2014-25324. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, L.L.C.; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Connecticut Expansion Project, Request for Comments on Environmental Issues, Notice of Public Scoping Meetings, and Notice ...

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 Connecticut Expansion Project (Project) involving construction and operation of facilities by Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, L.L.C. (Tennessee) in Albany County, New York; Berkshire and Hampden Counties, Massachusetts; and Hartford County, Connecticut. The Commission will use the 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 on the Project. Your input will help the Commission staff determine what issues they need to evaluate in the EA. Please note that the scoping period will close on November 10, 2014.

You may submit comments in written form or verbally. Further details on how to submit written comments are in the Public Participation section of this notice. In lieu of or in addition to sending written comments, the Commission invites you to attend one of the FERC public scoping meetings scheduled for the Project as follows:

FERC Public Scoping Meetings

Tuesday, October 28, 2014	Wednesday, October 29, 2014	Thursday, October 30, 2014
7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.	7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.	7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
East Granby Community Center, 20 Center Street, East Granby, CT 06026	Sandisfield Art Center, 5 Hammertown Road, Sandisfield, MA 01255	Town Hall Auditorium, 445 Delaware Avenue, Delmar, NY 12054.

The public scoping meetings are designed to provide you with more detailed information and another opportunity to offer your comments on the proposed Project. Tennessee representatives will be present one hour before each meeting with Project maps and will be available to answer questions. Interested groups and individuals are encouraged to attend the meetings and to present comments on the issues they believe should be addressed in the EA. A transcript of each meeting will be made so that your comments will be accurately recorded.

On October 28, 29, and 30, 2014, the Commission staff will also conduct an onsite environmental review of the proposed locations for Tennessee's Project. The onsite review will commence at the meeting locations identified below and will proceed by vehicle and on foot to view the proposed pipeline routes from public access points and Tennessee's existing pipeline right-of-way. Each site review will require about three hours to complete. Any interested parties planning to attend must provide their own transportation and should meet at 8:30am at the following locations:

FERC Onsite Environmental Reviews

Tuesday, October 28, 2014	Wednesday, October 29, 2014	Thursday, October 30, 2014
8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.	8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.	8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
East Granby Community Center, 20 Center Street, East Granby, CT 06026	Old Town Hall, 3 Silverbrook Road, Sandisfield, MA 01255	Town Hall Annex, 445 Delaware Avenue, Delmar, NY 12054.

For additional information regarding the onsite environmental reviews, please contact FERC's Office of External Affairs at (866) 208-FERC.

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.

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 proposed facilities. The company would seek to negotiate a mutually acceptable agreement. However, if the Commission approves the Project, that approval conveys with it the right of eminent domain. Therefore, if easement negotiations fail to produce an agreement, the pipeline company could initiate condemnation proceedings where compensation would be determined in accordance with state law.

Tennessee 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 Web site (www.ferc.gov).

Summary of the Proposed Project

Tennessee proposes to construct, install, and operate new natural gas pipeline loops to provide an additional 72,100 dekatherms per day of firm transportation capacity to Tennessee's existing 200 Line and 300 Line pipeline system. Pipeline loops are segments of pipe constructed parallel to an existing pipeline to increase capacity.

The Project would include construction and operation of the following facilities:

• About 1.35 miles of new 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline in Albany County, New York;
• about 3.81 miles of new 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline in Berkshire County, Massachusetts;
• about 8.10 miles of new 24-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline in Hampden County, Massachusetts and Hartford County, Connecticut;
• modifications to the existing Agawarm Compressor Station in Hampden County, Massachusetts; and
• other appurtenant and ancillary facilities.

The general location of the Project facilities is shown in appendix 1.^[1]

Land Requirements for Construction

Construction of the proposed facilities would disturb about 106 acres of land for the pipeline and aboveground facilities. Following construction, Tennessee would maintain about 35 acres for permanent operation of the Project's facilities; the remaining acreage would be restored and revert to former uses. Tennessee would locate the pipeline loops within or adjacent to its existing system rights-of-way where practicable and feasible.

