[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 228 (Wednesday, November 29, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56587-56594]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25727]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP17-441-001]


Northwest Pipeline, LLC; Supplemental Notice of Intent To Prepare 
an Environmental Assessment for the Amended North Seattle Lateral 
Upgrade Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues

    As previously noticed on June 21, 2017, the staff of the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) announced that it 
will prepare an environmental assessment (EA) to evaluate and discuss 
the environmental impacts of the North Seattle Lateral Upgrade Project 
involving construction and operation of facilities by Northwest 
Pipeline, LLC (Northwest) in Snohomish County, Washington. The 
Commission will use this EA in its decision-making process to determine 
whether the project is in the public convenience and necessity.
    On October 23, 2017, Northwest filed an amendment to its current 
FERC application that proposes changes to the project facilities. 
Northwest now proposes to reduce the length of the upgraded pipeline 
facilities from 6.8 miles to 5.8 miles and to reroute a portion of its 
system off its existing right-of-way to avoid construction on the 
Fritch Forest Products mill site. This reroute was presented as a 
possible alternative to the originally filed project in the 
Commission's June 21, 2017 Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental 
Assessment for the Proposed North Seattle Lateral Upgrade Project, 
Request for Comments on Environmental Issues, and Notice of Public 
Scoping Session, which was mailed to the environmental mailing list at 
that time.
    This supplemental notice announces the re-opening of the scoping 
process the Commission will use to gather input from the public and 
interested agencies on the project (see appendix 1). 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 December 21, 2017.
    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.
    Northwest 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 will provide equal 
consideration to all comments received. 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; or
    (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

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    (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 
(CP17-441-001) 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

    Northwest proposes to remove approximately 5.8 miles of the 8-inch-
diameter North Seattle Lateral pipeline and replace it with 20-inch-
diameter pipeline, primarily in the same trench. The project is in 
Snohomish County, Washington. According to Northwest, the proposed 
facilities would increase service reliability and enable Northwest to 
provide an incremental approximate 160 million cubic feet of natural 
gas per day of firm capacity to serve Puget Sound Energy.
    The amended North Seattle Lateral Upgrade Project would consist of 
the following facilities:
     Replace 5.8-miles of 8-inch-diameter pipeline with 20-
inch-diameter pipeline;
     rebuild the existing North Seattle/Everett meter station 
in order to accommodate the increased delivery capacity of the North 
Seattle Lateral;
     abandon and relocate approximately 0.1 mile of 16-inch-
diameter pipeline;
     relocate an existing 8-inch pig launcher and a 20-inch pig 
receiver \1\ to project milepost 7.76; and
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    \1\ 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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     replace an existing 8-inch mainline valve with a 20-inch 
valve.
    The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix 
2, and the reroute around the Fritch Mill is shown in appendix 3.

Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction activities related to the Upgrade Project would 
disturb about 88 acres of land for the pipeline replacement and 
aboveground facilities. With the exception of the proposed 0.15 mile 
reroute around the Fritch Mill, the new pipeline would be installed 
within Northwest's existing easement. Following construction, Northwest 
would maintain 43 acres of easement area for permanent operation of the 
project facilities; the remaining 45 acres of construction work space 
would be restored and revert to former uses. The entire existing right-
of-way in which the replacements would be made parallels existing 
pipeline, utility, or road rights-of-way.

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 
\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;
     vegetation and wildlife;
     endangered and threatened species;
     cultural resources;
     air quality and noise;
     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. 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 of this Notice.
    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 two issues that we think deserve 
attention based on a preliminary review of the proposed facilities and 
the environmental information provided by Northwest. This preliminary 
list of issues may be changed based on your comments and our analysis.
     Effects of construction on residential properties
     Impacts on sensitive fish species during in-stream 
construction activities

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

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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 4).

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-
441). 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 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: November 21, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
 Secretary.
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[FR Doc. 2017-25727 Filed 11-28-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-C