[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 17 (Thursday, January 26, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4995-4996]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-01492]



[[Page 4995]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP22-21-000; Docket No. CP22-22-000]


Venture Global CP2 LNG, LLC, Venture Global CP Express, LLC; 
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for 
the Proposed CP2 LNG AND CP Express Project

    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) 
for the CP2 LNG and CP Express Projects (Project), proposed by Venture 
Global CP2 LNG, LLC (CP2 LNG) and Venture Global CP Express, LLC (CP 
Express) in the above-referenced dockets. CP2 LNG and CP Express 
request authorizations to construct, install, own, operate, and 
maintain certain liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Cameron 
Parish, Louisiana and certain pipeline facilities in Cameron and 
Calcasieu Parishes, Louisiana and Jasper and Newton Counties, Texas.
    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). The FERC 
staff concludes that approval of the proposed Project, with the 
mitigation measures recommended in the EIS, would have some adverse 
environmental impact. However, most of these impacts would be avoided 
or reduced to less-than-significant levels, with the exception of 
climate change and visual resources, including cumulative visual 
impacts, and visual impacts on environmental justice communities in the 
region. Climate change impacts are not characterized in the EIS as 
significant or insignificant.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans and Galveston 
Districts, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department 
of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 
Administration, and National Marine Fisheries Service participated as 
cooperating agencies in the preparation of the EIS. Cooperating 
agencies have jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to 
resources potentially affected by the proposal and participate in the 
NEPA analysis. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans and 
Galveston Districts will adopt and use the EIS to consider compliance 
with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act of 1972, as amended and Section 
10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. Although the cooperating 
agencies provided input to the conclusions and recommendations 
presented in the draft EIS, the agencies will present their own 
conclusions and recommendations in their respective Records of Decision 
for the Project.
    The draft EIS addresses the potential environmental effects of the 
construction and operation of the following Project facilities:
     a liquefaction plant consisting of 18 liquefaction blocks 
and ancillary support facilities, each block having a nameplate 
capacity of about 1.1 million tonnes per annum of LNG;
     six pretreatment systems, each including an amine gas-
sweetening unit to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) and a 
molecular sieve dehydration system to remove water;
     four 200,000 cubic meter aboveground full containment LNG 
storage tanks (two per phase) with cryogenic pipeline connections to 
the liquefaction plant and to the berthing docks;
     carbon capture and sequestration facilities, including 
carbon capture equipment within the terminal site as well as a non-
jurisdictional CO2 send-out pipeline outside of the terminal 
site; \1\
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    \1\ CP2 LNG anticipates this pipeline would be installed under 
the southern portion of the Terminal Site floodwall and terminate at 
a non-jurisdictional offshore platform in State of Louisiana waters.
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     a combined cycle natural gas turbine power plant with a 
nameplate capacity of 1,470 megawatts;
     two marine LNG loading docks and turning basins and two 
cryogenic lines for LNG transfer from the storage tanks to the docks;
     administration, control, maintenance, and warehouse 
buildings and related parking lots;
     85.4 miles of 48-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline (CP 
Express Pipeline);
     6.0 miles of 24-inch-diameter natural gas lateral pipeline 
connecting to the CP Express Pipeline in northwest Calcasieu Parish 
(Enable Gulf Run Lateral);
     one 187,000-horsepower natural gas-fired compressor 
station (Moss Lake Compressor Station);
     six meter stations (five at interconnects with existing 
pipelines and one at the terminus of the CP Express Pipeline within the 
Terminal Site); and
     other appurtenant facilities.\2\
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    \2\ The LNG terminal would also include the following non-
jurisdictional facilities: electrical transmission line and 
substation, water pipeline, septic system, and stormwater 
facilities/outfalls.
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    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, excluding the last 
three digits (i.e. CP22-21 or CP22-22). 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 number of pages in the draft EIS exceeds the page limits set 
forth in the Council on Environmental Quality's July 16, 2020 final 
rule, Update to the Regulations Implementing the Procedural Provisions 
of the National Environmental Policy Act (85 FR 43304). Noting the 
scope and complexity of the proposed action and action alternatives, 
the Director of the Office of Energy Projects, as our senior agency 
official, has authorized this page limit exceedance for this draft EIS.
    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 5:00 p.m. Eastern 
Time on March 13, 2023.
    For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit 
your comments to the Commission. The

