[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 13 (Thursday, January 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3402-3404]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-01115]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. CP16-18-000]
Magnum Gas Storage, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare
anEnvironmental Assessment for the Proposed Magnum Gas Storage
Amendment 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 Magnum Gas Storage Amendment
Project (Project) involving construction and operation of facilities by
Magnum Gas Storage, LLC (Magnum) in Millard, Juab, and Utah Counties,
Utah. The Commission will use this EA in its decision-making process to
determine whether the project is in the public convenience and
necessity. The proposed Project is an Amendment to the Certificate of
Public Convenience and Necessity (Certificate) issued on March 17, 2011
in Docket No. CP10-22-000 to Magnum. The Certificate authorized Magnum
to construct, own, and operate a natural gas storage facility in
Millard, Juab, and Utah Counties Utah, with related facilities
including a 61.6 mile long, 36-inch diameter natural gas header
pipeline (Header).
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 February 16, 2016.
If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the
opening of this docket on November 16, 2015, you will need to file
those comments in Docket No. CP16-18-000 to ensure they
[[Page 3403]]
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, a Magnum
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.
Magnum provided landowners with a fact sheet prepared by the FERC
entitled ``An Interstate Natural Gas Facility On My Land? What Do I
Need To Know?'' 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. It is also available for viewing on
the FERC Web site (www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/gas/gas.pdf).
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 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
(CP16-18-000) 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
For this Amendment, Magnum is proposing the following changes to
its facilities, all within the previously analyzed and approved project
area:
Facilities Eliminated From Previous Authorization
Brine evaporation pond 1;
monitoring wells DA-1 and DA-2; and
monitoring wells, GA-1, GA-2, GA-9, GA-10, and GA-11.
Pipeline Header
A 6,252-foot-long segment of the header pipeline would be
relocated 63 feet north, west of Jones road in Millard County, Utah.
Aboveground Facilities Relocated on Previous Authorized Site
Four natural gas caverns;
water wells 1 through 5;
compression, dehydration, and pumping facilities;
4-inch gas supply line;
maintenance and laydown area;
office/warehouse building and substation; and
site-wide utilities.
The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix
1.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Land Requirements for Construction
For the Magnum Project approved in the March 17, 2011 Order,
construction and operation would require the use of approximately 1,800
acres of land. The gas storage facilities would be located on a 2,050
acre site. Approximately 28 miles of the 61.6-mile-long Header would be
collocated with the existing Utah-Nevada and Kern River Gas Pipelines.
Also, a portion of the Header would also be located within the West
Wide Energy Corridor. For the proposed Amendment, a 6,252-foot-long
segment of the header pipeline would be relocated 63 feet north, west
of Jones road. Magnum is not proposing any changes to the temporary or
permanent right-of-way width for this portion of the Header alignment.
Therefore, the previously approved temporary and permanent disturbance
acreage would not increase.
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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ ``We,'' ``us,'' and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff
of the Commission's Office of Energy Projects.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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, including migratory birds;
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. 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, beginning on page 2.
With this notice, we are asking agencies with jurisdiction by law
and/or special expertise with respect to the
[[Page 3404]]
environmental issues of 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ The Council on Environmental Quality regulations addressing
cooperating agency responsibilities are at Title 40, Code of Federal
Regulations, Part 1501.6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.\4\ 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
proposed project.
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 ``Document-less Intervention Guide'' under the ``e-filing'' link on
the Commission's Web site. Motions to intervene are more fully
described at http://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/how-to/intervene.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 at 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., CP16-
18). 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: January 14, 2016.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-01115 Filed 1-20-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P