[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 37 (Thursday, February 24, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10350-10352]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4081]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP11-46-000]


Kern River Gas Transmission Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare 
an Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Mountain Pass Lateral 
Project, Request for Comments on Environmental Issues and Notice of 
Onsite Environmental Review

    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 Mountain Pass Lateral Project 
involving construction and operation of facilities by Kern River Gas 
Transmission Company (Kern River) in San Bernardino County, California. 
This EA will be used by the Commission in its decisionmaking 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 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 March 18, 2011.

Site Visit

    On March 8, 2011, the Office of Energy Projects (OEP) staff will 
conduct a site visit of the planned Mountain Pass Lateral Project. We 
will inspect accessible locations along the proposed pipeline route, as 
feasible. Examination of the proposed pipeline route will be by 
automobile, remote observation from vantage point(s) at higher 
elevations relative to the proposed route, and on foot. Representatives 
from BLM, Kern River and Molycorp will accompany the OEP staff.
    All interested parties may attend. Those planning to attend must 
provide their own transportation (vehicles with high clearance are 
required) and should meet at the following time and location: Tuesday, 
March 8, 2011, 10 a.m. (PST), Location: Primm Valley Golf Club, 
Directions: (Interstate 15 Exit 291, Yates Well Road, right at 
stop sign; follow signs; meet in parking lot past entrance gate).
    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.

Summary of the Proposed Project

    Kern River proposes to construct approximately 8.6 miles of 8-inch 
lateral pipeline in San Bernardino County, California extending from 
the existing Kern River mainline along the western edge of Ivanpah 
Valley and terminating at the active mining operation on property owned 
by Molycorp Minerals, LLC (Molycorp). The lateral pipeline would have a 
design capacity of 24.27 million standard cubic feet per day. According 
to Kern River, its project and the natural gas it delivers to the 
Molycorp facility would provide reliable power generation and steam 
production in order to facilitate

[[Page 10351]]

Molycorp's existing rare earth separations process.
    The Mountain Pass Lateral Project would consist of the following 
facilities:
     Approximately 8.6 miles of 8-inch lateral pipeline;
     A tap assembly and pig launcher \1\ within and adjacent to 
Kern River's existing mainline pipeline system right-of-way at milepost 
585.77; and
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    \1\ A ``pig'' is a tool that is inserted into and moves through 
the pipeline, and is used for cleaning the pipeline, internal 
inspections, or other purposes.
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     A new meter station and pig receiver on the existing 
Molycorp property.
    The general location of the project facilities is shown in Appendix 
1.\2\
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    \2\ 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 proposed facilities would disturb about 93.51 
acres of land for the aboveground facilities and the pipeline. The 
majority of construction would occur on land managed by the U.S. 
Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM); remaining 
construction would occur on property owned by Molycorp. Following 
construction, about 51.97 acres would be maintained for permanent 
operation of the project's facilities; the remaining acreage would be 
restored and allowed to revert to former uses.

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 
\3\ 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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    \3\ ``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 proposed 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 reasonable alternatives to the proposed 
project or portions of the project, and make recommendations on how to 
lessen or avoid impacts on the various resource areas.
    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 4.
    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, the BLM Needles Field Office has expressed its intention to 
participate as a cooperating agency in the preparation of the EA to 
satisfy its 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(s), 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.\4\ We will define the project-specific Area of Potential 
Effects (APE) in consultation with the SHPO(s) 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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    \4\ 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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Currently Identified Environmental Issues

    We have already identified several issues that we think deserve 
attention based on a preliminary review of the proposed facilities and 
the environmental information provided by Kern River. This preliminary 
list of issues may be changed based on your comments and our analysis.
     Threatened endangered species (including desert tortoise) 
habitat
     Alternative pipeline routes
     Access road improvements

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 March 18, 
2011.
    For your convenience, there are three methods which you can use to 
submit your comments to the Commission. In all instances please 
reference the project docket number (CP11-46-000) 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 Web site 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;
    (2) You may file your comments electronically by using the eFiling

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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 libraries and 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 
proposed project. If the EA is published for distribution, copies will 
be sent to the environmental mailing list for public review and 
comment.

Becoming an Intervenor

    In addition to involvement in the EA scoping process, you may want 
to become an ``intervenor'' which is an official party to the 
Commission's proceeding. Intervenors play a more formal role in the 
process and are able to file briefs, appear at hearings, and be heard 
by the courts if they choose to appeal the Commission's final ruling. 
An intervenor formally participates in the proceeding by filing a 
request to intervene. Instructions for becoming an intervenor are 
included in the User's Guide under the ``e-filing'' link on the 
Commission's website.

Additional Information

    Additional information about the project is available from the 
Commission's Office of External Affairs, at (866) 208-FERC, or on the 
FERC Web site at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``eLibrary'' link. Click 
on the eLibrary link, click on ``General Search'' and enter the docket 
number, excluding the last three digits in the Docket Number field 
(i.e., CP11-46). Be sure you have selected an appropriate date range. 
For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at 
[email protected] or toll free at (866) 208-3676, or for TTY, 
contact (202) 502-8659. The eLibrary link also provides access to the 
texts of formal documents issued by the Commission, such as orders, 
notices, and rulemakings.
    In addition, the Commission now offers a free service called 
eSubscription which 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. Go to http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm.
    Finally, any additional public meetings or site visits will be 
posted on the Commission's calendar located at http://www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/EventsList.aspx along with other related information.

    Dated: February 16, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-4081 Filed 2-23-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P