[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 133 (Thursday, July 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37321-37322]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-15058]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP20-27-000]


North Baja Pipeline, LLC; Notice of Availability of the Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement for The Proposed North Baja Xpress 
Project

    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) 
for the North Baja XPress Project (Project), proposed by North Baja 
Pipeline, LLC (North Baja) in the above-referenced docket. North Baja 
requests authorization to modify an existing compressor station in La 
Paz County, Arizona, as well as install additional flow measurement 
facilities and piping modifications at two existing meter stations in 
La Paz County, Arizona and Imperial County, California, respectively. 
North Baja states that the purpose of the Project is enable the 
transport of 495,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas to the United 
States/Mexico border for its shipper, Sempra LNG International, LLC.
    The draft EIS responds to comments that were received on the 
Commission's September 8, 2020 Environmental Assessment (EA) \1\ and 
discloses downstream greenhouse gas emissions for the Project. With the 
exception of climate change impacts, the FERC staff concludes that 
approval of the proposed Project, with the mitigation measures 
recommended in the EIS, would not result in significant environmental 
impacts. FERC staff continues to be unable to determine significance 
with regards to climate change impacts.
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    \1\ The Project's Environmental Assessment is available on 
eLibrary under accession no. 20200908-3009.
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    The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 
participated as a cooperating agency in the preparation of the EA and 
the draft EIS. Cooperating agencies have jurisdiction by law or special 
expertise with respect to resources potentially affected by the 
proposal and participate in the National Environmental Policy Act 
analysis. The BLM may adopt and use the EA and EIS to consider the 
issuance of a right-of-way grant for the use of a temporary workspace 
requested by North Baja on BLM-administered public lands adjacent to 
the Ogilby Meter Station in Imperial County, California.
    The draft EIS incorporates the above-referenced EA, which addressed 
the potential environmental effects of the construction and operation 
of the following Project facilities:
     One new 31,900-horsepower compressor unit and restaging of 
two existing 7,700-horsepower compressor units at North Baja's existing 
Ehrenberg Compressor Station in La Paz County, Arizona; and
     flow measurement facilities and piping modifications at 
North Baja's existing El Paso and Ogilby Meter Stations in La Paz 
County, Arizona and Imperial County, California, respectively.
    The Commission mailed a copy of the Notice of Availability of the 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed North Baja XPress 
Project to federal, state, and local government representatives and 
agencies; elected officials; environmental and public interest groups; 
Native American tribes; potentially affected landowners and other 
interested individuals and groups; and newspapers and libraries in the 
Project area. The draft EIS is only available in electronic format. It 
may be viewed and downloaded from the FERC's website (www.ferc.gov), on 
the natural gas environmental documents page (https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/natural-gas/environment/environmental-documents). In 
addition, the draft EIS may be accessed by using the eLibrary link on 
the FERC's website. Click on the eLibrary link (https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/search) select ``General Search'' and enter 
the docket number in the ``Docket Number'' field, excluding the last 
three digits (i.e., CP20-27). 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 draft EIS is not a decision document. It presents Commission 
staff's independent analysis of the environmental issues for the 
Commission to consider when addressing the merits of all issues in this 
proceeding. Any person wishing to comment on the draft EIS may do so. 
Your comments should focus on draft EIS's disclosure and discussion of 
potential environmental effects, including climate impacts due to 
downstream greenhouse gas emissions, and measures to avoid or lessen 
environmental impacts. To ensure consideration of your comments on the 
proposal in the final EIS, it is important that the Commission receive 
your comments on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on August 30, 2021.
    For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit 
your

[[Page 37322]]

comments to the Commission. The Commission will provide equal 
consideration to all comments received, whether filed in written form 
or provided verbally. The Commission encourages electronic filing of 
comments and has staff available to assist you at (866) 208-3676 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 
FERC Online. 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 
FERC Online. 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 Commission. Be sure to reference the project docket number (CP20-
27-000) on your letter. Submissions sent via the U.S. Postal Service 
must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 
20426. Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: 
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
    Any person seeking to become a party to the proceeding must file a 
motion to intervene pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission's Rules of 
Practice and Procedures (18 CFR part 385.214). Motions to intervene are 
more fully described at https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/ferc-online/how-guides. Only intervenors have the right to seek rehearing or 
judicial review of the Commission's decision. The Commission grants 
affected landowners and others with environmental concerns intervenor 
status upon showing good cause by stating that they have a clear and 
direct interest in this proceeding which no other party can adequately 
represent. Simply filing environmental comments will not give you 
intervenor status, but you do not need intervenor status to have your 
comments considered.

Questions?

    Additional information about the project is available from the 
Commission's Office of External Affairs, at (866) 208-FERC, or on the 
FERC website (www.ferc.gov) using the eLibrary link. The eLibrary link 
also provides access to the texts of all formal documents issued by the 
Commission, such as orders, notices, and rulemakings.
    In addition, the Commission offers a free service called 
eSubscription that 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 https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/overview to 
register for eSubscription.

    Dated: July 9, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-15058 Filed 7-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P