[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 49 (Friday, March 13, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13362-13364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-05692]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. PF15-4-000]
Gulf South Pipeline Company, LP; Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Environmental Assessment for the Planned Coastal Bend Header 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 Coastal Bend Header Project
(Project) involving construction and operation of facilities by Gulf
South Pipeline Company, LP (Gulf South) in southeastern Texas. The
Commission will use this EA in its decision-making process to determine
whether construction and operation of 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 during the scoping process will
help the Commission staff determine what issues need to be evaluated in
the EA. The Commission staff will also use the scoping process to help
determine whether preparation of an environmental impact statement is
more appropriate for this Project based upon the potential significance
of the anticipated levels of impact. Please note that the scoping
period will close on April 3, 2015. This is not your only public input
opportunity; please refer to the Environmental Review Process flow
chart 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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Further details on how to submit written comments are in the Public
Participation section of this notice. If you sent comments on this
project to the Commission before the opening of this docket on November
5, 2014, you will need to file those comments in Docket No. PF15-4-000
to ensure they are considered as part of this proceeding.
This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental
mailing list for this Project. State and local government officials 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, a company
representative may contact you 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 Commission approves the Project, that approval conveys with it the
right of eminent domain. Therefore, if easement negotiations fail to
produce an agreement, Gulf South 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 (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
Gulf South plans to construct a new gas pipeline in Wharton and
Brazoria Counties, Texas, a new compressor station in Wharton County
along the new pipeline, and two new compressor stations and upgrades at
two compressor stations along Gulf South's existing Index 129 pipeline
in Fort Bend, Harris, Polk, and Sabine Counties, Texas. The new
pipeline would enable delivery of 1.54 billion cubic feet per day (bcf/
d) of natural gas to the proposed Freeport Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
Export Terminal near Freeport, Texas. The general locations of the
planned pipeline facilities are depicted in the figures included in
Appendix 2.\2\
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\2\ The appendices referenced in this notice will not appear in
the Federal Register. Copies of the 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 Additional Information section
on page 7 of this notice.
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Specifically, the Project would include construction and operation
of the following facilities:
64 miles of 36-inch diameter pipeline, called the Coastal
Bend Header, commencing at a new interconnect with Tennessee Gas
Pipeline Company, LLC northwest of Hungerford in Wharton County, Texas
and terminating at the existing Freeport LNG Stratton Ridge meter site
near Clute in Brazoria County, Texas;
one new 93,500-horsepower (hp) gas-fired compressor
station, called the Wilson Compressor Station, in Wharton County,
Texas;
one new 26,000-hp electric motor driven compressor
station, called the Brazos Compressor Station, in Fort Bend County,
Texas;
one new 10,000-hp electric motor driven compressor
station, called the North Houston Compressor Station, at an existing
Gulf South property in Harris County, Texas;
piping modifications within the fence line at Gulf South's
existing Goodrich Compressor Station along the Index 129 pipeline in
Polk County, Texas;
piping modifications and a new 15,900-hp gas-fired
compressor unit within the fence line at Gulf South's former Magasco
Compressor Station along the Index 129 pipeline in Sabine County,
Texas; and
seven interconnects with various interstate and intrastate
gas pipelines, including an interconnect with Gulf South's Index 129
pipeline, which Gulf South plans to construct at a later time under its
blanket certificate authority.
Gulf South plans to begin Project construction in spring 2017 if
all required permits, certificates, and authorizations are obtained.
Gulf South's planned in-service date for Project facilities is spring
2018.
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Land Requirements for Construction
Gulf South is still in the planning phase for the project, and
workspace requirements have not been finalized. However, based on
currently available plans, approximately 42 percent of the Coastal Bend
Header pipeline route parallels existing pipeline, utility, or road
rights-of-way. Pipeline construction would directly affect
approximately 991 acres of land temporarily during construction, and
480 acres would be retained as permanent right-of-way. Construction of
the new Wilson and Brazos Compressor Stations would impact a total of
approximately 57 acres temporarily and 20 acres permanently.
Construction of the new North Houston Compressor Station would impact
approximately 12 acres temporarily and 6 acres permanently, all within
Gulf South's existing property line at that site. The upgrades to the
existing Goodrich Compressor Station and the former Magasco Compressor
Station would impact a total of approximately 15 acres temporarily and
9 acres permanently, all within the existing fence lines of those
facilities. Metering, regulating, mainline valve, and other ancillary
facilities would affect a total of approximately 16 acres during
construction and 13 acres permanently.
