[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 62 (Monday, April 3, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16187-16189]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-06418]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. CP17-56-000; CP17-57-000]


Texas Eastern Transmission, L.P.; Brazoria Interconnector Gas 
Pipeline, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment 
for the Proposed Stratton Ridge 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 Stratton Ridge Expansion 
Project (Project) involving construction and operation of facilities by 
Texas Eastern Transmission, L.P. (Texas Eastern), and Brazoria 
Interconnector Gas Pipeline, LLC (BIG) (referred to as Applicants) in 
Brazoria, Chambers, San Jacinto, Waller, Shelby, and Lavaca Counties, 
Texas. 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 24, 2017.
    If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the 
opening of this docket on February 2, 2017, you will need to file those 
comments in Docket Nos. CP17-56-000 and CP17-57-000 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.
    The Applicants 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 
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 numbers 
(CP17-56-000, and CP17-57-000) 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

    The Project is designed to provide the capacity necessary for Texas 
Eastern to transport up to 322,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas on 
a firm basis from certain of Texas Eastern's existing interconnections 
to a delivery point on the BIG pipeline near Stratton Ridge, Texas.
    The Applicant's Project would consist of the following facilities:
     The new Angleton Compressor Station, consisting of a 
12,500 horsepower electric motor-driven compressor, as well as metering 
and regulation facilities, at an existing site owned by Texas Eastern;
     a new 0.5 mile, 30-inch-diameter pipeline lateral in 
Brazoria County, Texas to interconnect with the BIG intrastate pipeline 
system;
     a new aboveground wire-line launcher/receiver assembly 
site and interconnect valve site near milepost 0.5 of the BIG 
Interconnect;
     Clean Burn equipment for one unit at Texas Eastern's 
existing Mont Belvieu Compressor Station in Chambers County, Texas;
     modified station piping for pressure regulation at Texas 
Eastern's Joaquin Compressor Station in Shelby County, Texas;
     modified existing launcher and receiver facilities at 
Texas Eastern's existing Huntsville Compressor Station, in San Jacinto 
County, Texas;
     modified existing launcher and receiver facilities at 
Texas Eastern's Hempstead and Provident City station sites; in Waller 
and Lavaca County, Texas; and
     replacement of existing 16-inch crossover piping and valve 
with new 24-inch crossover piping and valve at an existing facility 
approximately 0.2 mile southwest of the Provident City station site in 
Lavaca County, Texas.
    The general location of the project facilities 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 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

    Construction of the proposed facilities would disturb about 143 
acres of land for the aboveground facilities and the pipeline. 
Following construction, the Applicants would maintain about 48 acres 
for permanent operation of the project's facilities; the remaining 
acreage would be restored and revert to former uses.

The EA Process

    The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the 
Commission to take into account the environmental

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impacts that could result from an action whenever it considers the 
issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. 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 will consider all filed comments during the preparation of the 
EA.
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    \2\ ``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;
 land use;
 water resources, fisheries, and wetlands;
 cultural resources;
 vegetation and wildlife;
 socioeconomics;
 air quality and noise;
 endangered and threatened species;
 public safety; and
 cumulative impacts

    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. 
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/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 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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Currently Identified Environmental Issues

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

 Operational noise impacts
 Socioeconomic impacts
 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 
proposed 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

    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-
56, CP17-57). 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

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documents. Go to www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp.
    Finally, public sessions 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 24, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-06418 Filed 3-31-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P