    Finally, White River has established an Internet Web site for this 
project at http://www.questarpipeline.com. The Web site includes a 
description of the project and the Commission's pre-filing review 
process, instructions on how the public may participate in the project 
review, and public libraries where project-related information will be 
made available. You can also request additional information or provide 
comments directly to White River at (800) 366-8532.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7-22617 Filed 11-19-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P