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\ ``Us,'' ``we,'' 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;
wetlands and vegetation;
fish and wildlife including migratory birds;
threatened and endangered species;
land use, recreation, and visual resources;
air quality and noise;
cultural resources;
socioeconomics;
reliability and safety; and
cumulative environmental impacts.
We will also evaluate reasonable alternatives to the planned
Project or portions of the Project, including the no action
alternative, and make recommendations on how to minimize or avoid
impacts on affected resources.
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.
In addition, representatives from FERC participated in the public open
houses sponsored by Gulf South in the Project area in January and
February 2015 to explain the environmental review process to interested
stakeholders.
Our independent analysis of the issues will be presented in the EA.
If the Commission staff determines the preparation of an EA is
appropriate, the EA will be placed in the public record and be
published and distributed to the public. A comment period will be
allotted when the EA is noticed. 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 6 of this notice.
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 environmental document.\4\ 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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\4\ The Council on Environmental Quality regulations addressing
cooperating agency responsibilities are at Title 40, Code of Federal
Regulations, Sec. 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
regulations for Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act,
we are using this notice to initiate consultation with the Texas
Historical Commission which has been given the role of the State
Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) for Texas, and to solicit the
SHPO's view and those of other government agencies, interested Indian
tribes, and the public on the Project's potential effects on historic
properties.\5\ We will define the Project-specific Area of Potential
Effects in consultation with the SHPO as the Project is further
developed. Our environmental document for the Project will document our
findings of the impacts on historic properties and summarize the status
of consultations under Section 106.
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\5\ The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation 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 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 Project facilities and
information provided by Gulf South, comments made to us at Gulf South's
open houses, and preliminary consultations with other agencies. It is
worth noting that Gulf South has already made several modifications to
the pipeline route and other Project facilities filed on December 12,
2014, based on feedback from affected landowners and other stakeholders
at the open house meetings and through other ongoing landowner and
agency negotiations. The following preliminary list of issues may be
changed based on your comments and our analysis:
Gulf South has identified 92 waterbodies during
preliminary field surveys that would be crossed within the proposed
Project area. Five are characterized as major waterbodies with crossing
widths of greater than 100 feet: Brazos River, Dry Bayou, an unnamed
manmade pond, Bastrop Bayou, and Big Slough. Thirty-three of the
waterbodies are characterized as intermediate, with a crossing width of
greater than 10 feet but less than or equal to 100 feet, and 54 of the
waterbodies are characterized as minor, with a crossing width of less
than or equal to 10 feet.
Gulf South has identified 40 wetlands during preliminary
field surveys that would be crossed within the Project area. These
include 22 palustrine emergent wetlands, 4 palustrine scrub shrub
wetlands, and 14
[[Page 13364]]
palustrine forested wetlands, totaling approximately 24 acres.
Temporary and permanent impacts on land use including
farming, ranching, oil and gas production, sulfur extraction, and
residential areas, and the development of appropriate mitigation and
restoration measures. Gulf South has currently identified only one
residence (house) and nine other structures (barns, storage buildings,
etc.) within 50 feet of the construction right-of-way.
Potential impacts on fish and wildlife habitat, including
potential impacts on federally- and state-listed threatened and
endangered species.
Potential visual effects of the aboveground facilities on
surrounding areas.
Potential impacts on air quality and noise associated with
construction and operation of the pipeline and compression facilities.
Public safety and hazards associated with the transport of
natural gas.
Potential cumulative impacts associated with the recently
authorized Freeport LNG Terminal and any other planned or proposed
major projects in the vicinity.
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 minimize 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
the Commission receives them in Washington, DC on or before April 3,
2015.
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 (PF15-4-000) 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 (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.
When an 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 3).
Becoming an Intervenor
Once Gulf South 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 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 (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., PF15-
4). 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 filings, document summaries, and direct links to the
documents. Go to www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm.
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.
Finally, Gulf South has established a Web site for the Project at
http://www.gulfsouthpl.com/ExpansionProjects.aspx?id=4294967425. The
Web site includes a description of the Project, permitting schedules
and calendars, frequently asked questions and responses, and links to
related press releases and news articles. You can also request
additional information directly from Gulf South at (844) 211-6282 or by
clicking on the following link on the Gulf South Web site that will
take you to an online submittal form: http://www.gulfsouthpl.com/ExpansionProjects.aspx?ekfrm=4294967452.
Dated: March 4, 2015.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-05692 Filed 3-12-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P