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Commission will provide equal consideration to all comments received, 
whether filed in written form or provided orally. 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 also 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;
    (3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to 
the Commission. Be sure to reference the Project docket number (CP22-21 
and CP22-22) 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; or
     (4) In lieu of sending written or electronic comments, the 
Commission invites you to attend one of the public comment sessions its 
staff will conduct in the Project area to receive comments on the draft 
EIS, scheduled as follows:

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               Date and Time                          Location
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Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 5:00 p.m.-8:00    Ward 7 Community Center,
 p.m.                                        1615 Horridge Street,
                                             Vinton, LA 70668, (337) 589-
                                             5181.
Thursday, March 2, 2023, 5:00 p.m.-8:00     Cameron Parish Police Jury
 p.m.                                        Room, 148 Smith Circle,
                                             Cameron, LA 70631, (337)
                                             775-5718.
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    The primary goal of these comment sessions is to have you identify 
the specific environmental issues and concerns with the draft EIS. 
Individual oral comments will be taken on a one-on-one basis with a 
court reporter. This format is designed to receive the maximum amount 
of oral comments, in a convenient way during the timeframe allotted.
    Each comment session is scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. 
Central Standard Time. You may arrive at any time after 5:00 p.m. There 
will not be a formal presentation by Commission staff when the session 
opens. If you wish to speak, the Commission staff will hand out numbers 
in the order of your arrival. Comments will be taken until 8:00 p.m. 
However, if no additional numbers have been handed out and all 
individuals who wish to provide comments have had an opportunity to do 
so, staff may conclude the session at 7:30 p.m.
    Your oral comments will be recorded by the court reporter (with 
FERC staff or representative present) and become part of the public 
record for this proceeding. Transcripts will be publicly available on 
FERC's eLibrary system (see page 3 for instructions on using eLibrary). 
If a significant number of people are interested in providing oral 
comments in the one-on-one settings, a time limit of 5 minutes may be 
implemented for each commentor. Although there will not be a formal 
presentation, Commission staff will be available throughout the comment 
session to answer your questions about the environmental review 
process.
    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 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/how-intervene. 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: January 19, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.

Appendix 1

Session Format

    FERC is conducting the session to solicit your comments on the 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement. There will not be a formal 
presentation by Commission staff; however, FERC staff is available 
to answer questions about the environmental review process. The 
session format is as follows:
     Tickets are handed out on a ``first come, first serve'' 
basis starting at the time listed in the Notice.
     Individuals are called in ticket number order to 
provide oral comments to be transcribed by a court reporter for the 
public record.
     Time limits on oral comments may be enforced to ensure 
that all those wishing to comment have the opportunity to do so 
within the designated session time.
     Written comments may be submitted in addition to, or in 
lieu of, oral comments.
     Additional materials about FERC and the environmental 
review process are available at information stations at the session.

Session Conduct

    Proper conduct will help the sessions maintain a respectful 
atmosphere for attendees to learn about the FERC Environmental 
Review Process and to be able to provide comments effectively.
     Loudspeakers, lighting, oversized visual aids, or other 
visual or audible disturbances are not permitted.
     Disruptive video and photographic equipment may not be 
used.
     Conversations should be kept to a reasonable volume. 
Attendees should be respectful of those providing oral comments to 
the court reporters.
     Recorded interviews are not permitted within the 
session space.
     FERC reserves the right end the session if disruptions 
interfere with the opportunity for individuals to provide oral 
comments or if there is a safety or security risk.

[FR Doc. 2023-01492 Filed 1-25-23; 8:45 am]
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