[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 4, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32258-32259]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-12931]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[DOE/EIS-0487; DOE/EIS-0488; DOE/EIS-0489; et. al.]
Draft Addendum to Environmental Review Documents Concerning
Exports of Natural Gas From the United States
AGENCY: Office of Fossil Energy, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of Draft Addendum to Environmental
Review Documents Concerning Exports of Natural Gas from the United
States.
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Freeport LNG Expansion, L.P. and FLNG [DOE/EIS-0487].
Liquefaction, LLCD.
Cameron LNG, LLC............................. DOE/EIS-0488].
Jordan Cove Energy Project, L.P.............. DOE/EIS-0489].
Lake Charles Exports, LLC and Trunkline LNG DOE/EIS-0491].
Export, LLC.
LNG Development Company, LLC (d/b/a Oregon DOE/EIS-0492].
LNG).
Cheniere Marketing, LLC...................... DOE/EIS-0493].
Excelerate Liquefaction Solutions I, LLC..... DOE/EIS-0494].
CE FLNG, LLC................................. DOE/EIS-0497].
Magnolia LNG, LLC............................ DOE/EIS-0498].
Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP.................. DOE/EA-1942].
Southern LNG Company, L.L.C.................. DOE/EA-1963].
Golden Pass Products LLC..................... DOE/EA-1971].
Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC................ DOE/EA-1983].
SUMMARY: The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department of Energy
(DOE) announces the availability of the Draft Addendum to Environmental
Review Documents Concerning Exports of Natural Gas From The United
States (Addendum) for public review and comment. The purpose of this
Addendum is to provide additional information to the public regarding
the potential environmental impacts of unconventional natural gas
exploration and production activities. DOE has received many comments
in related proceedings expressing concerns about the potential impacts
from increased development of unconventional natural gas resources in
the United States, particularly production that involves hydraulic
fracturing. While not required by the National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA), DOE has prepared this Addendum in an effort to be responsive to
the public and provide the best information available. DOE is making
this draft Addendum available for public review and comment, and will
consider comments prior to finalizing this Addendum.
DATES: Comments are to be filed using procedures detailed in the Public
Comment section no later than 4:30 p.m., Eastern Time, July 21, 2014.
ADDRESSES:
Electronic Filing Using Online Form: http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-Upstream-Addendum.
Regular Mail: U.S. Department of Energy (FE-34), Attn: Addendum
Comments, Office of Oil & Gas Global Security & Supply, Office of
Fossil Energy, P.O. Box 44375, Washington, DC 20026-4375
Hand Delivery or Private Delivery Services (e.g., FedEx, UPS,
etc.): U.S. Department of Energy (FE-34), Attn: Addendum Comments,
Office of Oil & Gas Global Security & Supply, Office of Fossil Energy,
Forrestal Building, Room 3E-042, 1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
John Anderson, U.S. Department of Energy (FE-34), Office of Natural Gas
Regulatory Activities, Office of Fossil Energy, Forrestal Building,
Room 3E-042, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202)
586-0521.
Edward LeDuc, U.S. Department of Energy (GC-51), Office of the
[[Page 32259]]
Assistant General Counsel for Environment, Forrestal Building, 1000
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-4007
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 3(a) of the Natural Gas Act, 15
U.S.C. 717b(a), directs the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to
authorize proposed exports of natural gas to countries with which the
United States does not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) requiring
national treatment for trade in natural gas (non-FTA countries), unless
DOE finds that the proposed exportation will not be consistent with the
public interest.
DOE presently has before it numerous applications to export
liquefied natural gas (LNG) to non-FTA countries. The project
proponents in these applications also have applied to the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approvals related to onshore
LNG facilities. FERC is the lead federal agency for the preparation of
environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements
(EISs) required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for
the applications that are pending before both federal agencies. DOE is
participating as a cooperating agency in these NEPA reviews.
Several parties and commenters to these proceedings have urged DOE
to review the potential environmental impacts of natural gas production
activities, particularly the hydraulic fracturing of shale formations.
These parties and commenters reason that authorizing exports of LNG to
non-FTA countries would induce additional natural gas production in the
United States, and that the environmental impacts of the additional
natural gas production should be considered as a factor affecting the
public interest.
