[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 158 (Tuesday, August 17, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50758-50760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-20207]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. PF10-15-000]


Leader One Energy, LLC; Supplemental Notice of Intent To Prepare 
an Environmental Assessment for the Planned Leader One Gas Storage 
Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues

August 6, 2010.
    On July 30, 2010, Leader One Energy, LLC (Leader One) filed its 
intent to modify the Leader One Gas Storage Project in Adams County, 
Colorado, by adding more pipeline facilities. Leader One has also 
revised the design capacity of the planned storage field. On April 30, 
2010, a Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment 
(original NOI) was issued for the project as originally planned. This 
Supplemental Notice of Intent (supplemental NOI) addresses these 
changes. The original NOI is attached to this document, so certain 
information included in it will not be repeated in the supplemental NOI 
including the original project description, information about becoming 
an intervenor, and how to find additional information about the 
project.
    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 Leader One Gas Storage Project 
involving construction and operation of the facilities planned by 
Leader One, including the supplemental facilities. 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.
    This notice announces the opening of the scoping process the 
Commission will use to gather input from the public and interested 
agencies on the supplemental facilities for the project. Your input 
will help the Commission staff determine what issues need to be 
evaluated in the EA. Please note that the scoping period will close on 
September 7, 2010.
    This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental 
mailing list for this project. State and local government 
representatives are asked to notify their constituents of this planned 
project and encourage them to comment on their areas of concern.
    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 planned facilities. 
The 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?'' is available for 
viewing on the FERC Web site (http://www.ferc.gov). This fact sheet 
addresses a number of typically-asked questions, including the use of 
eminent domain and how to participate in the Commission's proceedings.

Summary of the Planned Project

    Leader One plans to convert a depleted natural gas reservoir to a 
new natural gas storage facility and, also, to construct and operate 
about 17.6 miles of 24-inch-diameter pipeline, the Leader One Header 
Pipeline, to connect the storage facility to Colorado Interstate Gas 
Company's (CIG) High Plains Pipeline. The storage facility would have a 
revised design of 13 billion cubic foot (Bcf) storage capacity of which

[[Page 50759]]

about 9.75 Bcf would be working gas and 3.25 Bcf would be base gas. 
Leader One estimates that the maximum withdrawal rate would be up to 
250,000 million cubic feet per day. The planned storage facilities are 
more fully described in the original NOI. According to Leader One, its 
project would provide natural gas storage services to meet baseload, 
seasonal and daily fluctuations in gas demand, including existing peak 
day demand, and anticipated load growth demand for local gas 
distribution and power generation in the Front Range of Colorado market 
area.
    The planned supplemental facilities would include about 4.8 miles 
of 24-inch-diameter pipeline and related facilities referred to as the 
Leader One Header Pipeline Extension. It would extend northward from 
the Leader One Header Pipeline near milepost 15.95 to interconnect with 
CIG's Line 52.
    The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix 
1.\1\
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    \1\ The appendices referenced in this notice are not being 
printed in the Federal Register. Copies of appendices were sent to 
all those receiving this notice in the mail and are available at 
http://www.ferc.gov using the link called ``eLibrary'' or from the 
Commission's Public Reference Room, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 502-8371. For instructions on 
connecting to eLibrary, refer to the last page of this notice.
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Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction of the supplemental facilities would disturb an 
additional 57.9 acres of land. Following construction, about 29.0 acres 
would be maintained for permanent operation of the project's 
supplemental facilities; the remaining acreage would be restored and 
allowed to revert to former uses. Additional land would be required for 
construction and operation of the aboveground facilities, access roads, 
and additional temporary workspaces.

