[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 53 (Monday, March 19, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12006-12008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-05494]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP18-45-000]


Dominion Energy Transmission, Inc.; Notice of Intent To Prepare 
an Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Sweden Valley 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 proposed Sweden Valley Project 
(Project). The Project involves the construction and operation of 
facilities by Dominion Energy Transmission, Inc. (Dominion) in Licking 
and Tuscarawas counties, Ohio and in Armstrong, Clinton and Greene 
counties in Pennsylvania. 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 13, 2018.
    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

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where compensation would be determined in accordance with state law.
    Dominion 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 website (www.ferc.gov).

Public Participation

    For your convenience, there are three (3) 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 website (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 website (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 
(CP18-45-000) 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 120,000 dekatherms per day of 
firm transportation service from an existing point of interconnection 
located on Dominion's Line TL-489 in Clinton County, Pennsylvania to a 
new point of interconnection between Dominion and Tennessee Gas 
Pipeline in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Dominion proposes to operate the 
following Facilities after construction or modifications:
     About 1.7 miles of 20-inch-diameter pipeline lateral south 
of Dominion's existing Gilmore Metering and Regulation (M&R) station in 
Tuscarawas County, Ohio;
     approximately 3.2 miles of 24-inch-diameter pipeline 
looping north of Dominion's existing Crayne Compressor Station in 
Greene County, Pennsylvania;
     re-wheel (optimize) the compressors on three existing 
centrifugal compression sets at Dominion's existing Newark Compressor 
Station in Licking County, Ohio;
     a new M&R site with associated equipment to measure gas 
and regulate pressure at the gas delivery point in Tuscarawas County, 
Ohio;
     regulation equipment at the South Bend Compressor Station 
to regulate pressure between existing Dominion pipelines in Armstrong 
County, Pennsylvania;
     M&R equipment to measure gas and regulate pressure at a 
new interconnect in Clinton County, Pennsylvania;
     a pig launcher/receiver south of the existing Gilmore M&R 
station and a new pig launcher/receiver at the new Port Washington M&R 
station in Tuscarawas County, Ohio; and
     new mainline valves at the northern terminus of the 
proposed TL-654 PA loop in Greene County, Pennsylvania.
    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

    Constructing the proposed facilities would require the use of 
approximately 113.9 acres of land of which 28.3 acres are in Ohio and 
85.6 acres are in Pennsylvania. Following construction, Dominion would 
maintain about 45.4 acres for permanent operation of the Project's 
facilities, of which 12.0 acres would be in Ohio and 33.4 acres would 
be in Pennsylvania. In general, the pipeline facilities would require a 
permanent right-of-way width of 50 feet for each pipeline. An 
additional 25 feet of temporary workspace would be used during 
construction along the entire pipeline construction corridor and an 
additional temporary workspace of 25 feet would be used in areas where 
topsoil segregation is required or additional space is necessary to 
facilitate 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 
\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;
     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. 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.
    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

[[Page 12008]]

agency status should follow the instructions for filing comments 
provided under the Public Participation section of this notice. 
Currently no agencies has expressed their intention to participate as a 
cooperating agency in the preparation of the EA to satisfy their NEPA 
responsibilities related to the 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 (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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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.

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 website. 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 website 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., CP18-
45). 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: March 13, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-05494 Filed 3-16-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P