[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 9, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21291-21293]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-09858]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. CP18-102-000 & CP18-103-000]


Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the 
Proposed Cheyenne Connector Pipeline and Cheyenne Hub Enhancement 
Projects and Request for Comments On Environmental Issues: Cheyenne 
Connector, LLC; Rockies Express Pipeline LLC

    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 construction and operation of 
facilities by Cheyenne Connector, LLC and Rockies Express Pipeline LLC 
(``applicants'') in Weld County, Colorado. The Commission will use this 
EA in its decision-making process to determine whether the applicants' 
projects are in the public convenience and necessity. According to the 
applicants, the proposed projects are being developed to work in tandem 
to deliver natural gas produced in Weld County to the Cheyenne Hub; 
therefore, the Commission is evaluating these two projects within a 
single EA.
    This notice announces the opening of the scoping process the 
Commission will use to gather input from the public and interested 
agencies on the projects. You can make a difference by providing us 
with your specific comments or concerns about the projects. 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 June 4, 2018.
    If you sent comments on either of these projects to the Commission 
before the opening of this docket on March 5, 2018, you will need to 
file those comments in the appropriate docket number (i.e., CP18-102-
000 and/or CP18-103-000) to ensure they are considered as part of this 
proceeding.
    This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental 
mailing list for the projects. State and local government 
representatives should notify their constituents of these proposed 
projects 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 these projects, 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 website (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 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 appropriate docket 
number of concern (either CP18-102-000 or CP18-103-000) with your 
submission: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.
    Please note this is not your only public input opportunity; refer 
to the review process flow chart 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 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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Summary of the Proposed Projects

    The applicants propose to construct and operate new natural gas 
pipeline, metering, and compression facilities in Weld County, 
Colorado. The Cheyenne Connector Pipeline Project (Docket No. CP18-102-
000) would transport northward about 600,000 dekatherms per day of 
natural gas from natural gas processing plants to a delivery 
interconnect with Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (Rockies Express) at the 
Cheyenne Hub. The Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Project (Docket No. CP18-

[[Page 21292]]

103-000) would include additional natural gas compression facilities at 
the existing Cheyenne Hub to enable deliveries between Rockies Express 
and other interconnected pipelines at the Cheyenne Hub. According to 
the applicants, their Cheyenne Connector Pipeline and Cheyenne Hub 
Enhancement Projects are needed to transport and move growing natural 
gas production originating in Weld County to national markets.
    The Cheyenne Connector Pipeline Project would consist of the 
following facilities:
     Approximately 70 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipeline, 
including three associated mainline valves and other ancillary 
facilities; and
     Five meter and regulating stations.
    The Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Project would consist of the following 
facilities:
     One new approximately 32,100 horsepower ``Cheyenne Hub 
Booster Compressor Station''; and
     Enhancements to modify the existing Cheyenne Hub 
interconnect facilities, including installation of pipe, valves, 
fittings, filters, and ancillary equipment.
    The general locations of the projects' facilities are shown in 
appendix 2.

Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction of the proposed aboveground and pipeline facilities 
would disturb about 1,720.3 acres of land. Following construction, the 
applicants would maintain about 470.5 acres for permanent operation of 
the projects' facilities; the remaining acreage would be restored and 
revert to former uses. About 46 percent of the proposed pipeline route 
parallels existing pipeline 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 be addressed 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 projects 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;
     socioeconomics;
     public safety; and
     cumulative impacts.
    We will also evaluate reasonable alternatives to the proposed 
projects or portions of the projects, 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. We will 
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 
these projects 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 Colorado State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), and to 
solicit their views and those of other government agencies, interested 
Indian tribes, and the public on the projects' potential effects on 
historic properties.\4\ We will define the project-specific Area of 
Potential Effects (APE) in consultation with the SHPO as the projects 
develop. 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 these projects 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 a 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 projects.
    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 3).

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.

[[Page 21293]]

Motions to intervene are more fully described at http://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/how-to/intervene.asp.

Additional Information

    Additional information about the projects 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-
102 or CP18-103). 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: May 3, 2018.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-09858 Filed 5-8-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P