[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 194 (Thursday, October 6, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62055-62058]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-25839]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. PF11-6-000]


Wabash Gas Storage, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment for the Planned Wabash Gas Storage Project, 
Request for Comments on Environmental Issues, and Notice of Public 
Scoping Meeting

    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 Wabash Gas Storage Project 
(Project) involving construction and operation of facilities proposed 
by Wabash Gas Storage, LLC (Wabash) near Paris in Edgar County, 
Illinois. 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 project. Your input will help the Commission staff 
determine what issues need to be evaluated in the EA. Please note that 
the

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scoping period will close on October 31, 2011.
    Comments may be submitted in written form or verbally. Further 
details on how to submit written comments are provided in the Public 
Participation section of this notice. In lieu of or in addition to 
sending written comments, the Commission invites you to attend the 
public scoping meeting scheduled as follows:
    FERC Public Scoping Meeting, Wabash Gas Storage Project, 6 p.m.--
Thursday, October 20, 2011,
    Knights of Columbus Meeting Hall, 614 North Main Street, Paris, IL 
61944, (217) 465-1085.
    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 Wabash representative about the acquisition of an easement to 
construct, operate, and maintain the planned pipeline and storage 
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 for the pipeline right-of-way and storage lease 
fail to produce an agreement, Wabash could initiate condemnation 
proceedings where compensation would be determined 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

    Wabash plans to develop a previously abandoned aquifer natural gas 
storage facility in Edgar County, Illinois. The Project involves the 
redevelopment of the Elbridge and Nevins subsurface gas storage fields 
in Edgar County, Illinois.
    The Elbridge surface facilities include the Central Facility which 
would be comprised of:
     five gas storage injection and withdrawal wells;
     a 14,000 horsepower compressor station;
     valving, dehydration and separation equipment;
     one water disposal injection well; and
     one 50,000 barrel (bbl) produced water pond.
    The Nevins surface facilities include the Nevins Facility which 
would be comprised of:
     three gas storage injection and withdrawal wells;
     metering, separation equipment, and flow control 
equipment;
     one water disposal injection well; and
     one 10,000 bbl produced water pond.
    In addition, the following facilities would be constructed to 
support the Project:
     three observation wells located around the perimeter of 
each storage field;
     two plugged and abandoned wells, located at the apex of 
each field, that would be re-entered and converted to observation 
wells;
     a 1.4 mile, 16-inch-diameter bi-directional delivery 
pipeline that would interconnect with the existing Midwestern Paris 
Compressor Stations;
     a 4.5 mile, 20-inch-diameter bi-directional pipeline, and 
a 6-inch-diameter produced water pipeline that would connect the Nevins 
Facility and the Central Facility; and
     one meter station and a launcher/regulation station, 
located immediately adjacent to the Paris Compressor Station property.
    The storage facility would have a working gas capacity of 14 
billion cubic feet with injection and withdrawal rates of 200,000 
million British thermal units per day.
    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

    For the aboveground facilities, approximately 31 acres would be 
disturbed. Following construction activities, approximately 13 acres 
would be permanently maintained for the Project operations. 
Approximately 18 would be acres necessary for construction would be 
restored and allowed to revert to former uses.
    Construction of the pipelines would disturb approximately 68 acres 
during construction. Of that, approximately 34 acres would be allowed 
to revert to previous land use following construction activities and 
the remaining 34 acres would be permanently maintained.

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;
     water resources, and fisheries;
     vegetation and wildlife;
     cultural resources;
     socioeconomics;
     land use;
     air quality and noise; and
     reliability 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

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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.

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 the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), 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. 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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Currently Identified Environmental Issues

    We have already identified several issues that we think deserve 
attention based on a preliminary review of the planned facilities and 
the environmental information provided by Wabash. This preliminary list 
of issues may be changed based on your comments and our analysis.
     Air Quality
     Noise and vibration impacts
     Socioeconomic impacts
     Geology and hydrogeology
     Wetlands and waterbodies
     Threatened and endangered species
     Public safety

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 October 31, 
2011.
    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 PF11-6-000 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 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 
feature, which is located on the Commission's Web site at 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 mail a paper copy of your comments to the Commission 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; Indian 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 
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).

Becoming an Intervenor

    Once Wabash files its application with the Commission, 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 Web site. Please note that the Commission will not accept 
requests for intervenor status at this time. You must wait until a 
formal application for the project is filed with the Commission.

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 (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., PF11-6). 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 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

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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, 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: September 29, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-25839 Filed 10-5-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P