E7-22839. Texas Gas Transmission, LLC; Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Public Comment Meeting for the Proposed Fayetteville/Greenville Expansion Project

November 16, 2007.

The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) has prepared this Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the natural gas pipeline facilities proposed by Texas Gas Transmission, LLC's (Texas Gas) under the above-referenced docket. Texas Gas's Fayetteville/Greenville Expansion Project (Project) would be located in Faulkner, Cleburne, White, Woodruff, St. Francis, Lee, and Phillips Counties, Arkansas; and Coahoma, Washington, Sunflower, Humphreys, Holmes, and Attalla Counties, Mississippi.

The Draft EIS was prepared to satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. The FERC staff concludes that the proposed Project, with the appropriate mitigation measures as recommended, would have limited adverse environmental impact.

The purpose of the Project is to add pipeline capacity to Texas Gas's existing interstate pipeline system to transport the new natural gas supplies being developed from the Fayetteville Shale gas production area in north-central Arkansas to markets in the mid-western, northeastern, and southeastern United States. Texas Gas is proposing to construct at total of about 262.6 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipeline in two separate pipeline laterals, two tie-in laterals, a compressor station, and associated ancillary facilities.

The Draft EIS addresses the potential environmental impacts resulting from the construction and operation of the following facilities:

• Fayetteville Lateral: 166.2 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipeline in Faulkner, Cleburne, White, Woodruff, St. Francis, Lee, and Phillips Counties, Arkansas, and Coahoma County, Mississippi;
• Greenville Lateral: 96.4 miles of 36-inch-diameter pipeline in Washington, Sunflower, Humphreys, Holmes, and Attalla Counties, Mississippi;
• 36-inch tie-in lateral: 0.8 mile of 36-inch-diameter pipeline in Attalla County, Mississippi;
• 20-inch tie-in lateral: 0.4 mile of 20-inch-diameter pipeline in Attalla County, Mississippi;
• the 10,650 horsepower Kosciusko Compressor Station in Attalla County, Mississippi;
• twenty-nine metering and regulating stations; and
• three pig launchers and three pig receivers.

The entire project would be capable of transporting about 841,000 million British thermal units per day (Btu/d) of natural gas on the Fayetteville Lateral and about 768,000 MMBtu/d on the Greenville Lateral. Texas Gas proposes to construct the pipeline facilities in two phases. Phase I would include construction of the first 66 miles of the Fayetteville Lateral and related facilities from Conway County to the Bald Knob area of White County, Arkansas. Phase II would include construction of the remaining 100 miles of the Fayetteville Lateral from White County, Arkansas, to Coahoma County, Mississippi, the entire Greenville Lateral and associated tie-in laterals, and the Kosciusko Compressor Station. Texas Gas proposes beginning construction of both Phases I and II in June 2008. However, Phase I would be placed in service by August 1, 2008, and Phase II would be placed in service by January 1, 2009.

Any person wishing to comment on the Draft EIS may do so. To ensure that your comments are timely and properly recorded so that they may be considered in the Final EIS, please carefully follow these instructions:

• Send an original and two copies of your letter to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.
• Label one copy of your comments to the attention of Gas Branch 2, DG2E;
• Reference Docket No. CP07-417-000 on the original and both copies; and
• Mail your comments so that they will be received in Washington, DC, on or before January 7, 2008.

Please note that the Commission strongly encourages electronic filing of any comments to this proceeding. Instructions on “eFiling” comments can be found on the Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov under the “Documents and Filings” link and the link to the User's Guide. Before you can file comments, you will need to open a free account which can be created on-line.

In lieu of or in addition to sending written comments, we invite you to attend public comment meetings the FERC will conduct in the Project area to receive comments on the Draft EIS. FERC staff will be in attendance. The meetings will all begin at 6:30 p.m. on the following dates and locations:

December 11, 2007, Carmichael Community Center, Harry Miller Auditorium, 801 S. Elm St., Searcy, AR.

December 12, 2007, Forrest City Civic Center, 1335 N. Washington, Forrest City, AR.

December 13, 2007, Billie Professional Building, 115 Spring Street, Lexington, MS.

The public comment meetings will be posted on the FERC's calendar located at http://www.ferc.gov/​EventCalendar/​EventsList.aspx. Interested groups and individuals are encouraged to attend and present oral comments on the Draft EIS. Transcripts of the meetings will be prepared. This notice is being mailed to parties who are on the mail list for the Draft EIS.

After the comments received are reviewed, any significant new issues are investigated, and modifications are made to the Draft EIS, a Final EIS will be published and distributed by the FERC staff. The Final EIS will contain the staff's responses to timely comments received on the Draft EIS.

Comments will be considered by the Commission but will not serve to make the commentor a party to the proceeding. 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 (18 CFR 385.214). Anyone may intervene in this proceeding based on this Draft EIS. You must file your request to intervene as specified above.^[1] You do not need intervenor status to have your comments considered.

The Draft EIS has been placed in the public files of the FERC and is available for public inspection at:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Reference Room, 888 First Street, NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426, [phone].

A limited number of copies of the Draft EIS are available from the Public Reference Room identified above. In addition, CD copies of the Draft EIS have been mailed to affected landowners; various Federal, State, and local government agencies; elected officials; environmental and public interest groups; Native American tribes; local libraries and newspapers; intervenors; and other individuals that expressed an interest in the proposed Project. Hard copies of the Draft EIS have also been mailed to those who requested that format during the scoping and comment periods for the proposed Project.

Additional information about the proposed Project is available from the Commission's Office of External Affairs, at 1-866-208-FERC or on the FERC Internet Web site (http://www.ferc.gov).

To access information via the FERC Web site click on the “eLibrary” link then click on “General Search” and enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the Docket Number field. Be sure you have selected an appropriate date range. The “eLibrary” link provides access to the texts of formal documents issued by the Commission, such as orders, notices, and rulemakings. For assistance with “eLibrary,” please contact FERC Online Support at [e-mail] or toll free at 1-866-208-3676, or for TTY, contact [phone].

In addition, the Commission now 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 these documents. To learn more about eSubscription and to sign up for this service please go to http://www.ferc.gov/​esubscribenow.htm.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  Interventions may also be filed electronically via the Internet in lieu of paper. See the previous discussion on filing comments electronically.