[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 207 (Thursday, October 27, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65053-65055]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-23414]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP22-461-000]


Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC; Notice of 
Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Proposed Southside Reliability Enhancement Project

    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) 
for the Southside Reliability Enhancement Project (Project), proposed 
by Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco) in the above-
referenced docket. Transco requests authorization to construct and 
operate one new compressor station and modify two existing compressor 
stations and three existing meter stations in North Carolina and 
Virginia. The Project would provide an incremental 423,400 dekatherms 
per day (Dth/d) of year-round firm transportation capacity from 
Transco's Compressor Station 165 and the Pine Needle Storage Facility 
along the mainline pipeline system to delivery points in North 
Carolina.
    The draft EIS assesses the potential environmental effects of the 
construction and operation of the Project in accordance with the 
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). FERC 
staff concludes that approval of the proposed Project, with the 
mitigation measures recommended in the EIS, would result in some 
adverse environmental impacts; however, impacts would be reduced to 
less-than-significant levels. Regarding climate change impacts, the 
Project's construction and operation emissions would increase the 
atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG), in combination 
with past, present, and future emissions from all other sources. 
Climate change impacts are not characterized in the EIS as significant 
or insignificant because the Commission is conducting a generic 
proceeding to determine whether and how the Commission will conduct 
significance determinations going

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forward.\1\ The EIS also concludes that no system or other alternative 
site would meet the Project objective while providing a significant 
environmental advantage over the Project as proposed.
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    \1\ Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Natural Gas 
Infrastructure Project Reviews, 178 FERC ] 61,108 (2022); 178 FERC ] 
61,197 (2022).
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    The draft EIS addresses the potential environmental effects of the 
construction and operation of the following Project facilities:
     installation of a new compressor station (Compressor 
Station 168) which includes one new 33,000 horsepower electric motor-
driven compressor unit, and installation of new mainline valves on 
South Virginia Lateral A-Line and B-Line at the new Compressor Station 
168 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia;
     addition of one 16,000 horsepower electric motor-driven 
compressor unit at existing Compressor Station 166 in Pittsylvania 
County, Virginia;
     installation of piping modifications to allow for flow 
reversal at existing Compressor Station 155 in Davidson County, North 
Carolina;
     replacement of one meter run to increase delivery volumes 
at the existing Ahoskie Meter Station in Hertford County, North 
Carolina;
     installation of new facilities to increase delivery 
volumes at the existing Pleasant Hill Meter Station in Northampton 
County, North Carolina; and
     upgrade meter and controls and debottleneck piping at the 
existing Iredell Meter Station in Iredell County, North Carolina.
    The Commission mailed a copy of the Notice of Availability of the 
draft EIS 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 (i.e. CP22-461-000). 
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, measures to avoid or lessen 
environmental impacts, and the completeness of the submitted 
alternatives, information and analyses. 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 p.m. Eastern Time on 
December 12, 2022.
    For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit 
your 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 (CP22-
461-000) 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.
    (4) In lieu of sending written comments, the Commission invites you 
to attend the virtual public comment session its staff will conduct by 
telephone, scheduled as follows:

Date and Time

Wednesday November 16, 2022

Time: 6:00-8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
Call in number: 888-957-9871
Participant passcode: 3983900

    The primary goal of the comment session is to have you identify 
specific environmental issues and concerns with the draft EIS. Note 
that the comment sessions will start at 6:00 p.m. and will end once all 
participants wishing to comment have had the opportunity to do so, or 
at 8:00 p.m., whichever comes first. Individual oral comments will be 
taken one at a time with a court reporter present on the line.
    There will be a brief introduction by Commission staff when the 
session opens, so please attempt to call in at the beginning of the 
session. All participants will be able to hear the comments provided by 
other participants; however, all lines will remain closed during the 
comments of others and then opened one at a time for providing 
comments. Once you call in, the operator will provide directions on how 
to indicate you would like to provide a comment. A time limit of 3 
minutes may be implemented for each commentor.
    Your oral comments will be recorded by the court reporter and 
become part of the public record for this proceeding. Transcripts of 
all comments received during the session will be publicly available on 
FERC's eLibrary system (see comment instructions on page 3 of this 
notice for instructions on using eLibrary).
    It is important to note that the Commission provides equal 
consideration to all comments received, whether filed in written form 
or provided orally at a virtual comment session.
    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

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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: October 21, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-23414 Filed 10-26-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P