Columbia Gulf Transmission, LLC; Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Rayne Xpress Expansion Project, and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues, 54783-54784 [2015-22917]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 176 (Friday, September 11, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54783-54784]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-22917]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. CP15-539-000; CP15-514-000]


Columbia Gulf Transmission, LLC; Columbia Gas Transmission, LLC; 
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the 
Rayne Xpress Expansion Project, and Request for Comments on 
Environmental Issues

    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) will evaluate the environmental impacts of the Rayne XPress 
Expansion Project (project) in an environmental impact statement (EIS) 
being prepared for the related Leach XPress Project filed by Columbia 
Gas Transmission (Columbia Gas) in Docket No. CP15-514.\1\ The Rayne 
XPress Expansion Project involves construction and operation of 
facilities by Columbia Gulf Transmission, LLC (Columbia Gulf) in 
Carter, Menifee and Montgomery Counties, Kentucky. The Commission will 
use this EIS in its decision-making process to determine whether the 
project is in the public convenience and necessity.
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    \1\ A Notice of Application was issued on June 22, 2015 for the 
Leach XPress Project. The NOI stated that Columbia Gulf, one of 
Columbia Gas's affiliates, may be proposing a project which may have 
some connection to the Leach XPress Project. The Leach XPress 
Project was in the pre-filing phase until filed on June 8, 2015 
under Docket No. PF14-023.
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    This notice announces the opening of the scoping process the 
Commission will use to gather input from the public and interested 
agencies on the project. You can make a difference by providing us with 
your specific comments or concerns about the project. 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 EIS. 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 October 5, 2015.
    If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the 
opening of this docket on July 29, 2015, you will need to file those 
comments in Docket No. CP15-539-000 to ensure they are considered as 
part of this proceeding.
    This notice is being sent to the Commission's current environmental 
mailing list for this project. State and local government 
representatives should notify their constituents of this proposed 
project 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 the project, 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.
    Columbia Gulf 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 Web site (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 efiling@ferc.gov. 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 Web site (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 Web site (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 project docket number 
(CP15-539-000) with your submission:

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.

Summary of the Proposed Project

    Columbia Gulf plans to construct and operate 51,800 horsepower (hp) 
of new compression in Carter, Menifee and Montgomery Counties, 
Kentucky, and modification of the existing Means Measurement and 
Regulation Station in Montgomery County, Kentucky. The project would 
provide about 621,000 Dekatherms per day of firm transportation on its 
system.
    The project would consist of the following facilities:
     A new 36,400 hp Grayson Compressor Station consisting of 
two gas-driven compressor units at Milepost (MP) 68 on Columbia Gulf's 
existing Mainline 100, 200 and 300 pipelines in in Carter County, 
Kentucky;
     a new 15,400 hp Means Compressor Station consisting of two 
gas-driven compressor units at MP 6.5 on Columbia Gulf's existing 
Mainline 100, 200 and 300 pipelines in in Menifee and Montgomery 
Counties, Kentucky; and
     modifications to station piping and Supervisory Control 
and Data Acquisition systems at the existing Means Measurement and 
Regulation Station in Montgomery County, Kentucky.
    The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix 
2.

Land Requirements for Construction

    Construction of the proposed facilities would disturb about 34 
acres of land, converting about 17 acres of land to industrial land use 
under permanent operation of the project's facilities. Columbia Gulf 
would restore the remaining acreage to former uses.

The EIS 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

[[Page 54784]]

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 EIS on the important environmental issues. By this notice, the 
Commission requests public comments on the scope of the issues to 
address in the EIS. We will consider all filed comments during the 
preparation of the EIS.
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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 EIS we will discuss impacts that could occur as a result of 
the construction and operation of the proposed project under these 
general headings:
     Geology;
     soils;
     water resources, including surface water and groundwater;
     wetlands;
     vegetation and wildlife, including migratory birds;
     fisheries and aquatic resources;
     threatened, endangered, and other special status species;
     land use, recreation, special interest areas, and visual 
resources;
     socioeconomics;
     cultural resources;
     air quality and noise;
     public safety and reliability; and
     cumulative environmental impacts.
    We will also evaluate possible alternatives to the proposed project 
or portions of the project, and make recommendations on how to lessen 
or avoid impacts on the various resource areas.
    The EIS will present our independent analysis of the issues. We 
will publish and distribute the draft EIS for public comment. After the 
comment period, we will consider all timely comments and revise the 
document, as necessary, before issuing a final EIS. 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 
related to this project to formally cooperate with us in the 
preparation of the EIS.\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 applicable State Historic Preservation Office(s), and to 
solicit their views and those of other government agencies, interested 
Indian tribes, and the public on the project's potential effects on 
historic properties.\4\ We will define the project-specific Area of 
Potential Effects (APE) in consultation with the SHPO(s) as the project 
develops. 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 EIS for this project 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 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 the 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 project.
    Copies of the completed draft EIS 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 2).

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

Additional Information

    Additional information about the project is available from the 
Commission's Office of External Affairs, at (866) 208-FERC, or on the 
FERC Web site 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., CP15-
539). Be sure you have selected an appropriate date range. For 
assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at 
FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov 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 meetings 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: September 4, 2015.
Kimberly D. Bose,
 Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-22917 Filed 9-10-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P