[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 230 (Friday, November 29, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65800-65803]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-25908]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. PF19-8-000]
Northern Natural Gas Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare an
Environmental Assessment for the Planned South Sioux City to Sioux
Falls A-Line Replacement Project, Request for Comments on Environmental
Issues, and Notice of Public Scoping Sessions
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 South Sioux City to Sioux
Falls A-Line Replacement Project involving the abandonment,
construction, and operation of pipeline facilities in Dakota and Dixon
Counties, Nebraska and Lincoln and Union Counties, South Dakota by
Northern Natural Gas Company (Northern). The Commission will use this
EA in its decision-making process to determine whether the project is
in the public convenience and necessity.
This notice announces the opening of the scoping process the
Commission will use to gather input from the public and interested
agencies about issues regarding the project. The National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) requires the Commission to take into account the
environmental impacts that could result from its action whenever it
considers the issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and
Necessity. NEPA also requires the Commission to discover 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 issues
to address in the EA. To ensure that your comments are timely and
properly recorded, please submit your comments so that the Commission
receives them in Washington, DC on or before 5:00 p.m.
[[Page 65801]]
Eastern Standard Time on December 23, 2019.
You can make a difference by submitting 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 Commission staff
determine what issues they need to evaluate in the EA. Commission staff
will consider all filed comments during the preparation of the EA.
If you sent comments on this project to the Commission before the
opening of this docket on July 16, 2019, you will need to file those
comments under Docket No. PF19-8-000 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 planned
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 planned facilities. The company
would seek to negotiate a mutually acceptable easement agreement. You
are not required to enter into an agreement. However, if the Commission
approves the project, that approval conveys with it the right of
eminent domain. Therefore, if you and the company do not reach an
easement agreement, the pipeline company could initiate condemnation
proceedings in court. In such instances, compensation would be
determined by a judge 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 website (www.ferc.gov) at https://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/gas/gas.pdf. 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.
Public Participation
The Commission offers a free service called eSubscription which
makes it easy to stay informed of all issuances and submittals
regarding the dockets/projects to which you subscribe. These instant
email notifications are the fastest way to receive notification and
provide a link to the document files which can reduce the amount of
time you spend researching proceedings. To sign up go to www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp.
For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit
your comments to the Commission. 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, which is located on the Commission's website (www.ferc.gov)
under the link to Documents and Filings. Using eComment 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, which is also 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 will be asked to select the type of filing you
are making; a comment on a project is considered a ``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 number
PF19-8000 with your submission: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington,
DC 20426; or
(4) In lieu of sending written comments, the Commission invites you
to attend one of the public scoping sessions its staff will conduct in
the project area, scheduled as follows:
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Date and time Location
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Wednesday, December 11, 2019, The Pointe Event Center, 100 Truman Lane,
5:00-7:30 p.m. Elk Point, SD 57025, (605) 356-2874.
Thursday, December 12, 2019, Beresford Bridges Event Center, 601 S 7th
5:00-7:30 p.m. St., Beresford, SD 57004, (605) 201-
4240.
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The primary goal of these scoping sessions is to have you identify
the specific environmental issues and concerns that should be
considered in the EA. 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. Each scoping session is scheduled from
5:00 p.m. to 7:30 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 7:30 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 7:00 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 scoping comments will be recorded by a 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 the last page of this notice 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 commenter.
It is important to note that the Commission provides equal
consideration to all comments received, whether filed in written form
or provided verbally at a scoping session. Although there will not be a
formal presentation, Commission staff will be available throughout the
scoping session to answer your questions about the environmental review
process. Representatives from Northern will also be present to answer
project-specific questions.
Please note this is not your only public input opportunity; please
refer to
[[Page 65802]]
the review process flow chart in appendix 2.