The EA Process

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the Commission to take into account the environmental impacts that could result from an action whenever it considers the issuance of a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. NEPA also requires us ^[2] to discover and address 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. We note that many comments were filed prior to this notice. We want to assure those commentors that their concerns will be considered in the scope of our environmental review; you do not need to resubmit comments. We will consider all filed comments during the preparation of the EA.

In the EA we will discuss impacts that could occur as a result of the construction and operation of the proposed Project under these general headings:

• Geology and soils;
• land use;
• water resources, fisheries, and wetlands;
• cultural resources;
• vegetation and wildlife;
• air quality and noise;
• endangered and threatened species;
• public safety; and
• cumulative impacts.

We 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 our independent analysis of the issues. The EA will be available in the public record through eLibrary. Depending on the comments received during the scoping process, we may also publish and distribute the EA to the public for an allotted comment period. We will consider all comments on the EA before making our recommendations to the Commission. To ensure we have the opportunity to consider and address your comments, please carefully follow the instructions in the Public Participation section below.

With this notice, we are asking agencies with jurisdiction by law and/or special expertise with respect to the environmental issues of this Project to formally cooperate with us 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. Currently the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has expressed their intention to participate as a cooperating agency in the preparation of the EA to satisfy their NEPA responsibilities related to this Project.

Consultations 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, we are using this notice to initiate consultation with the applicable State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO), 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] We will define the Project-specific Area of Potential Effects (APE) in consultation with the SHPOs as the Project develops. On natural gas facility projects, the APE at a minimum encompasses all areas subject to ground disturbance (examples include construction right-of-way, contractor/pipe storage yards, compressor stations, and access roads). Our EA for this project will document our findings on the impacts on historic properties and summarize the status of consultations under section 106.

Public Participation

You can make a difference by providing us with 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. The more specific your comments, the more useful they will be. To ensure that your comments are timely and properly recorded, please send your comments so that the Commission receives them in Washington, DC on or before November 10, 2014.

For your convenience, there are three methods which you can use to submit written comments to the Commission. In all instances please reference the project docket number (CP14-529-000) with your submission. The Commission encourages electronic filing of comments and has expert staff available to assist you at [phone] or [e-mail].

(1) You can file your comments electronically using the eComment feature on the Commission's Web site (www.ferc.gov) under the link to Documents and Filings. This is an easy method for interested persons to submit brief, text-only comments on a project;

(2) You can file your comments electronically 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.” 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”; or

(3) You can file a paper copy of your comments by mailing them to the following address:

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary,

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,

888 First Street NE., Room 1A,

Washington, DC 20426.

Alternatively, you may attend one of the public scoping meetings identified on page 1 of this notice and provide your comments verbally. Verbal comments will be transcribed and made part of the public record for this proceeding. Please note that we give equal consideration to all comments whether submitted in written format or provided verbally at one of the scoping meetings.

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. We will update the environmental mailing list as the analysis proceeds to ensure that we send the information related to this environmental review to all individuals, organizations, and government entities interested in and/or potentially affected by the proposed project.

If we publish and distribute the EA, copies will be sent to the environmental mailing list for public review and comment. If you would prefer to receive a paper copy of the document instead of the CD version or would like to remove your name from the mailing list, please return the attached Information Request (appendix 2).

Becoming an Intervenor

In addition to involvement in the EA scoping process, you may want to become an “intervenor” which is an official party to the Commission's proceeding. Intervenors play a more formal role in the process and are able to file briefs, appear at hearings, 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. Instructions for becoming an intervenor are in the User's Guide under the “e-filing” link on the Commission's Web site.

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 Web site at 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., CP14-529). Be sure you have selected an appropriate date range. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [e-mail] or toll free at [phone], or for TTY, contact [phone]. 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 which 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.

Finally, public meetings 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: October 10, 2014.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Footnotes

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 [phone]. For instructions on connecting to eLibrary, refer to the last page of this notice.

2.  “We,” “us,” and “our” refer to the environmental staff of the Commission's Office of Energy Projects.

3.  The Council on Environmental Quality regulations addressing cooperating agency responsibilities are at Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1501.6.

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.