Fundamental uncertainties constrain the ability to predict what, if
any, domestic natural gas production would be induced by granting any
specific authorization or authorizations to export LNG to non-FTA
countries. Receiving a non-FTA authorization from DOE does not
guarantee that a particular facility would be financed and built; nor
does it guarantee that, even if built, market conditions would continue
to favor export once the facility is operational. Numerous LNG import
facilities were previously authorized by DOE, received financing, and
were built, only to see declining use over the past decade.
The current rapid development of unconventional natural gas
resources will likely continue, with or without the export of natural
gas. Potential impacts associated with the development of
unconventional natural gas resources will exist whenever it is
produced, much the same as the conventional natural gas industry has
for decades. Exporting natural gas may accelerate the timing of the
development unconventional resources and the associated potential
impacts. However, it is not reasonable to assume that unconventional
natural gas production and the associated potential impacts will not
occur if natural gas exports to non-FTA countries are prohibited.
Accordingly, to provide the public with a more complete
understanding of potential impacts, DOE has prepared this draft
Addendum to discuss the potential environmental impacts associated with
unconventional natural gas production in the lower-48 states. By
including this discussion of natural gas production activities, DOE is
going beyond what NEPA requires. While DOE has made broad projections
about the types of resources from which additional production may come,
DOE cannot meaningfully estimate where, when, or by what method any
additional natural gas would be produced. Therefore, DOE cannot
meaningfully analyze the specific environmental impacts of such
production, which are nearly all local or regional in nature. As DOE
explained in Sabine Pass Liquefaction, LLC, DOE/FE Order No. 2961-A
(Aug. 7, 2012), lacking an understanding of where and when additional
gas production will arise, the environmental impacts resulting from
production activity induced by LNG exports to non-FTA countries are not
``reasonably foreseeable'' within the meaning of the Council on
Environmental Quality's (CEQ) NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1508.7).
The Addendum is intended to provide information only on the impact
areas most often associated with unconventional natural gas production.
The Addendum is not the result of new analysis or research, but rather
is based on DOE's review of existing studies and analyses. A key
resource in preparing the Addendum was the report Environmental Impacts
of Unconventional Natural Gas Development and Production (May 29,
2014), prepared by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, a DOE
Laboratory.
Public Comment
In response to this Notice, any person may file comments. DOE
prefers comments to be filed using the online form (method 1). However,
for those lacking access to the Internet, comments may be filed using
method 2 or 3. The three methods are: (1) submission of comments using
the online form at http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-Upstream-Addendum; (2)
mailing comments to the Office of Oil and Gas Global Security and
Supply at the address listed in ADDRESSES; or (3) delivering comments
(by hand or courier) to the Office of Oil and Gas Global Security and
Supply at the address listed in ADDRESSES. All filings must include a
reference to Draft Upstream Addendum. PLEASE NOTE: DOE/FE is not
accepting any comments by email. Any hardcopy filing submitted that is
greater in length than 50 pages must also include, at the time of the
filing, a digital copy on disk of the entire submission in PDF format.
Please do not include any active hyperlinks or password protection in
any of the electronic documents related to the filing. All electronic
filings submitted to DOE must follow these guidelines to ensure that
all documents are filed in a timely manner. All comments filed in
response to this Notice will be publicly available on the DOE/FE Web
site (http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-Upstream-Addendum).
DOE will consider all comments received until the close of the
comment period. Comments must be limited to the issues and potential
impacts addressed in the Addendum, and DOE may disregard comments that
are not germane.
Commenters should be advised that filings with DOE shall be subject
to public disclosure, so submissions should be free of any personally
identifiable information (PII) or other information that the individual
does not wish to be revealed in a public forum.
The Addendum and other relevant documents are available for
download at http://energy.gov/fe/Draft-Upstream-Addendum and for
inspection and copying in the Division of Natural Gas Regulatory
Activities docket room, Room 3E-042, 1000 Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585. The docket room is open between the hours of 8:00
a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Issued in Washington, DC, on May 29, 2014.
Christopher A. Smith,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Fossil Energy.
[FR Doc. 2014-12931 Filed 6-3-14; 8:45 am]
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