[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 21 (Thursday, February 2, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9067-9069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02222]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP17-19-000]


Valley Crossing Pipeline, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Border Crossing 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 impacts of constructing and operating Valley Crossing 
Pipeline, LLC's (Valley Crossing) proposed Border Crossing Project 
located in Texas state waters approximately 30 miles east of 
Brownsville, Texas. The Commission will use this EA in its decision-
making process to determine whether the project is consistent with the 
public interest.
    This notice announces the opening of a public comment period also 
known as a scoping period. During this period, the Commission will 
gather input from the public and interested agencies on the project. 
You can make a difference by providing us with your specific

[[Page 9068]]

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 it will evaluate in the EA. 
To ensure that your comments are timely and properly recorded, please 
send them so that the Commission receives them in Washington, DC on or 
before February 27, 2017.
    If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the 
opening of this docket on November 21, 2016, you will need to file 
those comments in Docket No. CP17-19-000 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 proposed 
project and encourage them to comment on their areas of concern.

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 
(CP17-19-000) 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

    Valley Crossing proposes to construct and operate an approximately 
1,000-foot-long, 42-inch-diameter, natural gas transmission pipeline 
across the international boundary between the United States of America 
and the United Mexican States (Mexico). The Border Crossing Project 
would connect the non-jurisdictional Valley Crossing System with the 
Mexican Marina Pipeline. The Border Crossing Project would deliver/
export up to 2.6 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to Mexico to 
serve electrical generation plants. As stated above, this international 
boundary crossing would occur in Texas state waters in the Gulf of 
Mexico and would affect approximately 1.5 acres of seafloor.
    The general location of the proposed pipeline is shown 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 or from the Commission's Public Reference Room, 888 
First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 502-8371.
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Non-Jurisdictional Facilities

    As discussed above, Valley Crossing would also construct and 
operate a 165-mile-long, 42-inch-diameter, natural gas transmission 
pipeline system from Nueces County, Texas to the Border Crossing 
Project facilities. The proposed Valley Crossing System would be 
regulated by the Railroad Commission of Texas and does not fall under 
the jurisdiction of the FERC. Although these facilities are not part of 
the proposed action analyzed in the EA, we will include a description 
of these facilities and any available environmental impact information 
to inform stakeholders and decision-makers.

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 an 
Authorization. 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 note that many comments were filed 
prior to this notice. We want to assure those commentors that their 
concerns will be considered in the scope of our environmental review; 
you do not need to resubmit comments. We will consider all filed 
comments during the preparation of the EA.
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    \2\ ``Us'', ``we'', 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 the potential impacts on the marine 
environment that could occur as a result of construction and operation 
of the proposed project. 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 Commission's publicly accessible 
administrative record, commonly referred to as eLibrary. 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 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.
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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 (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

[[Page 9069]]

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'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.
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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; concerned citizens; and other 
interested parties. 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.
    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 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., CP17-
19). 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 now 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 27, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-02222 Filed 2-1-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P