[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 135 (Thursday, July 14, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45471-45472]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16662]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact
Statement for the Proposed Nexus Gas Transmission Project and Texas
Eastern Appalachian Lease Project
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Docket No.
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NEXUS Gas Transmission, LLC............... CP16-22-000
Texas Eastern Transmission, LP............ CP16-23-000
DTE Gas Company........................... CP16-24-000
Vector Pipeline L.P....................... CP16-102-000
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The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or
Commission) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS)
for the NEXUS Gas Transmission (NGT) Project and Texas Eastern
Appalachian Lease (TEAL) Project (jointly referred to as ``Projects''),
proposed by NEXUS Gas Transmission, LLC (NEXUS) and Texas Eastern
Transmission, LP (Texas Eastern) in the above-referenced dockets. NEXUS
and Texas Eastern request authorization to construct a new Greenfield
pipeline and expand an existing pipeline system from the Appalachian
Basin to deliver 1.5 million dekatherms per day to consuming markets in
Northern Ohio, Southeastern Michigan, and Ontario, Canada. DTE Gas
Company and Vector Pipeline L.P. are requesting approval to lease
capacity on their systems to NEXUS.
The draft EIS assesses the potential environmental effects of the
construction and operation of the Projects in accordance with the
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. The FERC staff
concludes that approval of the Projects would result in some adverse
environmental impacts; however, most of these impacts would be reduced
to less-than-significant levels with the implementation of NEXUS's and
Texas Eastern's proposed mitigation measures and the additional
recommendations in the draft EIS.
Some of the route alternatives suggested during scoping would
affect landowners that have not been part of the FERC's environmental
scoping process, as further discussed on page 5. Therefore, by this
letter we are notifying these parties of our evaluation and requesting
comments about the following alternative routes presented in section 3
of the draft EIS: City of Green Route Alternative, Chippewa Lake C
Route Variation, and Reserve Avenue Route Variation.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) 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 FWS and EPA provided input to the
conclusions and recommendations presented in the draft EIS, the FWS and
EPA will each present its own conclusions and recommendations in its
respective record of decision or determination for the Projects.
The draft EIS addresses the potential environmental effects of the
construction and operation of both the NGT and TEAL Projects. The NGT
Project consists of about 255.9 miles of pipeline composed of the
following facilities:
208.9 miles of new 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline
in Ohio;
47 miles of new 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline in
Michigan;
associated equipment and facilities.
The TEAL Project would include two main components:
4.4 miles of new 36-inch-diameter loop pipeline in Ohio;
0.3 mile of new 30-inch-diameter interconnecting pipeline
Ohio; and
associated equipment and facilities.
The Projects' proposed aboveground facilities include five new
compressor stations in Ohio; additional compression and related
modifications to one existing compressor station in Ohio; five new
metering and regulating stations in Ohio; one new metering and
regulating station in Michigan; and minor modifications at existing
aboveground facilities at various locations across Ohio.
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; and newspapers and libraries near the Projects. Paper copy
versions of this draft EIS were mailed to those specifically requesting
them; all others received a CD version. In addition, the draft EIS is
available for public viewing on the FERC's Web site (www.ferc.gov)
using the eLibrary link.
A limited number of copies 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 final EIS, it is
important that the Commission receive your comments on or before August
29, 2016.
For your convenience, there are four methods you can use to submit
your comments to the Commission. In all instances, please reference the
Projects' docket numbers (CP16-22-000 for the NGT Project and CP16-23-
000 for the TEAL Project) with your submission. The Commission
encourages electronic filing of comments and has expert staff available
to assist you at (202) 502-8258 or [email protected].
(1) You can file your comments electronically using the eComment
[[Page 45472]]
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.
(3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to
the following address: Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., Deputy 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 one of the public comment meetings its
staff will conduct in the Project areas to receive comments on the
draft EIS. We \1\ encourage interested groups and individuals to attend
and present oral comments on the draft EIS at any of the meeting
locations provided on page 4.
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\1\ ``We,'' ``us,'' and ``our'' refer to the environmental staff
of the FERC's Office of Energy Projects.
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There will not be a formal start of the meeting nor a formal
presentation by Commission staff, but FERC staff will be available to
answer your questions about the environmental review process. You may
arrive at any time after 5:00 p.m. and we will stop taking comments at
10:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. The primary goal is to have your verbal
environmental comments on the draft EIS documented in the public
record.
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Date Location
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August 10, 2016................... Swanton High School, 604 North Main
Street, Swanton, OH 43558, (419)
826-3045.
August 11, 2016................... Tecumseh Center for the Arts, 400
North Maumee Street, Tecumseh, MI
49286, (517) 423-6617.
August 15, 2016................... Quality Inn, Fremont, 3422 Port
Clinton Road, Fremont, OH 43420,
(419) 332-0601.
August 16, 2016................... Elyria High School Performing Arts
Center, 601 Middle Avenue, Elyria,
OH 44035, (440) 284-5209.
August 17, 2016................... Wadsworth High School--James A.
Mcilvaine Performing Arts Center,
625 Broad Street, Wadsworth, OH
44281, (330) 335-1369.
August 18, 2016................... Green High School, 1474 Boettler
Road, Uniontown, OH 44685, (330)
896-7575.
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Verbal comments will be recorded by court reporter(s) and
transcriptions will be placed into the docket for the Projects and made
available for public viewing on FERC's eLibrary system (see page 5 for
instructions on using eLibrary). It is important to note that verbal
comments hold the same weight as written or electronically submitted
comments. If a significant number of people are interested in providing
verbal comments, a time limit of 3 to 5 minutes may be implemented for
each commenter to ensure all those wishing to comment have the
opportunity to do so within the designated meeting time. Time limits
will be strictly enforced if they are implemented.
Any person seeking to become a party to the proceeding must file a
motion to intervene pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission's Rules of
Practice and Procedures (Title 18 Code of Federal Regulations Part
385.214).\2\ Only intervenors have the right to seek rehearing of the
Commission's decision. The Commission grants affected landowners and
others with environmental concerns intervenor status upon showing good
cause by stating that they have a clear and direct interest in this
proceeding that no other party can adequately represent. Simply filing
environmental comments will not give you intervenor status, but you do
not need intervenor status to have your comments considered.
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\2\ See the previous discussion on the methods for filing
comments.
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Route Alternatives
As indicated on page 1, some landowners are receiving this draft
EIS because their property has been identified as potentially being
affected by certain route alternatives recommended or being considered
by FERC staff to avoid or lessen environmental impacts along NEXUS's
proposed pipeline route in several locations. Refer to discussions in
section 3.3.3 of the draft EIS for the City of Green Route Alternative,
section 3.4.10 for the Chippewa Lake C Route Variation, and section
3.4.12 for the Reserve Avenue Route Variation. Please note that while
staff has recommended the use of the last two listed alternatives, a
decision whether or not to recommend the use of the City of Green Route
Alternative has not been made. The Commission staff wants to ensure
that all potentially affected landowners have the opportunity to
participate in the environmental review process, thus staff is
soliciting comments to assist with the environmental analysis of these
route alternatives, which will be presented in the final EIS.
Questions?
Additional information about the Projects is available from the
Commission's Office of External Affairs, at (866) 208-FERC, or on the
FERC Web site (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-
22). 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; 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 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 to
subscribe.
Dated: July 8, 2016.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-16662 Filed 7-13-16; 8:45 am]
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