[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 135 (Thursday, July 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45471-45472]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16662]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission


 Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Proposed Nexus Gas Transmission Project and Texas 
Eastern Appalachian Lease Project

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                                                     Docket No.
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NEXUS Gas Transmission, LLC...............  CP16-22-000
Texas Eastern Transmission, LP............  CP16-23-000
DTE Gas Company...........................  CP16-24-000
Vector Pipeline L.P.......................  CP16-102-000
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    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) 
for the NEXUS Gas Transmission (NGT) Project and Texas Eastern 
Appalachian Lease (TEAL) Project (jointly referred to as ``Projects''), 
proposed by NEXUS Gas Transmission, LLC (NEXUS) and Texas Eastern 
Transmission, LP (Texas Eastern) in the above-referenced dockets. NEXUS 
and Texas Eastern request authorization to construct a new Greenfield 
pipeline and expand an existing pipeline system from the Appalachian 
Basin to deliver 1.5 million dekatherms per day to consuming markets in 
Northern Ohio, Southeastern Michigan, and Ontario, Canada. DTE Gas 
Company and Vector Pipeline L.P. are requesting approval to lease 
capacity on their systems to NEXUS.
    The draft EIS assesses the potential environmental effects of the 
construction and operation of the Projects in accordance with the 
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. The FERC staff 
concludes that approval of the Projects would result in some adverse 
environmental impacts; however, most of these impacts would be reduced 
to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of NEXUS's and 
Texas Eastern's proposed mitigation measures and the additional 
recommendations in the draft EIS.
    Some of the route alternatives suggested during scoping would 
affect landowners that have not been part of the FERC's environmental 
scoping process, as further discussed on page 5. Therefore, by this 
letter we are notifying these parties of our evaluation and requesting 
comments about the following alternative routes presented in section 3 
of the draft EIS: City of Green Route Alternative, Chippewa Lake C 
Route Variation, and Reserve Avenue Route Variation.
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) participated as cooperating agencies in the 
preparation of the draft EIS. Cooperating agencies have jurisdiction by 
law or special expertise with respect to resources potentially affected 
by the proposal and participate in the National Environmental Policy 
Act analysis. Although the FWS and EPA provided input to the 
conclusions and recommendations presented in the draft EIS, the FWS and 
EPA will each present its own conclusions and recommendations in its 
respective record of decision or determination for the Projects.
    The draft EIS addresses the potential environmental effects of the 
construction and operation of both the NGT and TEAL Projects. The NGT 
Project consists of about 255.9 miles of pipeline composed of the 
following facilities:
     208.9 miles of new 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline 
in Ohio;
     47 miles of new 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline in 
Michigan;
     associated equipment and facilities.
    The TEAL Project would include two main components:
     4.4 miles of new 36-inch-diameter loop pipeline in Ohio;
     0.3 mile of new 30-inch-diameter interconnecting pipeline 
Ohio; and
     associated equipment and facilities.
    The Projects' proposed aboveground facilities include five new 
compressor stations in Ohio; additional compression and related 
modifications to one existing compressor station in Ohio; five new 
metering and regulating stations in Ohio; one new metering and 
regulating station in Michigan; and minor modifications at existing 
aboveground facilities at various locations across Ohio.
    The FERC staff mailed copies of the draft EIS to federal, state, 
and local government representatives and agencies; elected officials; 
environmental and public interest groups; Native American tribes; 
potentially affected landowners and other interested individuals and 
groups; and newspapers and libraries near the Projects. Paper copy 
versions of this draft EIS were mailed to those specifically requesting 
them; all others received a CD version. In addition, the draft EIS is 
available for public viewing on the FERC's Web site (www.ferc.gov) 
using the eLibrary link.
    A limited number of copies are available for distribution and 
public inspection at: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public 
Reference Room, 888 First Street NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426, 
(202) 502-8371.
    Any person wishing to comment on the draft EIS may do so. To ensure 
consideration of your comments on the proposal in the final EIS, it is 
important that the Commission receive your comments on or before August 
29, 2016.
    For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit 
your comments to the Commission. In all instances, please reference the 
Projects' docket numbers (CP16-22-000 for the NGT Project and CP16-23-
000 for the TEAL Project) 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

