Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 227 / Monday, November 27, 2006 / Notices

Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 227 / Monday, November 27, 2006 / Notices

For assistance, contact FERC Online

Support. For further information, please

contact Kim A. Nguyen at (202) 502–

6105 or at kim.nguyen@ferc.gov.

Magalie R. Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. E6–19947 Filed 11–24–06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[FERC Docket No. PF06–36–000]

Colorado Interstate Gas Company;

Notice of Intent To Prepare an

Environmental Impact Statement for

the Proposed High Plains Expansion

Project; Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues, and Notice of

Site Visit and Open House Meeting

Attendance

sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES

November 17, 2006.

The staff of the Federal Energy

Regulatory Commission (FERC or

Commission) will prepare an

environmental impact statement (EIS)

that discusses the environmental

impacts of the High Plains Expansion

Project (project) involving construction

and operation of by Colorado Interstate

Gas Company (CIG) in Weld, Morgan,

and Adams Counties, Colorado. These

facilities would consist of about 170

miles of 24-inch and 30-inch-diameter

pipeline in four separate pipeline

segments. The EIS will be used by the

Commission in its decision making

process to determine if the project is in

the public convenience and necessity.

The project is currently in the

preliminary stages of design and at this

time a formal application has not been

filed with the Commission. For this

project, the Commission is initiating the

National Environmental Policy Act

(NEPA) review prior to receiving the

formal application. This pre-filing

process allows interested stakeholders

to become involved early in the project

planning and to identify and resolve

issues before a formal application is

filed with the FERC. A docket number

(PF06–36–000) has been established to

place information filed by CIG and

related documents issued or received by

the Commission, into the public

record.1 Once a formal application is

filed with the FERC, a new docket

number will be established.

This notice announces the opening of

the scoping period that will be used to

1 To view information in the docket, follow the

instructions for using the eLibrary link at the end

of this notice.

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gather environmental input from the

public and interested agencies on the

Project. Please note that the scoping

period will close on January 6, 2007.

Details on how to submit comments are

provided in the Public Participation

section of this notice.

This notice is being sent to potentially

affected landowners along the Project

route; federal, state, and local

government agencies; elected officials;

environmental and public interest

groups; Native American tribes; and

local libraries and newspapers.

With this notice, we 2 are asking

federal, state, and local agencies with

jurisdiction and/or special expertise

with respect to environmental issues to

cooperate with us in the preparation of

the EIS. These agencies may choose to

participate once they have evaluated the

proposal relative to their

responsibilities. Agencies which would

like to request cooperating status should

follow the instructions for filing

comments described later in this notice.

We encourage government

representatives to notify their

constituents of this planned project and

encourage them to comment on their

areas of concern.

Some affected landowners may be

contacted by a project representative

about the acquisition of an easement to

construct, operate, and maintain the

proposed pipeline. If so, the company

should seek to negotiate a mutually

acceptable agreement. In the event that

the Project is certificated by the

Commission, that approval conveys the

right of eminent domain for securing

easements for the pipeline. Therefore, if

easement negotiations fail to produce an

agreement, the company could initiate

condemnation proceedings in

accordance with state law.

A fact sheet prepared by the FERC

entitled ‘‘An Interstate Natural Gas

Facility On My Land? What Do I Need

To Know?’’ addresses a number of

typically asked questions, including the

use of eminent domain and how to

participate in the Commission’s

proceedings. It is available for viewing

on the FERC Internet Web site (http://

www.ferc.gov).

Summary of the Proposed Project

CIG is proposing to expand its

existing pipeline system along

Colorado’s Front Range in order to

provide additional transportation

services to this rapidly growing market.

Specifically, CIG is proposing to

construct approximately 170 miles of

24-inch and 30-inch-diameter pipeline

2 ‘‘We,’’ ‘‘us,’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to the

environmental staff of the Office of Energy Projects.