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, the Commission requests public 
comments on the scope of the issues to address in the EA. All comments 
received will be considered during the preparation of the EA.
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    \2\ ``We'', ``us'', and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff 
of the Commission's Office of Energy Projects.
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    In the EA we will discuss impacts that could occur as a result of 
the construction and operation of the planned project under these 
general headings:
     Geology and soils;
     Land use;
     Water resources, fisheries, and wetlands;
     Cultural resources;
     Vegetation and wildlife;
     Air quality and noise;
     Endangered and threatened species; and
     Public safety.
    We will also evaluate possible alternatives to the planned project 
or portions of the project, and make recommendations on how to lessen 
or avoid impacts on the various resource areas.
    Although no formal application has been filed, 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. As part of our pre-filing review, 
we have begun to contact some federal and state agencies to discuss 
their involvement in the scoping process and the preparation of the EA.
    Our independent analysis of the issues will be presented in the EA. 
The EA will be placed in the public record and, depending on the 
comments received during the scoping process, may be published and 
distributed to the public. A comment period will be allotted if the EA 
is published for review. 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 beginning on page 5.
    With this notice, we are asking agencies with jurisdiction and/or 
special expertise with respect to environmental issues to formally 
cooperate with us in the preparation of the EA. These agencies may 
choose to participate once they have evaluated the proposal relative to 
their responsibilities. Agencies that would like to request cooperating 
agency status should follow the instructions for filing comments 
provided under the Public Participation section of this notice. 
Currently, no agencies have expressed their intention to participate as 
a cooperating agency in the preparation of the EA to satisfy their NEPA 
responsibilities related to this project.

Consultations Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 
Act

    In accordance with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's 
implementing regulations for section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act, we are using this notice to initiate consultation 
with applicable State Historic Preservation Office, and to solicit 
their views and those of other government agencies, interested Indian 
tribes, and the public on the project's potential effects on historic 
properties.\3\ We will define the project-specific Area of Potential 
Effects (APE) in consultation with the SHPO as the project is further 
developed. On natural gas facility projects, the APE at a minimum 
encompasses all areas subject to ground disturbance (examples include 
construction right-of-way, contractor/pipe storage yards, compressor 
stations, and access roads). Our EA for this project will document our 
findings on the impacts on historic properties and summarize the status 
of consultations under section 106.
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    \3\ The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's regulations 
are at Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 800. Historic 
properties are defined in those regulations as any prehistoric or 
historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in 
or eligible for inclusion in the National Register for Historic 
Places.
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Public Participation

    You can make a difference by providing us with your specific 
comments or concerns about the project. Your comments should focus on 
the potential environmental effects, reasonable alternatives, 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 send your comments so 
that they will be received in Washington, DC, on or before September 7, 
2010.
    For your convenience, there are three methods you can use to submit 
your comments to the Commission. In all instances, please reference the 
project docket number (PF10-15-000) with your submission. The 
Commission encourages electronic filing of comments and has expert 
eFiling staff available to assist you at (202) 502-8258 or 
[email protected].
    (1) You may file your comments electronically by using the eComment 
feature, which is located on the Commission's website at http://www.ferc.gov under the link to Documents and Filings. An eComment is an 
easy method for interested persons to submit brief, text-only comments 
on a project;

[[Page 50760]]

    (2) You may file your comments electronically by using the eFiling 
feature, which is located on the Commission's website at http://www.ferc.gov under the link to Documents and Filings. With eFiling you 
can provide comments in a variety of formats by attaching them as a 
file with your submission. New eFiling users must first create an 
account by clicking on ``eRegister.'' You will be asked to select the 
type of filing you are making. A comment on a particular project is 
considered a ``Comment on a Filing''; or
    (3) You may file a paper copy of your comments at the following 
address: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.

Environmental Mailing List

    The environmental mailing list includes federal, state, and local 
government representatives and agencies; elected officials; 
environmental and public interest groups; Native American Tribes; other 
interested parties; and local newspapers. This list also includes all 
affected landowners (as defined in the Commission's regulations) who 
are potential right-of-way grantors, whose property may be used 
temporarily for project purposes, or who own homes within certain 
distances of aboveground facilities, and anyone who submits comments on 
the project. We will update the environmental mailing list as the 
analysis proceeds to ensure that we send the information related to 
this environmental review to all individuals, organizations, and 
government entities interested in and/or potentially affected by the 
planned project.
    If the EA is published for distribution, copies will be sent to the 
environmental mailing list for public review and comment. If you would 
prefer to receive a paper copy of the document instead of the CD 
version or would like to remove your name from the mailing list, please 
return the attached Information Request (appendix 2).

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-20207 Filed 8-16-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P