[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 87 (Monday, May 6, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26354-26356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-10613]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. CP13-132-000; CP13-36-000]


Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company, LLC; Notice of Intent to 
Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Northeast 
Connector Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues

    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) will discuss the potential environmental effects of the 
Northeast Connector Project, involving construction and operation of 
natural gas facilities by Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company, LLC 
(Transco), in the Commission's environmental impact statement (EIS) 
currently under preparation for the Rockaway Delivery Lateral Project 
(Rockaway Project) in Docket No. CP13-36-000. Under the proposed 
Northeast Connector Project, Transco would modify three existing 
compressor stations located in York County, Pennsylvania and Mercer and 
Middlesex Counties, New Jersey to deliver an additional 100,000 
dekatherms per day of natural gas into the New York City region. 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.
    The additional service proposed in the Northeast Connector Project 
would utilize transportation on Transco's proposed Rockaway Project, a 
3.2-mile-long pipeline in Queens and Kings Counties, New York. The 
Commission approved Transco's request to begin the pre-filing review 
process for the Rockaway Project on March 25, 2009. Commission staff 
previously held a scoping period for the Rockaway Project from May 25, 
2012 through June 25, 2012. Transco filed an application for the 
Rockaway Project on January 7, 2013. Because the Northeast Connector 
Project is operationally dependent on the Rockaway Project to provide 
the intended service, and the two projects have similar projected 
construction and in-service dates, the Commission staff will evaluate 
the two projects jointly in the EIS. This EIS will be used by the 
Commission in its decision-making process to determine whether the 
Rockaway and Northeast Connector Projects are in the public convenience 
and necessity.
    Comments on the Northeast Connector Project may be submitted to the 
FERC either electronically or by mail. Further details on how to submit

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comments are provided in the Public Participation section of this 
notice. Please note that the scoping period for the Northeast Connector 
Project will close on May 27, 2013.
    This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental 
mailing list for both the Rockaway and Northeast Connector Projects. 
State and local government representatives are asked to notify their 
constituents of the Northeast Connector Project and encourage them to 
comment on their areas of concern. This scoping period is established 
to receive comments on the Northeast Connector Project, and comments 
previously filed with the FERC regarding the Rockaway Project should 
not be refiled under the Northeast Connector Project docket.

Summary of the Proposed Northeast Connector Project

    The Northeast Connector Project would be constructed on lands owned 
by Transco within existing compressor station sites. No other 
landowners would be directly affected by the Northeast Connector 
Project facilities.
    Transco proposes to:
     Add an incremental 6,540 horsepower (hp) of compression at 
its existing Compressor Station 195 in York County, Pennsylvania by: 
installing a new 35 kilovolt substation, variable frequency drive 
building, and associated coolers; replacing three existing natural gas-
fired reciprocating engines and appurtenant facilities with two new 
electric motor drives; modifying the existing compressor units to be 
driven by the new electric motors; and modifying station piping and 
valves;
     Add an incremental 5,000 hp of compression at its existing 
Compressor Station 205 in Mercer County, New Jersey by uprating two 
existing electric motor drives and modifying the associated compressor 
units; and
     Add an incremental 5,400 hp of compression at its existing 
Compressor Station 207 in Middlesex County, New Jersey by uprating two 
existing electric motor drives and modifying associated gearboxes.
    The modifications to the compressor stations would allow Transco to 
deliver an additional 100,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas to 
Brooklyn Union Gas Company, doing business as National Grid New York 
via an interconnect between Transco's existing Lower New York Bay 
Lateral and the proposed Rockaway Project. Overview and site-specific 
maps depicting the location of the proposed Northeast Connector Project 
are provided 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

    Construction of the Northeast Connector facilities would disturb a 
total of 25.2 acres of land within the existing yard at Compressor 
Station 195, which is owned by Transco. Construction activities at 
Compressor Stations 205 and 207 would occur within the existing 
compressor buildings at these sites and would not disturb any 
additional land.

The EIS 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 proposed 
projects. This process is referred to as scoping. The main goal of the 
scoping process is to focus the analysis in the EIS on important 
environmental issues. By this notice, the Commission requests public 
comments on the scope of issues associated with the Northeast Connector 
Project to address in the EIS. We will consider all filed comments 
during the preparation of the EIS.
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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 EIS, we will discuss impacts that could occur as a result of 
the construction and operation of the Northeast Connector Project under 
these general headings:
     geology;
     soils;
     water resources;
     vegetation;
     wildlife and aquatic resources;
     fisheries and aquatic resources;
     threatened, endangered, and other special-status species;
     land use, recreation, special interest areas, and visual 
resources;
     socioeconomics;
     cultural resources;
     air quality and noise;
     reliability and safety; and
     cumulative environmental impacts.
    We will also evaluate possible 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 FERC staff is in the process of preparing an EIS for the 
Rockaway Project. Five other agencies are participating as cooperating 
agencies in the preparation of this EIS: the National Park Service, 
Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National 
Marine Fisheries Service, and New York City Mayor's Office of 
Environmental Coordination. With this notice, we are asking other 
agencies with jurisdiction by law and/or special expertise with respect 
to environmental issues related to the Northeast Connector Project to 
formally cooperate with us in the preparation of the EIS.\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 at Title 40, Code of Federal 
Regulations, Part 1501.6.
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    The EIS will present our independent analysis of the issues. We 
will publish and distribute the draft EIS for public comment. After the 
comment period, we will consider all timely comments and revise the 
document, as necessary, before issuing a final EIS. To ensure we have 
the opportunity to consider and address your comments, please carefully 
follow the instructions in the Public Participation section below.

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 Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Historic Preservation 
Offices (SHPOs), 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\ The EIS will 
document our findings on the impacts on historic properties and 
summarize the status of consultations under Section 106. We note that 
Transco has signed categorical exclusions with both the Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey SHPOs exempting work

[[Page 26356]]

activities within existing facilities from further review by the SHPOs.
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    \4\ The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's regulations 
are at Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 800. Those 
regulations define historic properties as any prehistoric or 
historic district, site, building, structure, or object included in 
or eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic 
Places.
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Public Participation

    You can make a difference by providing us with your specific 
comments or concerns about the Northeast Connector 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 May 27, 2013.
    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 (CP13-132-000) with your submission. The 
Commission encourages electronic filing of comments and has expert 
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 can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to 
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 for both the Northeast Connector and 
Rockaway Projects, including those 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.
    Copies of the completed draft EIS 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 a CD version or would 
like to remove your name from the mailing list, please return the 
attached Information Request (appendix 2). If you previously sent the 
Commission an ``Information Request'' for the Rockaway Project, you do 
not need to resubmit your request.

Becoming an Intervenor

    You may want to become an ``intervenor'', which is an official 
party to the Commission's proceeding on a project. 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 ``For Citizens'' section of the 
Commission's Web site, under the ``Get Involved'' link (http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/get-involved.asp).

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., CP13-
132). 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, Transco has established a toll-free phone number (1-866-
455-9103) so that parties can call them directly with questions about 
the project and an email support address 
([email protected]).

    Dated: April 26, 2013.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-10613 Filed 5-3-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P