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in four separate pipeline segments in

Weld, Morgan, and Adams Counties,

Colorado as described below. The

general locations of the proposed

pipelines are shown in the figure

included as Appendix 1 3.

The Project consists of the following

facilities:

• Line 250A—64.5 miles of 30-inchdiameter pipe and 20.5 miles of 24-inchdiameter pipe and 2 interconnect meter

station facilities;

• Line 251A—58 miles of 24-inchdiameter pipe and 2 interconnect meter

station facilities;

• Line 252A—14.9 miles of 30-inchdiameter pipe and 1 interconnect meter

station facility;

• Line 253A—6.1 miles of 24-inchdiameter pipe and 2 interconnect meter

station facilities;

• Seven new meter stations and

eighteen new block valves; and

• Pig launcher/receivers at the

beginning and ending of the four new

pipeline segments.

The entire project when completed

would carry a total capacity of

approximately 874,000 decatherms of

gas per day. CIG is requesting approval

such that the facilities are completed

and put into service by August 2008.

CIG proposes to begin construction in

February 2008.

Land Requirements for Construction

CIG would use a typical 100-foot-wide

construction right-of-way for the project.

Additional work area would be required

at certain feature crossings (e.g.,

waterbodies, wetlands, roads, and

railroad crossings), staging areas, pipe

yards, contractor’s yards, and widening

of certain access roads.

Based on preliminary information, it

is estimated that construction of the

proposed facilities would disturb about

2,000 acres of land. Of the 2,000 acres,

about 1,000 acres would be temporary

disturbed and about 1,000 acres would

be permanently maintained for

operation of the pipeline within a 50foot-wide permanent right-of-way, and

as aboveground facility sites.

Following construction, all temporary

workspaces would be restored and

allowed to revert to its former use.

The EIS Process

The FERC will be the lead federal

agency for the preparation of the EIS.

3 The appendices referenced in this notice are not

being printed in the Federal Register. Copies

(excluding maps) are available on the Commission’s

Internet website (http://www.ferc.gov) at the

‘‘eLibrary’’ link or from the Commission’s Public

Reference Room at (202) 502–8371. For instructions

on connecting to eLibrary, refer to the end of this

notice.

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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 227 / Monday, November 27, 2006 / Notices

NEPA requires the FERC to take into

account the environmental impacts that

could result from an action when it

considers whether or not an interstate

natural gas pipeline should be

approved. The Commission will use the

EIS to consider the environmental

impacts that could result if the project

is authorized under section 7 of the

Natural Gas Act. NEPA also requires us

to identify and address concerns the

public may have about proposals to be

considered by the Commission. This

process is referred to as ‘‘scoping.’’ The

main goal of the scoping process is to

focus the analysis in the EIS on

important environmental issues and

reasonable alternatives. By this Notice

of Intent (NOI), the Commission staff

requests agency and public comments

on the scope on the issues to be

addressed in the EIS. All comments

received will be considered during the

preparation of the EIS.

Although no formal application has

been filed, the FERC Staff have already

initiated a NEPA review under the

FERC’s Pre-Filing Process, which was

established in Docket No. PF06–36–000.

The purpose of the Pre-Filing Process is

to seek public and agency input early in

the project planning phase and

encourage involvement by interested

stakeholders in a manner that allows for

the early identification and resolution of

environmental issues. As part of the PreFiling Process review, FERC staff

representatives will participate in an

interagency scoping meeting in the

project area to solicit comments and

concerns about the project from other

jurisdictional agencies.

With this notice, the Commission

requests federal, state, and local

government agencies with jurisdiction

and/or special expertise with the respect

to environmental issues to express their

interest in becoming cooperating

agencies for the preparation of the EIS.

These agencies may choose to

participate once they have evaluated the

proposal relative to their

responsibilities. Agencies that would

like to request cooperating status should

send a letter expressing that interest and

expected level of involvement to the

Secretary of the Commission at the

address provided in the public

participation section of this notice.

