[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 100 (Tuesday, May 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30069-30071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-12615]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP15-144-000]


Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC; Notice of Intent To 
Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Jacksonville 
Expansion 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 Jacksonville Expansion Project 
(Project). The Project would involve constructing and operating 
interstate natural gas transmission facilities by the Florida Gas 
Transmission Company, LLC (FGT) in Bradford, Clay, Columbia, and 
Suwannee Counties, Florida. Specifically, FGT would construct: (1) 
About 3 miles of pipeline in Suwannee and Columbia Counties; (2) about 
5.7 miles of pipeline in Bradford County; and (3) a new compressor unit 
and regulation station in Bradford County. The Commission will use this 
EA 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. 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 impacts, reasonable 
alternatives, and measures to avoid or minimize environmental impacts. 
Your input will help the Commission staff determine what issues they 
need to evaluate in the EA. 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 June 15, 2015.
    If you sent comments on this Project to the Commission before the 
opening of this docket on March 31, 2015, you will need to file those 
comments in Docket No. CP15-144-000 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 
representatives should notify their constituents of this proposed 
project and encourage them to comment on their areas of concern.
    If you are a landowner receiving this notice, an FGT representative 
may contact you about the acquisition of an easement to construct, 
operate, and maintain the proposed 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, the pipeline company could initiate condemnation 
proceedings where compensation would be determined in accordance with 
state law.
    The ``For Citizens'' section of the FERC Web site (www.ferc.gov) 
provides more information about the FERC and the environmental review 
process. This section also includes information about getting involved 
in FERC jurisdictional projects, and a citizens' guide entitled ``An 
Interstate Natural Gas Facility On My Land? What Do I Need to Know?'' 
This guide addresses a number of frequently asked questions, including 
the use of eminent domain and how to participate in the Commission's 
proceedings.

Public Participation

    For your convenience, there are three methods you can use to submit 
your comments to the Commission. The Commission encourages electronic 
filing of comments and has expert staff available to assist you at 
(202) 502-8258 or [email protected]. Please carefully

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follow these instructions so that your comments are properly recorded.
    (1) You can file your comments electronically using the eComment 
feature on the Commission's Web site (www.ferc.gov) under the link to 
Documents and Filings. This is an easy method for submitting brief, 
text-only comments on a project;
    (2) You can file your comments electronically by using the eFiling 
feature 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.'' If you are filing a comment on a particular project, 
please select ``Comment on a Filing'' as the filing type; or
    (3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to 
the following address. Be sure to reference the project docket number 
(CP15-144-000) with your submission: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Room 1A, 
Washington, DC 20426.

Summary of the Proposed Project

    According to FGT, the purpose of the Project is to provide a total 
of approximately 75,000 MMBtu/d of natural gas capacity to be delivered 
at various amounts at several points throughout Florida. To accomplish 
this, FGT proposes to:
     Construct approximately 3.0 miles of 30-inch-diameter 
looping pipeline and associated facilities \1\ in Suwannee and Columbia 
Counties;
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    \1\ Associated facilities include new or relocated pig launchers 
and receivers, valves, and cathodic protection equipment.
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     install one new compressor unit, re-wheel an existing 
turbine compressor unit, and construct and modify piping and valves at 
Compressor Station 16 in Bradford County;
     construct approximately 5.7 miles of 20-inch-diameter 
looping pipeline and associated facilities in Bradford County; and
     construct a new regulation station in Bradford County.
    FGT would also own, operate, and maintain these interstate natural 
gas transmission facilities. The general location of the project 
facilities is shown in Appendix 1.\2\
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    \2\ The appendices referenced in this notice will not appear 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 proposed facilities would disturb about 140 
acres of land. Following construction, FGT would maintain about 50 
acres of land; the remaining land would be restored/stabilized and 
allowed to revert to former uses. Where feasible, FGT proposes to use 
existing rights-of-way for construction and operation of the proposed 
facilities. Both of the proposed pipelines would be 100% collocated 
with other existing FGT pipelines.

The EA Process

    The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the 
Commission to take into account the potential environmental impacts of 
a proposed project 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. We will 
consider all filed comments 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;
     public safety; and
     cumulative impacts.
    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 eLibrary and 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 making 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 below.
    With this notice, we are asking agencies with jurisdiction by law 
and/or special expertise with respect to the environmental issues of 
this project to formally cooperate with us in the preparation of the 
EA.\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, 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 for section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act, we are using this notice to initiate consultation 
with the applicable 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.\5\ We will define the project-specific Area of 
Potential Effects (APE) in consultation with the SHPO as the project 
develops. 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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    \5\ 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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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

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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 we publish and distribute the EA, copies of the EA 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

    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 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 at www.ferc.gov using the ``eLibrary'' link. Click on the 
eLibrary link, click on ``General Search'' and enter the docket number 
CP15-144 (note: the last three digits are excluded). 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/docs-filing/esubscription.asp.
    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: May 19, 2015.
Kimberly D. Bose,
 Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-12615 Filed 5-22-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P