[[Page 45472]]

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.
    (3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to 
the following address: Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., Deputy 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 comment meetings its 
staff will conduct in the Project areas to receive comments on the 
draft EIS. We \1\ encourage interested groups and individuals to attend 
and present oral comments on the draft EIS at any of the meeting 
locations provided on page 4.
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    \1\ ``We,'' ``us,'' and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff 
of the FERC's Office of Energy Projects.
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    There will not be a formal start of the meeting nor a formal 
presentation by Commission staff, but FERC staff will be available to 
answer your questions about the environmental review process. You may 
arrive at any time after 5:00 p.m. and we will stop taking comments at 
10:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. The primary goal is to have your verbal 
environmental comments on the draft EIS documented in the public 
record.

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               Date                               Location
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August 10, 2016...................  Swanton High School, 604 North Main
                                     Street, Swanton, OH 43558, (419)
                                     826-3045.
August 11, 2016...................  Tecumseh Center for the Arts, 400
                                     North Maumee Street, Tecumseh, MI
                                     49286, (517) 423-6617.
August 15, 2016...................  Quality Inn, Fremont, 3422 Port
                                     Clinton Road, Fremont, OH 43420,
                                     (419) 332-0601.
August 16, 2016...................  Elyria High School Performing Arts
                                     Center, 601 Middle Avenue, Elyria,
                                     OH 44035, (440) 284-5209.
August 17, 2016...................  Wadsworth High School--James A.
                                     Mcilvaine Performing Arts Center,
                                     625 Broad Street, Wadsworth, OH
                                     44281, (330) 335-1369.
August 18, 2016...................  Green High School, 1474 Boettler
                                     Road, Uniontown, OH 44685, (330)
                                     896-7575.
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    Verbal comments will be recorded by court reporter(s) and 
transcriptions will be placed into the docket for the Projects and made 
available for public viewing on FERC's eLibrary system (see page 5 for 
instructions on using eLibrary). It is important to note that verbal 
comments hold the same weight as written or electronically 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.
    Any person seeking to become a party to the proceeding must file a 
motion to intervene pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission's Rules of 
Practice and Procedures (Title 18 Code of Federal Regulations Part 
385.214).\2\ Only intervenors have the right to seek rehearing of the 
Commission's decision. The Commission grants affected landowners and 
others with environmental concerns intervenor status upon showing good 
cause by stating that they have a clear and direct interest in this 
proceeding that no other party can adequately represent. Simply filing 
environmental comments will not give you intervenor status, but you do 
not need intervenor status to have your comments considered.
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    \2\ See the previous discussion on the methods for filing 
comments.
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Route Alternatives

    As indicated on page 1, some landowners are receiving this draft 
EIS because their property has been identified as potentially being 
affected by certain route alternatives recommended or being considered 
by FERC staff to avoid or lessen environmental impacts along NEXUS's 
proposed pipeline route in several locations. Refer to discussions in 
section 3.3.3 of the draft EIS for the City of Green Route Alternative, 
section 3.4.10 for the Chippewa Lake C Route Variation, and section 
3.4.12 for the Reserve Avenue Route Variation. Please note that while 
staff has recommended the use of the last two listed alternatives, a 
decision whether or not to recommend the use of the City of Green Route 
Alternative has not been made. The Commission staff wants to ensure 
that all potentially affected landowners have the opportunity to 
participate in the environmental review process, thus staff is 
soliciting comments to assist with the environmental analysis of these 
route alternatives, which will be presented in the final EIS.

Questions?

    Additional information about the Projects 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., CP16-
22). 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; 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 that 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 to 
subscribe.

    Dated: July 8, 2016.
 Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
 Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-16662 Filed 7-13-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P