Summary of the Planned Project
Northern plans to abandon in-place 79.2 miles of its 14-inch-
diamter A-Line from South Sioux City, Nebraska to Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, and replace the line with 84.2 miles of 12-inch-dimater
pipeline. In addition to the A-Line replacement, Northern plans to
abandon in-place its 0.2-mile-long 2-inch-diameter Ponca Branch Line,
which currently ties into the A-Line to be abandoned and replace it
with a 2.0-mile-long 3-inch-diameter pipeline. Northern also plans to
install appurtenant facilities, including pig launchers and
receivers,\2\ regulators, tie-overs, an odorizer, and associated piping
and valves. The Project will not change the current flow rate of 36
million cubic feet of gas per day.
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\2\ A ``pig'' is a tool that the pipeline company inserts into
and pushes through the pipeline for cleaning the pipeline,
conducting internal inspections, and other purposes.
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The general location of the project facilities is shown in appendix
3.
Land Requirements for Construction
Construction of the planned project would disturb about 1,048 acres
of land for the aboveground facilities and the pipeline. Following
construction, Northern would maintain about 510 acres for permanent
operation of the project's facilities and allow the remaining acreage
to revert to former uses. About 73 percent of the planned pipeline
route parallels existing pipeline, utility, or road rights-of-way.
The EA Process
The EA will discuss impacts that could occur as a result of the
construction and operation of the planned project under these general
headings:
Geology and soils;
water resources and wetlands;
vegetation and wildlife;
threatened and endangered species;
cultural resources;
land use;
air quality and noise;
public safety; and
cumulative impacts.
Commission staff will also evaluate possible alternatives to the
planned project or portions of the project, and make recommendations on
how to lessen or avoid impacts on the various resource areas.
Although no formal application has been filed, Commission staff
have already initiated a NEPA review under the Commission's pre-filing
process. The purpose of the pre-filing process is to encourage early
involvement of interested stakeholders and to identify and resolve
issues before the Commission receives an application. As part of the
pre-filing review, Commission staff will contact federal and state
agencies to discuss their involvement in the scoping process and the
preparation of the EA.
The EA will present Commission staffs' independent analysis of the
issues. The EA will be available in electronic format in the public
record through eLibrary \3\ and the Commission's website (https://www.ferc.gov/industries/gas/enviro/eis.asp). If eSubscribed, you will
receive instant email notification when the EA is issued. The EA may be
issued for an allotted public comment period. Commission staff will
consider all comments on the EA before making recommendations to the
Commission. To ensure Commission staff have the opportunity to consider
and address your comments, please carefully follow the instructions in
the Public Participation section, beginning on page 2.
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\3\ For instructions on connecting to eLibrary, refer to the
last page of this notice.
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With this notice, the Commission is asking agencies with
jurisdiction by law and/or special expertise with respect to the
environmental issues related to this project to formally cooperate in
the preparation of the EA.\4\ 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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\4\ 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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Consultation 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, the Commission is 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.\5\ The EA 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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\5\ 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. Commission staff will update the environmental
mailing list as the analysis proceeds to ensure that Commission notices
related to this environmental review are sent to all individuals,
organizations, and government entities interested in and/or potentially
affected by the planned project.
If the Commission issues the EA for an allotted public comment
period, a Notice of Availability of the EA will be sent to the
environmental mailing list and will provide instructions to access the
electronic document on the FERC's website (www.ferc.gov). If you need
to make changes to your name/address, or if you would like to remove
your name from the mailing list, please return the attached ``Mailing
List Update Form'' (appendix 4).
Becoming an Intervenor
Once Northern files its application with the Commission, you may
want to become an ``intervenor'' which is an official party to the
Commission's proceeding. Only intervenors have the right to seek
rehearing of the Commission's decision 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 pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission's Rules of Practice
and Procedures (18 CFR 385.214). Motions to intervene are more fully
described at http://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/how-to/intervene.asp.
Please note that the Commission will not accept requests for intervenor
status at this time. You must wait until the Commission receives a
formal application for the project, after which the Commission will
issue a public notice that establishes an intervention deadline.
[[Page 65803]]
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 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.,
PF19-8). 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.
Public sessions 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: November 22, 2019.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-25908 Filed 11-27-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P