83 FR 30728 - Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Calcasieu Pass Project; Venture Global Calcasieu Pass, LLC, TransCameron Pipeline, LLC

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 126 (June 29, 2018)

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 126 (Friday, June 29, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30728-30729]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-13958]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. CP15-550-000, CP15-551-000, and CP15-551-001]


Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Proposed Calcasieu Pass Project; Venture Global 
Calcasieu Pass, LLC, TransCameron Pipeline, LLC

    The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or 
Commission) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) 
for the Calcasieu Pass Project, proposed by Venture Global Calcasieu 
Pass, LLC (Venture Global Calcasieu Pass) and TransCameron Pipeline, 
LLC (TransCameron Pipeline) in the above-referenced dockets. Venture 
Global Calcasieu Pass requests authorization to site, construct, and 
operate a natural gas liquefaction and storage facility, and marine 
export terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. TransCameron Pipeline 
requests authorization to construct, install, and operate certain 
natural gas pipeline facilities also in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. The 
new liquefaction facilities would have a design production capacity of 
12 million metric ton of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum.
    The draft EIS assesses the potential environmental effects of the 
construction and operation of the Calcasieu Pass Project in accordance 
with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. The 
FERC staff concludes that approval of the proposed project would have 
some adverse environmental impacts; however, all of these impacts would 
be reduced to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of 
Venture Global Calcasieu Pass' and TransCameron Pipeline's proposed 
mitigation measures and the additional measures recommended in the 
draft EIS.
    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department 
of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Department of 
Transportation participated as cooperating agencies in the preparation 
of the draft EIS. Cooperating agencies have jurisdiction by law or 
special expertise with respect to resources potentially affected by the 
proposal and participate in the National Environmental Policy Act 
analysis. Although the cooperating agencies provided input on 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:
     Nine integrated pre-cooled single mixed refrigerant (SMR) 
blocks;
     two full-containment aboveground LNG storage tanks, each 
with a usable capacity of approximately 200,000 cubic meters;
     a 1,500-foot by 3,000-foot turning basin adjacent to the 
Calcasieu River Ship Channel;
     two LNG berthing docks, each designed to handle carriers 
of 120,000 to 210,000 cubic meter cargo capacity;
     a 720 megawatt natural gas-fired combined cycle gas 
turbine electric generation facility;
     approximately 23.4 miles of 42-inch-diameter pipeline to 
bring feed gas from interconnections with ANR Pipeline Company, Texas 
Eastern Transmission, LP, and Bridgeline Holdings, LP to the terminal 
site;
     one meter station;
     three mainline valves; and
     one pig launcher at the meter station and one pig receiver 
at the gas gate station on the terminal site.
    The FERC staff mailed copies 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; libraries in the project area; and parties to this proceeding. 
Paper copy versions of this EIS were mailed to those specifically 
requesting them; all others received a CD version. In addition, the EIS 
is available for public viewing on the FERC's website (www.ferc.gov) 
using the eLibrary link. A limited number of hardcopies of the EIS are 
available for distribution and public inspection at: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission Public Reference Room, 888 First Street NE, Room 
2A, Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8371.
    Any person wishing to comment on the draft EIS may do so. To ensure 
consideration of your comments on the proposal in the draft EIS, it is 
important that the Commission receive your comments on or before 5:00 
p.m. Eastern Time on August 13, 2018.
    For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit 
your comments with 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 located on the Commission's website (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 also file your comments electronically using the 
eFiling feature on the Commission's website (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. You must select the type of filing you are making. If you 
are filing a comment on a particular project, please select Comment on 
a Filing;
    (3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to 
the following address. Be sure to reference the project docket numbers 
(CP15-550-000, CP15-551-000, and CP15-551-001) with your submission: 
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.
    (4) In lieu of sending written or electronic comments, the 
Commission invites you to attend the public comment session its staff 
will conduct in the project area to receive comments on the draft EIS, 
scheduled as follows:

[[Page 30729]]



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             Date and time                           Location
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August 1, 2018 (4:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.      Cameron Parish School Board,
 CST).                                    Educational Conference Center,
                                          510 Marshall Street, Cameron,
                                          Louisiana 70631, (337) 775-
                                          5784.
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    The primary goal of this comment session is to have you identify 
the specific environmental issues and concerns with the draft EIS. 
Individual verbal comments will be taken on a one-on-one basis with a 
court reporter. This format is designed to receive the maximum amount 
of verbal comments, in a convenient way during the timeframe allotted.
    The comment session is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. CST. You may 
arrive at any time after 4 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; 
distribution of numbers will be discontinued at 6 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 6 p.m. Please see appendix 1 for additional information 
on the session format and conduct.\1\
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    \1\ The appendices referenced in this notice will not appear in 
the Federal Register. Copies of the 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.
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    Your verbal 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 below for instructions on using eLibrary). 
If a significant number of people are interested in providing verbal 
comments in the one-on-one settings, a time limit of 5 minutes may be 
implemented for each commentor.
    It is important to note that verbal comments hold the same weight 
as written or electronically submitted comments. 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.
    Filing environmental comments will not give you intervenor status, 
but you do not need intervenor status to have your comments considered. 
However, only intervenors have the right to seek rehearing or judicial 
review of the Commission's decisions. Any person may seek to intervene 
on environmental grounds and thereby become a party to this proceeding 
by filing a motion to intervene that complies with the requirements in 
Rule 214 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedures (18 CFR 
Part 385.214). Any such intervention must be filed within the comment 
period for the draft EIS to be deemed timely. Motions to intervene that 
are filed after the comment due date for the draft EIS are untimely and 
may be denied. Any late-filed motion to intervene must show good cause 
why the time limitation should be waived and provide justification by 
reference to factors set forth in Rule 214(d) of the Commission's Rules 
of Practice and Procedures (18 CFR part 385.214(b)(3) and (d)). The 
Commission strongly encourages electronic filing of interventions in 
lieu of paper using the eFiling feature described above, and available 
at http://www.ferc.gov. Persons unable to file electronically may 
submit a paper copy of the intervention to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.

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. Click on the 
eLibrary link, click on General Search, and enter the docket number in 
the Docket Number field, excluding the last three digits (i.e., CP15-
550; CP15-551). 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 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 www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp.

    Dated: June 22, 2018.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-13958 Filed 6-28-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P