2018-03646. Northern Natural Gas Company; Notice of Request Under Blanket Authorization

Take notice that on February 5, 2018, Northern Natural Gas Company (Northern), 111 South 103rd Street, Omaha, Nebraska 68124-1000, filed in Docket No. CP18-81-000 a prior notice request pursuant to sections 157.205, 157.208 and 157.216 of the Commission's regulations under the Natural Gas Act (NGA), and Northern's blanket certificate issued in Docket No. CP82-401-000, to construct its Marquette Branch Line Expansion Project (Project). The Project consists of: (i) Construction of the new East Wakefield compressor station consisting of two 1,590-horsepower natural gas-fired turbine compressor units in Gogebic County, Michigan; (ii) construction of a new regulator station near West Ishpeming in Marquette County, Michigan; (iii) uprating the maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) of a 12.2-mile segment of Northern's existing 12- and 16-inch-diameter Marquette branch line in Marquette County, Michigan; and (iv) abandonment of short segments of pipeline to accommodate station tie-ins in Gogebic and Marquette Counties, Michigan. The Project will allow Northern to deliver 24,610 dekatherms per day of incremental service to Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation. Northern estimates the cost of the Project to be approximately $22,124,718, all as more fully set forth in the application which is on file with the Commission and open to public inspection. The filing may also be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov using the eLibrary link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the docket number field to access the document. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at [e-mail] or toll free at [phone], or TTY, contact [phone].

Any questions concerning this application may be directed to Michael T. Loeffler, Senior Director, Certificates and External Affairs, Northern Natural Gas Company, PO Box 3330, Omaha, Nebraska 68103-0330, by telephone at [phone], by facsimile at [phone], or by email at [e-mail].

Any person or the Commission's staff may, within 60 days after issuance of the instant notice by the Commission, file pursuant to Rule 214 of the Commission's Procedural Rules (18 CFR 385.214) a motion to intervene or notice of intervention and pursuant to section 157.205 of the regulations under the NGA (18 CFR 157.205), a protest to the request. If no protest is filed within the time allowed therefore, the proposed activity shall be deemed to be authorized effective the day after the time allowed for filing a protest. If a protest is filed and not withdrawn within 30 days after the allowed time for filing a protest, the instant request shall be treated as an application for authorization pursuant to section 7 of the NGA.

Pursuant to section 157.9 of the Commission's rules (18 CFR 157.9), within 90 days of this Notice, the Commission staff will either: complete its environmental assessment (EA) and place it into the Commission's public record (eLibrary) for this proceeding; or issue a Notice of Schedule for Environmental Review. If a Notice of Schedule for Environmental Review is issued, it will indicate, among other milestones, the anticipated date for the Commission staff's issuance of the EA for this proposal. The filing of the EA in the Commission's public record for this proceeding or the issuance of a Notice of Schedule for Environmental Review will serve to notify federal and state agencies of the timing for the completion of all necessary reviews, and the subsequent need to complete all federal authorizations within 90 days of the date of issuance of the Commission staff's EA.

Persons who wish to comment only on the environmental review of this project should submit an original and two copies of their comments to the Secretary of the Commission. Environmental commenters will be placed on the Commission's environmental mailing list, will receive copies of the environmental documents, and will be notified of meetings associated with the Commission's environmental review process. Environmental commenters will not be required to serve copies of filed documents on all other parties. However, the non-party commenters, will not receive copies of all documents filed by other parties or issued by the Commission (except for the mailing of environmental documents issued by the Commission) and will not have the right to seek court review of the Commission's final order.

The Commission strongly encourages electronic filings of comments, protests and interventions in lieu of paper using the eFiling link at http://www.ferc.gov. Persons unable to file electronically should submit an original and seven copies of the protest or intervention to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.

Dated: February 15, 2018.

Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,

Deputy Secretary.