[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 209 (Friday, October 31, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48958-48959]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19730]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
[Docket No. PHMSA-2020-0007]
Pipeline Safety: Request for Special Permit; Southern Natural Gas
Company, LLC
AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA);
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: PHMSA is publishing this notice to solicit public comments on
a request for an extension to a special permit segment to be
incorporated into special permit PHMSA-2020-0007 submitted by Southern
Natural Gas Company, LLC (SNG), a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, Inc. SNG
is seeking relief from compliance with certain requirements in the
Federal pipeline safety regulations. PHMSA has proposed conditions to
ensure that the special permit is not inconsistent with pipeline
safety. At the conclusion of the 30-day comment period, PHMSA will
review the comments received from this notice as part of its evaluation
to grant or deny the special permit request.
DATES: Submit any comments regarding this special permit request by
December 1, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comments should reference the docket number for this special
permit request and may be submitted in the following ways:
E-Gov Website: http://www.regulations.gov. This site
allows the public to enter comments on any Federal Register notice
issued by any agency.
Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management System: U.S. Department of
Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
Hand Delivery: Docket Management System: U.S. Department
of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, West Building Ground Floor,
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, between
9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
Instructions: You should identify the docket number for the special
permit request you are commenting on at the beginning of your comments.
If you submit your comments by mail, please submit two copies. To
receive confirmation that PHMSA has received your comments, please
include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Internet users may submit
comments at http://www.regulations.gov.
Note: There is a privacy statement published on http://www.regulations.gov. Comments, including any personal information
provided, are posted without changes or edits to http://www.regulations.gov.
Confidential Business Information: Confidential Business
Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both
customarily and treated as private by its owner. Under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) (5 United States Code (U.S.C.) Sec. 552), CBI
is exempt from public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this
notice contain commercial or financial information that is customarily
treated as private, that you treat as private, and that is relevant or
responsive to this notice, it is important that you clearly designate
the submitted comments as CBI. Pursuant to 49 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) Sec. 190.343, you may ask PHMSA to give confidential
treatment to information you give to the agency by taking the following
steps: (1) mark each page of the original document submission
containing CBI as ``Confidential''; (2) send PHMSA, along with the
original document, a second copy of the original document with the CBI
deleted; and (3) explain why the information you are submitting is CBI.
Unless you are notified otherwise, PHMSA will treat such marked
submissions as confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed
in the public docket of this notice. Submissions containing CBI should
be sent to Lee Cooper, DOT, PHMSA-PHP-80, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE,
Washington, DC 20590-0001. Any commentary PHMSA receives that is not
specifically designated as CBI will be placed in the public docket for
this matter.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
[[Page 48959]]
General: Lee Cooper by telephone at 202-913-3171, or by email at
[email protected].
Technical: Gabrielle St. Pierre by telephone at 907-202-0029, or by
email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: PHMSA received a special permit request from
SNG, a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan, Inc., on September 26, 2024,
seeking an extension to a special permit segment to be incorporated
into special permit PHMSA-2020-0007. The extended segment request is a
part of the active permit's Special Permit Inspection Area 4. Special
permit PHMSA-2020-0007 allows SNG to deviate from the Federal pipeline
safety regulations in 49 CFR 192.611(a) and 192.619(a), where a gas
transmission pipeline segment has undergone a change from a Class 1 to
a Class 3 location.
Special permit PHMSA-2020-0007 is active and was granted on July
27, 2022 and is effective until July 27, 2032. The special permit
originally applied to four special permit segments, which included
3,278 feet (approximately 0.62 miles) of the SNG natural gas
transmission pipeline system located in Effingham and Harris counties,
Georgia, and Clarke County, Mississippi. In 2023, Special Permit
Segment 2 underwent pipe replacement and Special Permit Segment 4 was
hydrotested; both segments are now compliant with 49 CFR 192.611 and
are no longer waived by special permit PHMSA-2020-0007. The present
request would extend Special Permit Segment 5 for 997 feet
(approximately 0.19 miles). If granted, the special permit segments
would total 3,720 feet (approximately 0.70 miles).
The special permit segments, including the requested extension, are
detailed in updated Attachment A--Segment Integrity Information.
Proposed modifications due to this request are as follows:
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Maximum allowable
Outside Length Year operating pressure
SPS No. Status County, state diameter Line name (feet) installed (pounds per square
(inches) inch gauge)
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5....................... Active Segment........ Harris, Georgia....... 36 South Main 3rd Line 1,220 2004 1,200
Loop.
Extension............. Harris, Georgia....... 36 South Main 3rd Line 997 2004 1,200
Loop.
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Upon receipt of this request, PHMSA reviewed the Final
Environmental Assessment (FEA) and finds that the expansion of the
proposed special permit would not result in significant impacts to the
human environment. Furthermore, the existing FEA and finding of no
significant impact remain adequate, pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
No further environmental assessment is required for this proposed
extension.
SNG's request for an extension to Special Permit Segment 5, active
Special Permit with Conditions, and associated environmental document
are available for review and public comment in Docket No. PHMSA-2020-
0007. PHMSA invites interested persons to review and submit comments in
the docket on this request for modification of the special permit.
Please submit comments on any potential safety, environmental, and
other relevant considerations implicated by the special permit request.
Comments may include relevant data.
Before issuing a decision on the special permit request, PHMSA will
evaluate all comments received on or before the comment closing date.
PHMSA will consider each relevant comment it receives in making its
decision to grant or deny this special permit request.
Issued in Washington, DC, on October 29, 2025, under authority
delegated in 49 CFR 1.97.
Linda Daugherty,
Acting Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety.
[FR Doc. 2025-19730 Filed 10-30-25; 8:45 am]
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