Columbia Gulf Transmission Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Assessment for Columbia Gulf Transmission Company's Proposed Mainline 99 Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. CP98-596-000]

Columbia Gulf Transmission Company; Notice of Intent To Prepare

an Environmental Assessment for Columbia Gulf Transmission Company's

Proposed Mainline 99 Project and Request for Comments on Environmental

Issues

August 5, 1998.

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 construction and operation of

the proposed Mainline 99 Project.\1\ This EA will be used by the

Commission in its decision-making process to determine whether the

project is in the public convenience and necessity.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\1\ Columbia Gulf Transmission Company's application was filed

with the Commission under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act and Part

157 of the Commission's regulations.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary of the Proposed Project

Columbia Gulf Transmission Company (Columbia Gulf) proposed to

increase the horsepower at their Corinth and Inverness Compressor

Stations in Alcorn County and Humphreys County, Mississippi,

respectively. Columbia Gulf also proposes to increase the horsepower at

its Hampshire Compressor Station in Maury County, Tennessee. A new

compressor unit of greater horsepower would replace one existing

compressor unit at each station. A total of 11,014-hp of compression

would be added to Columbia Gulf's system which would allow an

additional 96,555 Dth/day.

The Corinth and Inverness Compressor Stations each have a 12,050-hp

rated Pratt & Whitney, GG3C-1 turbine and an Ingersoll-Rand IR-JP-125-

30'' centrifugal compressor that would be replaced with a 17,282-hp

rated Solar Turbines Incorporated (Solar) Titan 130-T18000S turbine

driver with a C652 centrifugal compressor and appurtenances.

The Hampshire Compressor Station's 14,000 HP rated Pratt & Whitney,

GG3C-4 power turbine, with a Clark 70-01-0-48'' centrifugal compressor

would be replaced with a 14,550 HP rated Solar Mars 100-T15000S turbine

driver with a C651 centrifugal compressor and appurtenances.

The construction of all new units would be within the existing

compressor station sites.

The location of the project facilities is shown in appendix 2.\2\

If you are interested in obtaining procedural information, please write

to the Secretary of the Commission.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\2\ The appendices referenced in this notice are not being

printed in the Federal Register. Copies are available from the

Commission's Public Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888

First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426, or call (202) 208-1371.

Copies of the appendices were sent to all those receiving this

notice in the mail.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Land Requirements for Construction

The replacement project would not require any additional land

outside the existing compressor station facilities and all earth

disturbance and construction activities would take place entirely

within Columbia Gulf's existing properties at all three compressor

stations. The total area of earth disturbance would be approximately

0.5 acres at the Corinth and Inverness compressor stations and 0.75

acres at the Hampshire Compressor Station.

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

to

[[Page 42846]]

discover and address concerns the public may have about proposals. We

call this ``scoping''. The main goal of the scoping process is to focus

the analysis in the EA on the important environmental issues. By this

Notice of Intent, the Commission requests public comments on the scope

of the issues it will address in the EA. All comments received are

considered during the preparation of the EA. State and local government

representatives are encouraged to notify their constituents of the

proposed action and encourage them to comment on their areas of

concern.

The EA will discuss impacts that could occur as a result of the

construction and operation of the proposed project under these general

headings:

Air quality and noise impacts associated with construction

and operation.

We will also evaluate possible 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.

Our independent analysis of the issues will be in the EA. Depending

on the comments received during the scoping process, the EA may be

published and mailed to Federal, state, and local agencies, public

interest groups, interested individuals, affected landowners,

newspapers, libraries, and the Commission's official service list for

this proceeding. A comment period will be allotted for review if the EA

is published. We will consider all comments on the EA before we make

our recommendations to the Commission.

To ensure your comments are considered, please carefully follow the

instructions in the public participation section below.

Public Participation

You can make a difference by providing us with your specific

comments or concerns about the project. By becoming a commentor, your

concerns will be addressed in the EA and considered by the Commission.

You should focus on the potential environmental effects of the

proposal, alternatives to the proposal (including alternative

locations), and measures to avoid or lessen environmental impact. The

more specific your comments, the more useful they will be. Please

carefully follow these instructions to ensure that your comments are

received in time and properly recorded:

Send two copies of your letter to: David P. Boergers,

Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First St., NE,

Room 1A, Washington, DC 20426;

Label one copy of the comments for the attention of the

Environmental Review and Compliance Branch, PR-11.

Reference Docket No. CP98-596-000; and

Mail your comments so that they will be received in

Washington, DC on or before September 4, 1998.

Becoming an Intervenor

In addition to involvement in the EA scoping process, you may want

to become an official party to the proceeding known as an

``intervenor''. Intervenors play a more formal role in the process.

Among other things, intervenors have the right to receive copies of

case-related Commission documents and filings by other intervenors.

Likewise, each intervenor must provide 14 copies of its filings to the

Secretary of the Commission and must send a copy of its filings to all

other parties on the Commission's service list for this proceeding. If

you want to become an intervenor you must file a motion to intervene

according to Rule 214 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and

Procedure (18 CFR 385.214) (see appendix 3). Only intervenors have the

right to seek rehearing of the Commission's decision.

The date for filing timely motions to intervene in this proceeding

has passed. Therefore, parties now seeking to file late interventions

must show good cause, as required by section 385.214(b)(3), why this

time limitation should be waived. Environmental issues have been viewed

as good cause for late intervention. You do not need intervenor status

to have your environmental comments considered.

Additional information about the proposed project is available from

Mr. Paul McKee of the Commission's Office of External Affairs at (202)

208-1088.

David P. Boergers,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98-21409 Filed 8-10-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-M