National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Amendment to West Side Expansion and Modernization Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues
| Citation | 85 FR 18221 |
| Record Number | 2020-06763 |
| Published date | 01 April 2020 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |
Federal Register, Volume 85 Issue 63 (Wednesday, April 1, 2020)
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 63 (Wednesday, April 1, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18221-18222]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-06763]
[[Page 18221]]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. CP20-53-000]
National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation; Notice of Intent To Prepare
an Environmental Assessment for the Amendment to West Side Expansion
and Modernization 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 Amendment to West Side
Expansion and Modernization Project (Project). The EA will discuss
facilities that would be operated by National Fuel Gas Supply
Corporation (National Fuel) located in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. 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 (Certificate). 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 the
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.
Eastern Time on April 27, 2020.
You can make a difference by submitting your specific comments or
concerns regarding 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.
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 February 18, 2020, you will need to file
those comments in Docket No. CP20-53-000 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.
National Fuel provided landowners with a fact sheet prepared by the
FERC entitled An Interstate Natural Gas Facility On My Land? What Do I
Need To Know? 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. It is also available for viewing on
the FERC website (www.ferc.gov) at https://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/gas/gas.pdf.
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 three 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 located 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.
(3) You will be asked to select the type of filing you are making;
a comment on a particular project is considered a Comment on a Filing;
or
(4) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to
the following address. Be sure to reference the project docket number
(CP20-53-000) 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
National Fuel is requesting the Certificate for the West Side
Expansion Modernization (WSEM) Project issued on March 2, 2015, in
Docket No. CP14-70-000 be amended. As part of the West Side Expansion
Modernization (WSEM) Project, National Fuel received authorization to
designate 1,775 horse power (HP) of compression out of 7,100 HP at the
Mercer Compressor Station (CS) as spare compression to ensure National
Fuel's ability to meet system pressure requirements and to perform
routine and other maintenance when the system is operating at a high
load factor. In its Certificate Order, the Commission conditioned the
authorization of the ``spare'' compression stating that ``National Fuel
cannot, without grant of additional certificate authorization, use any
of the spare compression to satisfy intermittent demand for
interruptible or secondary firm service or requests for short-term firm
service during scheduled maintenance intervals.''
National Fuel is now seeking authorization to remove the spare
designation from the 1,775 HP of compression at its Mercer CS to
accommodate a subscribing shipper's request to direct a portion of its
firm transportation capacity to a different primary delivery point.
The general location of the Mercer CS is shown in appendix 1.\1\
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\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.
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Land Requirements for Construction
The reclassification of the Mercer CS spare compression would not
require the use of any new lands. No construction would be required and
no areas outside the compressor building would be disturbed.
[[Page 18222]]
The EA Process
As stated above, the reclassification of the spare HP at the Mercer
CS would occur within the existing compressor building and would not
involve any land disturbance. The EA will discuss impacts that could
occur as a result of the construction and operation of the proposed
project.
Commission staff 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 Commission staffs' independent analysis of the
issues. The EA will be available in electronic format in the public
record through eLibrary \2\ 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 address
your comments, please carefully follow the instructions in the Public
Participation section, beginning on page 2.
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\2\ 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 of this project to formally cooperate 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.
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\3\ 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 Pennsylvania State Historic Preservation Office,
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.\4\
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\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.
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The EA for this project will document findings on the impacts on
historic properties and summarize the status of consultations under
section 106.
Currently Identified Environmental Issues
Commission staff has not identified any environmental concerns with
the proposal at this time but will use your comments to determine if
any exist. This will inform our analysis in the EA.
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, 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 2).
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 at 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., CP20-
53). Be sure you have selected an appropriate date range. For
assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at
[email protected] or (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: March 26, 2020.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-06763 Filed 3-31-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
