[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 173 (Wednesday, September 7, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61677-61679]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-21421]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. PF15-25-000]


Freeport LNG Development, L.P.; Supplemental Notice of Intent To 
Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Planned Freeport LNG Train 
4 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 expanded Freeport LNG Train 4 
Project (Project) involving construction and operation of facilities by 
Freeport LNG Development, L.P. (Freeport LNG) in Brazoria County, 
Texas. The Commission will use this EA in its decision-making process 
to determine whether the planned project is in the public interest.
    We \1\ are issuing this supplemental notice to inform the public of 
changes to the originally proposed Project. Freeport LNG has modified 
the planned Project by deleting the non-jurisdictional feed-gas 
pipeline previously planned to provide gas to the Liquefaction Plant on 
Quintana Island. To replace the feed gas, Freeport LNG plans to 
construct a FERC-jurisdictional pipeline extending from the meter 
station at Stratton Ridge to the Pretreatment Plant on Levee Road/State 
Road 690 and then to the Liquefaction Plant on Quintana Island. The 
Pretreatment Plant would be expanded to handle the additional gas 
processing.
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    \1\ ``We,'' ``us,'' and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff 
of the Commission's Office of Energy Projects.
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    The comment period for the original scoping notice of the Project 
was from August 19, 2015 to September 18, 2015. This supplemental 
notice announces the opening of an additional scoping period the 
Commission will use to gather input from the new landowners potentially 
affected by changed to the planned Project, and inform interested 
agencies of the changes
    As the modifications would affect new landowners; therefore, the 
Commission is issuing this supplemental notice to provide these new 
landowners an opportunity to comment on the Project. You can access 
detailed mapping of the modifications to the proposed pipeline route on 
the Commission's Web site (www.ferc.gov) using eLibrary. For 
instructions on connecting to eLibrary, refer to the last page of this 
notice.
    Comments submitted during the original comment period have been 
made part of the docket and do not need to be resubmitted.
    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, 
comments may be submitted in writing as described in the public 
participation section of this notice. Please note that comments on this 
supplemental notice should be filed with the Commission by October 3, 
2016.
    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.
    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 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 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 
(PF15-25-000) 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

    Freeport LNG intends to add a fourth liquefaction unit (Train 4), a 
supply pipeline, and associated infrastructure and utilities to 
Freeport LNG's natural gas Liquefaction Plant on Quintana Island in 
Brazoria County, Texas (Appendix 1, Figure 1). The Project would be 
located adjacent to the facilities authorized and currently under 
construction for the Phase II

[[Page 61678]]

Modification Project (Docket No. CP12-29-000) and Liquefaction Project 
(Docket No. CP12-509-000), which comprises three liquefaction trains 
and related facilities. The planned Train 4 liquefaction unit would be 
within the existing Freeport LNG site boundary. The modified and 
extended pipeline route (Apendix 1, Figure 3) would connect the 
existing Stratton Ridge meter station, the proposed pretreatment unit 
within the existing Pretreatment Plant, and the existing Liquefaction 
Plant.
    Freeport LNG would expand the Pretreatment Plant that was approved 
under Docket CP12-509 (Appendix 1, Figure 2).
    Freeport LNG indicates that the Train 4 Project would provide 
additional liquefaction capacity of approximately 5.1 million metric 
tonnes per annum (``mtpa'') of LNG for export. The additional 
liquefaction capacity provided by Train 4 would equate to a natural gas 
throughput capacity of approximately 0.74 billion cubic feet per day. 
This would enable Freeport LNG to respond favorably and proactively to 
short- and longer-term fluctuations in domestic and global gas markets.
    The Freeport LNG Train 4 Project would consist of the following 
major components:

Quintana Island Terminal

 A propane pre-cooled mixed refrigerant LNG unit
 An electrical high-voltage substation

Pretreatment Plant

 A natural gas pretreatment unit
 Tank storage for amine solution, aqueous ammonia, heating 
medium, slop, and demineralized water
 Inlet and outlet compression
 Emergency electric generator
 An electric substation

Pipeline Facilities

 An 11.5-mile-long, 42-inch-diameter pipeline with a maximum 
allowable operating pressure of 1,440 pounds per square inch between 
the existing Stratton Ridge meter station, Pretreatment Plant, and the 
Quintana Island Terminal
 Pig launcher and receiver
 Mainline valves
 Stratton Ridge Meter Station

    The general locations of project facilities are 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 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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Land Requirements for Construction

    The operational and construction footprint for the Train 4 Project 
would be primarily within Freeport LNG's previously disturbed areas 
authorized as part of the Liquefaction and Phase II Modification 
Projects (Docket Nos. CP12-29-000 and CP12-509-000) on Quintana Island 
in Brazoria County, Texas.
    The Train 4 Project would affect about 558 acres during 
construction and the permanent operational footprint would be about 235 
acres. Following construction, temporary construction areas would be 
restored and revert to former uses in areas other than the Quintana 
Island Terminal and Pretreatment Plant which have been disturbed by 
prior and present construction. These areas would be permanently 
maintained for industrial use.

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 an authorization to export 
natural gas under Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act. NEPA also requires 
us 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.
    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;
 endangered and threatened species;
 socioeconomics;
 visual impacts;
 air quality and noise;
 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. If we publish 
and distribute the EA to the public there will be 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. Currently, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the U.S. 
Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy have expressed their 
intention to participate as cooperating agencies in the preparation of 
the EA to satisfy their NEPA responsibilities related to this project.
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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(s), 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

[[Page 61679]]

project-specific Area of Potential Effects (APE) in consultation with 
the SHPO(s) 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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Currently Identified Environmental Issues

    We have already identified several issues that we think deserve 
attention based on a preliminary review of the planned facilities and 
the environmental information provided by Freeport LNG. This 
preliminary list of issues may change based on your comments and our 
analysis.

 geology and soils
 water resources, fisheries, and wetlands
 visual impacts
 noise and air emissions
 traffic
 cumulative impacts

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 
planned 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

    Once Freeport LNG 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-
25). 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: August 31, 2016.
Kimberly D. Bose,
 Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-21421 Filed 9-6-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P