[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 126 (Friday, June 29, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38793-38795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15973]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP12-469-000]


Northern Natural Gas Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment for the Proposed A-Line Abandonment Project 
and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues

    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 A-Line Abandonment Project 
(Project) which would include the abandonment of facilities by Northern 
Natural Gas Company (Northern) in Ochiltree, Hansford, Hutchinson, and 
Carson Counties, Texas; Beaver County, Oklahoma; and Kiowa and Clark 
Counties, Kansas. 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 scoping period will close on July 25, 2012. Further details on how 
to submit written comments are provided in the Public Participation 
section of this notice.
    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

    Northern proposes to abandon in by sale to DKM Enterprises, LLC 
(DKM) for salvage about 126 miles of its A-line consisting of two 
segments of 24-inch-diameter pipeline. One segment (the Skellytown to 
Spearman A-line) is about 38 miles long and extends from Northern's 
abandoned Skellytown Station near Skellytown, Carson County, Texas, to 
Northern's Spearman Compressor Station in Spearman, Ochiltree County, 
Texas. The second segment (the Beaver to Mullinville A-line) is about 
88 miles long and extends from Northern's Beaver Compressor Station 
near Beaver, Oklahoma, to its Mullinville Compressor Station near 
Mullinville, Kansas. Activities Northern would conduct related to the

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abandonment would include disconnecting the abandoned A-line from its 
other facilities that would be retained by cutting and capping the 
pipeline at valve settings or compressor stations at eight locations. 
After abandonment of the subject A-line by sale to DKM, DKM would 
salvage the 126 miles of pipeline subject to the terms of its purchase 
and sales agreement with Northern and applicable regulations and 
permits.
    The general locations of the project facilities are shown in the 
maps 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 
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

    Northern proposes abandoning these facilities by sale to DKM and 
states that all of its abandonment and DKM's salvage activities would 
be conducted within Northern's existing right-of-way which Northern 
would retain. Therefore, there would be no new land use requirements.

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 proposed abandonment project under these general headings:
     Land use;
     Water resources, fisheries, and wetlands;
     Cultural resources;
     Vegetation and wildlife;
     Endangered and threatened species;
     Public safety; and
     Cumulative impact.
    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.
    The EA will present our independent analysis of the issues. The EA 
will be available in the public record through the Commission's 
eLibrary. Depending on the comments received during the scoping 
process, we may also publish and distribute the EA to the public for an 
allotted comment period. We will consider all comments on the EA before 
we make our recommendations to the Commission. To ensure we have the 
opportunity to consider and address your comments, please carefully 
follow the instructions in the Public Participation section beginning 
on page 4.
    With this notice, we are asking agencies with jurisdiction by law 
and/or special expertise with respect to the environmental issues 
related to this project to formally cooperate with us in the 
preparation of the EA.\3\ 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.
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    \3\ The Council on Environmental Quality regulations addressing 
cooperating agency responsibilities are found at title 40 of the 
Code of Federal Regulations, part 1501.6.
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Consultations Under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation 
Act

    In accordance with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's 
implementing regulations, we are using this notice to solicit the views 
of the public on the project's potential effects on historic 
properties.\4\ We will document our findings on the impacts on cultural 
resources and summarize the status of consultations under section 106 
of the National Historic Preservation Act in our EA.
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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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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 the Commission receives them in Washington, DC, on or before July 
25, 2012.
    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 (CP12-469-000) 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 can file your comments electronically using the eComment 
feature located on the Commission's Web site (www.ferc.gov) under the 
link to Documents and Filings. This is an easy method for interested 
persons to submit brief, text-only comments on a project;
    (2) You can file your comments electronically using the eFiling 
feature located on the Commission's Web site (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 must select the type of filing you are making. If 
you are filing a comment on a particular project, please select 
``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 
planned project. If we publish and distribute the EA, copies will be 
sent to the environmental mailing list for public review and comment. 
If you wish to receive no further mailings

[[Page 38795]]

concerning environmental review of Northern's A-Line Abandonment 
Project, please use the return mailer attached as appendix 2 to notify 
us and you will be deleted from the environmental mailing list.

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 Web site.

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 (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., CP12-
469-000). 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 by automatically providing you with 
notification of these filings, document summaries, and direct links to 
the documents. Go to www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm.
    Finally, public meetings or site visits will be posted on the 
Commission's calendar located at www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/EventsList.aspx along with other related information.

    Dated: June 25, 2012.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2012-15973 Filed 6-28-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P