81 FR 40294 - Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline, Inc.; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Shidler Line Segment Abandonment Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 119 (June 21, 2016)
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 119 (June 21, 2016)
| Page Range | 40294-40296 | |
| FR Document | 2016-14147 |
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 119 (Tuesday, June 21, 2016)] [Notices] [Pages 40294-40296] From the Federal Register Online [www.thefederalregister.org] [FR Doc No: 2016-14147] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. CP16-456-000] Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline, Inc.; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Shidler Line Segment Abandonment Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) will prepare an environmental assessment (EA) that will discuss the environmental impacts of the Shidler Line Segment Abandonment Project proposed by Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline, Inc. (Southern Star). The project involves abandonment of about 31.2 miles of 16-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline and removal of certain pipeline and aboveground facilities in Osage County, Oklahoma. The Commission will use this EA in its decision-making process to determine whether to authorize the project. 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 EA. 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 July 9, 2016. If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the opening of this docket on May 6, 2016, you will need to file those comments in Docket No. CP16-456-000 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 for temporary workspace or access roads to abandon the 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. A fact sheet prepared by the FERC entitled ``An Interstate Natural Gas Facility On My Land? What Do I Need To Know?'' is available for viewing on the FERC Web site (www.ferc.gov). This fact sheet addresses a number of typically asked questions, including the use of eminent domain and how to [[Page 40295]] participate in the Commission's proceedings. 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 [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 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 (CP16-456-000) 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 Southern Star proposes to abandon about 31.2 miles of 16-inch- diameter pipeline and appurtenant facilities of the Shidler Line (also referred to as ``Line ME'' or the ``Blackwell-Cotton Valley Line''), in Osage County, Oklahoma. The abandonment will require cutting and capping of the pipeline just east of the Shidler Town Border and slightly west of the Bowring Meter Station. Exposed pipeline would be removed at three stream crossings and would be cut, capped, and filled with grout at two improved road crossings. All associated aboveground facilities would be removed, including two mainline valve settings, three domestic taps, four rectifiers, 14 cathodic protection test stations, and the pipeline markers. The remainder of facilities would be abandoned in place. According to Southern Star, the abandonment is proposed due to corrosion on the Shidler Line that would require costly maintenance and integrity analysis to maintain service, and the pipeline is not necessary to support current or future service obligations. The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix 1.\1\ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \1\ The appendices referenced in this notice will not appear in the Federal Register. Copies of appendices were sent to all those receiving this notice in the mail and are available at www.ferc.gov using the link called ``eLibrary'' or from the Commission's Public Reference Room, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 502-8371. For instructions on connecting to eLibrary, refer to the last page of this notice. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Land Requirements for Construction The project would affect about 61.1 total acres during abandonment activities including 14.5 acres of existing pipeline right-of-way and aboveground facility sites; 5.0 acres of temporary extra workspace; and 41.7 acres for temporary access roads. Following construction, Southern Star would restore construction workspaces to pre-construction land use and the associated right-of-way would revert back to the landowner. The EA 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 authorizing an applicant's proposal. 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 EA on the important environmental issues. By this notice, the Commission requests public comments on the scope of the issues to address in the EA. We will consider all filed comments during the preparation of the EA. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \2\ ``We,'' ``us,'' and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff of the Commission's Office of Energy Projects. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the EA we will discuss impacts that could occur as a result of the proposed project under these general headings:Geology and soils; land use; water resources, fisheries, and wetlands; cultural resources; vegetation and wildlife; air quality and noise; endangered and threatened species; public safety; and cumulative impacts. We will also evaluate reasonable 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 EA will present our independent analysis of the issues. The EA will be available in the public record through eLibrary. Depending on the comments received during the scoping process, we may also publish and distribute the EA to the public for an allotted comment period. We will consider all comments on the EA before making our recommendations to the Commission. 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 of this project to formally cooperate with us in the preparation of the EA.\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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \3\ The Council on Environmental Quality regulations addressing cooperating agency responsibilities are at Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1501.6. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 (SHPO), and to solicit its 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 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 EA for this project will document our findings on the impacts on historic properties and summarize the status of consultations under section 106. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- \4\ The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's 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. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Environmental Mailing List The environmental mailing list includes federal, state, and local government representatives and agencies; elected officials; environmental and public interest [[Page 40296]] 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. If we publish and distribute the EA, copies 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 http://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., CP16- 456). 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 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: June 9, 2016. Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., Deputy Secretary. [FR Doc. 2016-14147 Filed 6-20-16; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
![40294 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 119 / Tuesday, June 21, 2016 / Notices
to 36 months. ANR states that this determining the appropriate action to be discuss the environmental impacts of
proposed temporary action will allow taken, but the filing of a comment alone the Shidler Line Segment Abandonment
ANR time to evaluate whether market will not serve to make the filer a party Project proposed by Southern Star
demand predicates the need to retain to the proceeding. The Commission’s Central Gas Pipeline, Inc. (Southern
this horsepower and to react quickly to rules require that persons filing Star). The project involves abandonment
any changing market conditions in the comments in opposition to the project of about 31.2 miles of 16-inch-diameter
region. ANR states that the provide copies of their protests only to natural gas pipeline and removal of
implementation of the Project will not the party or parties directly involved in certain pipeline and aboveground
impact ANR’s ability to serve existing the protest. facilities in Osage County, Oklahoma.
firm contracts. Persons who wish to comment only The Commission will use this EA in its
Pursuant to section 157.9 of the on the environmental review of this decision-making process to determine
Commission’s rules (18 CFR 157.9), project should submit an original and whether to authorize the project.
within 90 days of this Notice, the two copies of their comments to the This notice announces the opening of
Commission staff will either: complete Secretary of the Commission. the scoping process the Commission
its environmental assessment (EA) and Environmental commenters will be will use to gather input from the public
place it into the Commission’s public placed on the Commission’s and interested agencies on the project.
record (eLibrary) for this proceeding or environmental mailing list, will receive You can make a difference by providing
issue a Notice of Schedule for copies of the environmental documents, us with your specific comments or
Environmental Review. If a Notice of and will be notified of meetings concerns about the project. Your
Schedule for Environmental Review is associated with the Commission’s comments should focus on the potential
issued, it will indicate, among other environmental review process. environmental effects, reasonable
milestones, the anticipated date for the Environmental commenters will not be alternatives, and measures to avoid or
Commission staff’s issuance of the final required to serve copies of filed lessen environmental impacts. Your
environmental impact statement (FEIS) documents on all other parties. input will help the Commission staff
or EA for this proposal. The filing of the However, the non-party commenters determine what issues they need to
EA in the Commission’s public record will not receive copies of all documents evaluate in the EA. To ensure that your
for this proceeding or the issuance of a filed by other parties or issued by the comments are timely and properly
Notice of Schedule will serve to notify Commission (except for the mailing of recorded, please send your comments so
federal and state agencies of the timing environmental documents issued by the that the Commission receives them in
for the completion of all necessary Commission) and will not have the right Washington, DC on or before July 9,
reviews, and the subsequent need to to seek court review of the 2016.
complete all federal authorizations Commission’s final order. If you sent comments on this project
within 90 days of the date of issuance to the Commission before the opening of
The Commission strongly encourages
of the Commission staff’s FEIS or EA. this docket on May 6, 2016, you will
electronic filings of comments, protests
There are two ways to become need to file those comments in Docket
and interventions in lieu of paper using
involved in the Commission’s review of No. CP16–456–000 to ensure they are
the ‘‘eFiling’’ link at http://
this project. First, any person wishing to considered as part of this proceeding.
www.ferc.gov. Persons unable to file This notice is being sent to the
obtain legal status by becoming a party
electronically should submit an original Commission’s current environmental
to the proceedings for this project
and five copies of the protest or mailing list for this project. State and
should, on or before the comment date
intervention to the Federal Energy local government representatives should
stated below, file with the Federal
regulatory Commission, 888 First Street notify their constituents of this
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, NE., Washington, DC 20426. proposed project and encourage them to
a motion to intervene in accordance Comment Date: 5:00 p.m. Eastern comment on their areas of concern.