The FERC’s independent analysis of

the issues will be included in a draft

EIS. The draft EIS will be mailed to

federal, state, and local government

agencies; elected officials;

environmental and public interest

groups; Native American tribes; affected

landowners; other interested parties;

local libraries and newspapers; and the

FERC’s official service list for this

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proceeding. A comment period will be

allotted for review of the draft EIS. We

will consider all timely comments on

the draft EIS and revise the document,

as necessary, before issuing a final EIS.

Currently Identified Environmental

Issues

We have already identified a number

of issues and alternatives that they think

deserve attention based on a

preliminary review of the proposed

facilities and information provided by

CIG. This preliminary list of potential

issues and alternatives may be changed

based on your comments and our

analysis.

Geology and Soils

• Impact on agricultural lands and

irrigation and canal systems.

• Impacts on unconsolidated soils

with severe erosion potential.

• Assessment of potential geological

hazards.

• Evaluation of noxious weed control.

• Construction in steep terrain.

Water Resources

• Potential effects on groundwater

resources.

• Impact of open-cut crossings of

irrigation canals and the South Platte

River.

• Effect of pipeline crossings on

wetlands and perennial and intermittent

waterbodies.

• Assessment of hydrostatic test

water sources and discharge locations.

• Water depletions resulting from

hydrostatic test water appropriations.

Fish, Wildlife, and Vegetation

• Effect on fish and wildlife resources

and their habitat, including federally

and state-listed threatened and

endangered species.

• Assessment of construction time

window restrictions.

• Assessment of measures to

successfully revegetate the right-of-way.

Cultural Resources

• Effect on known and undiscovered

cultural resources.

• Native American and tribal

concerns.

Land Use, Recreation and Special

Interest Areas, and Visual Resources

• Impacts on residences, including

proximity of facilities to existing

structures.

• Potential land use conflicts with

planned and future development.

• Permanent land use alteration

associated with pipeline easements.

Socioeconomics

• Benefits to local communities.

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• Effects of construction workforce

demands on public services and

temporary housing.

Air Quality and Noise

• Effects on local air quality and

noise environment from construction

and operation of the proposed facilities.

Reliability and Safety

• Assessment of hazards associated

with natural gas pipelines.

• Assessment of security associated

with operation of natural gas facilities.

Alternatives

• The No-Action alternative.

• System alternatives.

• Route alternatives.

Cumulative Impact

• Assessment of the effect of the

proposed project when combined with

other actions in the same region.

Public Participation

You are encouraged to become

involved in this process and provide

your specific comments or concerns

about CIG’s proposal. 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. If you wish to mail

comments, please mail your comments

so that they will be received in

Washington, DC on or before January 6,

2007 and carefully follow these

instructions:

• Send an original and two copies of

your letter to: Magalie R. Salas,

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission, 888 First Street, NE.,

Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426.

• Label one copy of your comments

for the attention of Gas 2, DG2E; and

• Reference Docket No. PF06–36–000

on the original and both copies.

• Mail your comments so that they

will be received in Washington, DC, on

or before January 6, 2007.

Please note that we are continuing to

experience delays in mail deliveries

from the U.S. Postal Service. As a result,

we will include all comments that we

receive within a reasonable time frame

in our environmental analysis of this

project. However, the Commission

strongly encourages electronic filing of

any comments to this proceeding. See

18 CFR 385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the

instructions on the Commission’s Web

site at http://www.ferc.gov under the

‘‘e-Filing’’ 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.

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Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 227 / Monday, November 27, 2006 / Notices

CIG is sponsoring public open house

meetings to provide the public with

information about the proposed project.

The dates, times, and locations of the

open house meeting are listed in the

table below. FERC staff will be in

attendance. For information about the

open house meetings and the site visit,

please contact this CIG representative:

Jeff Voltattorni at 719–351–9682.

Date and time

Location

Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (MST) ......................

