[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 56 (Friday, March 24, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15051-15053]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-05844]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP17-46-000]


Southern Natural Gas Company, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an 
Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Fairburn Expansion 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 Fairburn Expansion Project 
involving construction and operation of facilities by Southern Natural 
Gas Company, LLC (Southern) in Clayton, Cobb, Fayette, Fulton, and 
Monroe Counties, Georgia. The Commission will use this EA in its 
decision-making process to determine whether the 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 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 April 19, 2017.
    If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the 
opening of this docket on February 3, 2017, you will need to file those 
comments in Docket No. CP17-46-000 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.
    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 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.
    Southern 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

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viewing on the FERC Web site (www.ferc.gov).

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 
(CP17-46-000) 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

    Southern proposes to provide approximately 343 million cubic feet 
per day of new firm transportation capacity to delivery points in 
Southern's Zone 2 and Zone 3 systems from a new interconnection with an 
existing Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company pipeline in Fayette 
County, Georgia. Southern plans to begin construction of the project in 
early 2018 for an anticipated in-service date of October 2018. The 
Fairburn Expansion project would include the following facilities:
     One new 4.9-mile-long 30-inch-diameter Fairburn Lateral 
from the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company interconnect in Fayette 
County, Georgia, to the proposed Fairburn Compressor Station in Fulton 
County, Georgia;
     one 1.6-mile-long 30-inch-diameter South Main 2nd Loop 
Line Extension looping \1\ along with pig \2\ receiver from mileposts 
(MP) 373.6 to 375.2 on Southern's existing South Main Line System in 
Monroe County, Georgia;
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    \1\ A pipeline loop is a segment of pipe constructed parallel to 
an existing pipeline to increase capacity.
    \2\ A ``pig'' is a tool that the pipeline company inserts into 
and pushes through the pipeline for cleaning the pipeline, 
conducting internal inspections, or other purposes.
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     acquisition of the 19.7-mile-long 30-inch-diameter 
McDonough Lateral that extends from Southern's existing SNG-to-
McDonough Meter Station in Fulton County, Georgia to the proposed Plant 
McDonough Meter Station in Cobb County, Georgia;
     a new Plant McDonough Meter Station in Cobb County, 
Georgia, a SNG-to-McDonough Meter Station modification in Fulton 
County, Georgia; and a new UPS Meter Station in Fulton County, Georgia, 
all located on the McDonough Lateral;
     one new Transco-to-SNG Meter Station with pig launcher in 
Fayette County, Georgia,
     one new 18,000-horsepower electric Fairburn Compressor 
Station with pig receiver in Fulton County, Georgia; and
     modification of the Jonesboro Meter Station in Clayton 
County, Georgia.
    A map depicting the general location of the project facilities is 
included in appendix 1.\3\
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    \3\ The appendices referenced in this notice are not being 
printed 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.
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Land Requirements for Construction

    Southern proposes to use 170 acres of land for construction of the 
project, and would retain 59 acres of new permanent right-of-way for 
operations. The Fairburn Lateral would require 65 acres for 
construction, comprised of 34 acres of temporary right-of-way to be 
restored and allowed to revert to former uses, and 31 acres of new 
permanent right-of-way retained for operations. The South Main 2nd Loop 
Line Extension would require 21 acres for construction, comprised of 16 
acres of temporary right-of-way and 5 acres of new permanent right-of-
way. The Fairburn Compressor Station would require 28 acres for 
construction, comprised of 13 acres of temporary workspace and 15 acres 
of new permanent operational workspace. The five meter stations would 
require 4.3 acres for construction and Columbia would retain all of 
this acreage within its proposed permanent pipeline right-of-way for 
operations. Columbia would require six new permanent access roads 
totaling 4.5 acres for construction and operation. Columbia would 
require 8.5 acres of temporary access roads and three contractor yards 
totaling 39 acres for construction, all of which would revert to 
previous use following construction.

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 
\4\ 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.
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    \4\ ``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 proposed project under these 
general headings:
     Geology and soils;
     water resources, fisheries, and wetlands;
     cultural resources;
     vegetation, wildlife, threatened and endangered species, 
and migratory birds;
     land use and socioeconomics;
     air quality and noise;
     public safety; and
     cumulative impacts.
    We will also evaluate reasonable alternatives to the 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/

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or special expertise with respect to the environmental issues of this 
project to formally cooperate with us in the preparation of the EA.\5\ 
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. Army Corps of 
Engineers has expressed intention to participate as a cooperating 
agency in the preparation of the EA to satisfy its NEPA 
responsibilities related to this project.
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    \5\ 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 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.\6\ 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.
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    \6\ 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; 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.
    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-
46). 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: March 20, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-05844 Filed 3-23-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P