with the requirements of the Time on July 6, 2016. If you are a landowner receiving this
Commission’s Rules of Practice and Dated: June 15, 2016. notice, a pipeline company
Procedure (18 CFR 385.214 or 385.211) Kimberly Bose, representative may contact you about
and the Regulations under the NGA (18 Secretary. the acquisition of an easement for
CFR 157.10). A person obtaining party [FR Doc. 2016–14595 Filed 6–20–16; 8:45 am] temporary workspace or access roads to
status will be placed on the service list BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
abandon the facilities. The company
maintained by the Secretary of the would seek to negotiate a mutually
Commission and will receive copies of acceptable agreement. However, if the
all documents filed by the applicant and DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Commission approves the project, that
by all other parties. A party must submit approval conveys with it the right of
5 copies of filings made with the Federal Energy Regulatory eminent domain. Therefore, if easement
Commission and must mail a copy to Commission negotiations fail to produce an
the applicant and to every other party in agreement, the pipeline company could
[Docket No. CP16–456–000]
the proceeding. Only parties to the initiate condemnation proceedings
proceeding can ask for court review of Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline, where compensation would be
Commission orders in the proceeding. Inc.; Notice of Intent To Prepare an determined in accordance with state
However, a person does not have to law.
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Environmental Assessment for the
intervene in order to have comments Proposed Shidler Line Segment A fact sheet prepared by the FERC
considered. The second way to Abandonment Project and Request for entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas
participate is by filing with the Comments on Environmental Issues Facility On My Land? What Do I Need
Secretary of the Commission, as soon as To Know?’’ is available for viewing on
possible, an original and two copies of The staff of the Federal Energy the FERC Web site (www.ferc.gov). This
comments in support of or in opposition Regulatory Commission (FERC or fact sheet addresses a number of
to this project. The Commission will Commission) will prepare an typically asked questions, including the
consider these comments in environmental assessment (EA) that will use of eminent domain and how to
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![40296 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 119 / Tuesday, June 21, 2016 / Notices
groups; Native American Tribes; other In addition, the Commission offers a elevation between 6,800 and 7,500 feet
interested parties; and local libraries free service called eSubscription which above mean sea level; (7) a transmission
and newspapers. This list also includes allows you to keep track of all formal line from the powerhouse to the nearest
all affected landowners (as defined in issuances and submittals in specific major transmission interconnection; and
the Commission’s regulations) who are dockets. This can reduce the amount of (10) appurtenant facilities. The
potential right-of-way grantors, whose time you spend researching proceedings estimated annual generation of the Ute
property may be used temporarily for by automatically providing you with Project would be between 400 and 850
project purposes, or who own homes notification of these filings, document gigawatt-hours.
within certain distances of aboveground summaries, and direct links to the
facilities, and anyone who submits documents. Go to www.ferc.gov/docs- Applicant Contact: Shaun Chapoose,
comments on the project. We will filing/esubscription.asp. Chairman, Ute Tribal Business
update the environmental mailing list as Finally, public meetings or site visits Committee, Ute Indian Tribe, P.O. Box
the analysis proceeds to ensure that we will be posted on the Commission’s 190, Fort Duchesne, Utah 84026; phone:
send the information related to this calendar located at www.ferc.gov/ (435) 722–5141.
environmental review to all individuals, EventCalendar/EventsList.aspx along FERC Contact: Joseph Hassell; phone:
organizations, and government entities with other related information. (202) 502–8079.
interested in and/or potentially affected Dated: June 9, 2016. Deadline for filing comments, motions
by the proposed project. Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., to intervene, competing applications
If we publish and distribute the EA, Deputy Secretary. (without notices of intent), or notices of
copies will be sent to the environmental intent to file competing applications: 60
[FR Doc. 2016–14147 Filed 6–20–16; 8:45 am]
mailing list for public review and
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P days from the issuance of this notice.