Ault High School, 208 W. 1st Street, Ault, Colorado 80610, Phone:

(970) 834–2816

Country Steak Out, 19592 8th Ave., Fort Morgan, Colorado 80701,

Phone: (970) 867–7887

Bella Sera Center, 45 Strong Street, Brighton, Colorado 80601, Phone:

(720) 937–6337

Wednesday, November 29, 2006, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (MST) ................

Thursday, November 30, 2006, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (MST) ....................

In addition to the public open house

meetings, the FERC will conduct site

visits to view the proposed pipeline

routes. The public may participate in

the site visits. No transportation will be

provided. Details regarding the tours are

provided below.

Date and start time

Location

Facilities

reviewed

November 29, 2006, 8 a.m. (MST) ...................

Cheyenne Compressor Station, 65657 Highway 85, Carr, Colorado 80612.

Watkins Compressor Station, 24650 East

Smith Road, Aurora, Colorado 80019.

Line 250A, Line 252A, and northeast portion

of Line 251A

Southwestern portion of Line 251A and Line

253A

such as orders, notices, and rule

makings.

In addition, the FERC now 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. To register for this service,

go to the eSubscription link on the

FERC Internet website.

and operation of facilities by Puget

Sound Energy, Inc. (Puget) in Lewis

County, Washington. The EA will be

used by the Commission in its decisionmaking process to determine whether or

not to authorize the project.

This notice announces the opening of

the scoping period that will be used to

gather environmental input from the

public and interested agencies on the

project. Your input will help the

Commission staff determine which

issues need to be evaluated in the EA.

Please note that the scoping period will

close on December 15, 2006.

An effort is being made to send this

notice to all individuals, organizations,

Native American Tribes, and

government entities interested in and/or

potentially affected by the proposed

project. This includes all landowners

who are potential right-of-way grantors,

whose property may be used

temporarily for project purposes, or who

own homes within distances defined in

the Commission’s regulations of certain

aboveground facilities. We encourage

government representatives to notify

their constituents of this planned

project and encourage them to comment

on their areas of concern.

If you are a landowner receiving this

notice, you may be contacted by a

pipeline company representative about

the acquisition of an easement to

construct, operate, and maintain the

proposed facilities. The pipeline

company would seek to negotiate a

mutually acceptable agreement.

However, if the project is approved by

the Commission, that approval conveys

November 30, 2006, 8 a.m. (MST) ...................

Environmental Mailing List

If you do not want to send comments

at this time, but still want to remain on

our environmental mailing list, please

return the attached Mailing List

Retention Form (Appendix 2). If you do

not return the form, or you do not file

a comment on this project, you will be

taken off the environmental mailing list.

To reduce printing and mailing costs,

the draft and final EISs will be issued

in both CD–ROM and hard copy

formats. The FERC strongly encourages

the use of CD–ROM format in its

publication of large documents. If you

wish to receive a paper copy of the draft

EIS instead of a CD–ROM, you must

indicate that choice on the return

Mailing List Retention Form (Appendix

2).

Availability of Additional Information

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68603

Additional information about the

Project is available from the FERC’s

Office of External Affairs at 1–866–208–

FERC or on the FERC Internet Web site

(http://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., PF06–36).

Be sure you have selected an

appropriate date range. For assistance,

please contact FERC Online Support at

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or toll

free at 1–866–208–3676, or for TTY,

contact (202) 502–8659. The eLibrary

link on the FERC Internet Web site also

provides access to the text of formal

documents issued by the Commission,

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Magalie R. Salas,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. E6–19949 Filed 11–24–06; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory

Commission

[Docket No. CP06–465–000]

Puget Sound Energy, Inc.; Notice of

Intent To Prepare an Environmental

Assessment for the Proposed Jackson

Prairie Storage Project Amendment

and Request for Comments on

Environmental Issues

November 15, 2006.

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 Jackson Prairie Storage Project

Amendment, involving construction

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