[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 98 (Friday, May 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31922-31924]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-11908]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. PF16-3-000]
Millennium Pipeline Company, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Environmental Assessment for the Planned Eastern System Upgrade
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 Eastern System Upgrade Project
(ESU Project) involving construction and operation of facilities by
Millennium Pipeline Company, LLC (Millennium) in Sullivan, Delaware,
Orange, and Rockland Counties, New York. The Commission will use this
EA in its decision-making process to determine whether the ESU 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 ESU Project. You can make a difference by providing us
with your specific comments or concerns about the ESU 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 June 10, 2016.
If you sent comments on the ESU Project to the Commission before
the opening of this docket on January 19, 2016, you will need to file
those comments in Docket No. PF16-3-000 to ensure they are considered
as part of this proceeding.
This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental
mailing list for the ESU 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 ESU 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 three 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
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[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 ESU Project docket
number (PF16-3-000) with your submission: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE., Room 1A,
Washington, DC 20426
Summary of the Planned Project
Millennium plans to construct and operate about 7.8 miles of 30-
and 36-inch-diameter pipeline loop \1\ in Orange County, New York. The
planned pipeline loop would transport natural gas from Millennium's
existing Corning Compressor Station to an existing interconnect with
Algonquin Gas Transmission, LLC in Ramapo, New York. Millennium would
also construct a new compressor station in Sullivan County, New York;
install additional compression at the Hancock Compressor Station in
Delaware County, New York; and modify the Westtown Meter Station in
Orange County, New York and the Ramapo Meter Station in Rockland
County, New York. According to Millennium, the ESU Project would be
designed to transport approximately 200,000 dekatherms per day of
additional natural gas service. The general location of the ESU Project
facilities is shown in appendix 1.\2\
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\1\ A pipeline loop is a segment of pipe constructed parallel to
an existing pipeline to increase capacity.
\2\ The appendices referenced in this notice will not appear in
the Federal Register. Copies of the appendices were sent to all of
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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The ESU Project would consist of the following facilities in New
York:
Approximately 7.8 miles of new 30- and 36-inch-diameter
pipeline loop to be located generally adjacent to Millennium's existing
mainline in Orange County;
a new 22,400-horsepower compressor station in Sullivan
County;
an additional 22,400 horsepower of compression at the
existing Hancock Compressor Station in Delaware County;
modifications at the existing Ramapo Meter Station in
Rockland County;
modifications at the existing Huguenot and Westtown Meter
Stations in Orange County; and
construction of an interconnect to Millennium's proposed
Valley Lateral Pipeline.
Land Requirements for Construction
Construction of the planned facilities would disturb about 199.6
acres of land for the aboveground facilities and the pipeline loop.
Millennium would maintain about 51.0 acres for permanent operation of
the ESU Project's facilities following construction; the remaining
acreage would be restored and revert to former uses. Most of the
pipeline loop would be located within Millennium's existing easements,
offset about 25 feet from Millennium's existing pipeline.
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 be addressed 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 planned 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 possible alternatives to the planned ESU
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 and 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.\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 New York State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), and to
solicit their views and those of other government agencies, interested
Indian tribes, and the public on the ESU Project's potential effects on
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historic properties.\5\ We will define the project-specific Area of
Potential Effects (APE) in consultation with the SHPO as the ESU
Project develops. For 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 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 project purposes, or who own homes within
certain distances of aboveground facilities, and anyone who submits
comments on the ESU 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 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 (see appendix 2).
Becoming an Intervenor
Once Millennium 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 the Commission
receives a formal application for the ESU Project.
Additional Information
Additional information about the ESU 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., PF16-
3). 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.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-11908 Filed 5-19-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P