comment. If you would prefer to receive
Competing applications and notices of
a paper copy of the document instead of
intent must meet the requirements of 18
the CD version or would like to remove DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
your name from the mailing list, please CFR 4.36.
return the attached Information Request Federal Energy Regulatory The Commission strongly encourages
(appendix 2). Commission electronic filing. Please file comments,
motions to intervene, notices of intent,
Becoming an Intervenor [Project No. 14742–000] and competing applications using the
In addition to involvement in the EA Ute Indian Tribe; Notice of Preliminary Commission’s eFiling system at http://
scoping process, you may want to Permit Application Accepted for Filing www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
become an ‘‘intervenor’’ which is an and Soliciting Comments, Motions To Commenters can submit brief comments
official party to the Commission’s Intervene, and Competing Applications up to 6,000 characters, without prior
proceeding. Intervenors play a more registration, using the eComment system
formal role in the process and are able On December 12, 2015, the Ute Indian at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/
to file briefs, appear at hearings, and be Tribe, filed an application for a ecomment.asp. You must include your
heard by the courts if they choose to preliminary permit, pursuant to section name and contact information at the end
appeal the Commission’s final ruling. 4(f) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), of your comments. For assistance,
An intervenor formally participates in proposing to study the feasibility of the please contact FERC Online Support at
the proceeding by filing a request to Ute Pumped Storage Project (Ute Project FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, (866)
intervene. Instructions for becoming an or project) adjacent to the Bureau of
208–3676 (toll free), or (202) 502–8659
intervenor are in the ‘‘Document-less Reclamation’s Flaming Gorge Reservoir,
(TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, please
Intervention Guide’’ under the ‘‘e-filing’’ in Daggett County, Utah. The sole
link on the Commission’s Web site. send a paper copy to: Secretary, Federal
purpose of a preliminary permit, if
Motions to intervene are more fully issued, is to grant the permit holder Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
described at http://www.ferc.gov/ priority to file a license application First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426.
resources/guides/how-to/intervene.asp. during the permit term. A preliminary The first page of any filing should
permit does not authorize the permit include docket number P–14742–000.
Additional Information
holder to perform any land-disturbing More information about this project,
Additional information about the activities or otherwise enter upon lands including a copy of the application, can
project is available from the or waters owned by others without the be viewed or printed on the ‘‘eLibrary’’
Commission’s Office of External Affairs, owners’ express permission. link of Commission’s Web site at http://
at (866) 208–FERC, or on the FERC Web The proposed pumped storage project www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/
site at www.ferc.gov using the would consist of the following: (1) An ecomment.asp. Enter the docket number
‘‘eLibrary’’ link. Click on the eLibrary intake and discharge structure at one of (P–14742) in the docket number field to
link, click on ‘‘General Search’’ and seven locations in Flaming Gorge access the document. For assistance,
enter the docket number, excluding the Reservoir; (2) an underground tailrace contact FERC Online Support.
last three digits in the Docket Number between the reservoir intake/outlet
field (i.e., CP16–456). Be sure you have structure and the powerhouse; (3) Dated: June 15, 2016.
selected an appropriate date range. For pump-turbine units in an underground Kimberly D. Bose,
asabaliauskas on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
assistance, please contact FERC Online powerhouse with generation capacity of Secretary.
Support at FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov between 500 to 1,000 megawatts; (4) a [FR Doc. 2016–14602 Filed 6–20–16; 8:45 am]
or toll free at (866) 208–3676, or for penstock between the powerhouse and BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
TTY, contact (202) 502–8659. The the upper reservoir; (5) a dam at one of
eLibrary link also provides access to the seven locations forming the upper
texts of formal documents issued by the reservoir; (6) an upper reservoir at one
Commission, such as orders, notices, of seven locations with a capacity
and rulemakings. between 5,000 and 10,000 acre-feet at an
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Document Created: 2016-06-21 01:30:52
Document Modified: 2016-06-21 01:30:52
| Category | Regulatory Information | |
| Collection | Federal Register | |
| sudoc Class | AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106: | |
| Publisher | Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration | |
| Section | Notices | |
| FR Citation | 81 FR 40294 |
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