[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 214 (Thursday, November 5, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68521-68523]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28204]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. PF15-29-000]


Dominion Carolina Gas Transmission, LLC; Notice of Intent To 
Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Planned Transco to 
Charleston Project, Request for Comments on Environmental Issues, and 
Notice of Public Scoping Meetings

    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 Transco to Charleston Project 
involving construction and operation of facilities by Dominion Carolina 
Gas Transmission, LLC (DCG) in Aiken, Charleston, Dillon, Dorchester, 
Greenwood, Laurens, Newberry, and Spartanburg Counties, South Carolina. 
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 effects, reasonable 
alternatives, and measures to avoid or lessen 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 November 30, 2015.
    If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the 
opening of this docket on September 2, 2015, you will need to file 
those comments in Docket No. PF15-29-000 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 planned 
project and encourage them to comment on their areas of concern.
    If you are a landowner receiving this notice, a pipeline 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, the pipeline company 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.

Public Participation

    For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit 
your comments to the Commission. The Commission will provide equal 
consideration to all comments received, whether filed in written form 
or provided verbally. The Commission encourages electronic filing of 
comments and has expert staff available to assist you at (202) 502-8258 
or [email protected]. Please carefully 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 
(PF15-29-000) with your submission: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Room 1A, 
Washington, DC 20426.
    (4) In lieu of sending written or electronic comments, the 
Commission invites you to attend one of the public scoping meetings its 
staff will conduct in the project area, scheduled as follows.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Date and time                          Location
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Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 4-7   Spartanburg Community College--Tyger
 p.m.                                River Campus, 1875 East Main
                                     Street, Duncan, SC 29334.
Thursday, November 19, 2015, 4-7    Family YMCA of Greater Laurens, 410
 p.m.                                Anderson Drive, Laurens, SC 29360.
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    You may attend at any time during the scoping meeting. There will 
not be a formal presentation by Commission staff, but you will be 
provided information about the FERC process. Commission staff will be 
available to take verbal comments. Representatives of DCG will be 
present to answer questions about its planned project.
    Comments will be recorded by a stenographer and transcripts will be 
placed into the project docket and made available for public viewing on 
FERC's eLibrary system (see page 7 ``Additional Information'' for 
instructions on using eLibrary). We believe it is important to note 
that verbal comments hold the same weight as written or electronically

[[Page 68522]]

submitted comments. If a significant number of people are interested in 
providing verbal comments, a time limit of 3 to 5 minutes may be 
implemented for each commenter to ensure all those wishing to comment 
have the opportunity to do so within the designated meeting time. Time 
limits will be strictly enforced if they are implemented.
    Please note this is not your only public input opportunity; please 
refer to the review process flow chart in appendix 1.\1\
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    \1\ 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 last page of this notice.
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Summary of the Planned Project

    The planned project would provide 80,000 dekatherms of natural gas 
per day of firm transportation service that has been fully subscribed 
by three customers.
    The Transco to Charleston Project would consist of the following 
facilities:
     Approximately 55 miles of 12-inch-diameter pipeline in 
Spartanburg, Laurens, Newberry, and Greenwood Counties (Moore to 
Chappells pipeline);
     approximately 5 miles of 4-inch-diameter pipeline in 
Dillon County (Dillon pipeline);
     installation of two new 1,400-horsepower (hp) compressor 
units at the existing Moore Compressor Station in Spartanburg County;
     construction of a new 3,150-hp compressor station 
(Dorchester Compressor Station) in Dorchester County;
     conversion of an existing 1,050-hp compressor unit from 
standby to base load at the existing Southern Compressor Station in 
Aiken County;
     upgrades to the existing Charleston Town Border Station in 
Charleston County; and
     associated pipeline support facilities (metering and 
regulating stations, launcher and receiver assemblies, valves, and 
pipeline interconnects).
    The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix 
2.

Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction of the planned facilities would disturb about 781.6 
acres of land for the pipelines and 28.9 acres of land for the 
aboveground facilities. Following construction, DCG would maintain 
about 488.0 acres for permanent operation of the project's pipelines 
and 12.9 acres for the aboveground facilities; the remaining acreage 
would be restored and revert to former uses. About 6 percent of the 
planned Moore to Chappells pipeline route and 28 percent of the Dillon 
pipeline route parallels existing pipeline, utility, or road rights-of-
way.

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. We will 
consider all filed comments 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;
     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 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 
the FERC receives an application. 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.
    The EA will present our independent analysis of the issues. The EA 
will be available in the public record through 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 2.
    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 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, 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\ We will define the project-specific Area of Potential 
Effects (APE) in consultation with the State Historic Preservation 
Office 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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    \4\ 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 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

[[Page 68523]]

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 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 DCG 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. Motions to intervene are more fully described at http://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/how-to/intervene.asp. Instructions for 
becoming an intervenor are in the ``Document-less Intervention 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 the Commission receives a formal 
application for the project.

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-
29). 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: October 30, 2015.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-28204 Filed 11-4-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P