Notice2023-05416
Northern Natural Gas Company; Notice of Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for The Proposed Northern Lights 2023 Expansion Project
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 17, 2023
Issuing agencies
Energy DepartmentFederal Energy Regulatory Commission
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 52 (Friday, March 17, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 52 (Friday, March 17, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Page 16432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05416]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. CP22-138-000]
Northern Natural Gas Company; Notice of Availability of the Final
Environmental Impact Statement for The Proposed Northern Lights 2023
Expansion Project
The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or
Commission) has prepared a final environmental impact statement (EIS)
for the Northern Lights 2023 Expansion Project (Project), proposed by
Northern Natural Gas Company (Northern) in the above-referenced docket.
Northern requests authorization to abandon, construct, and operate
certain interstate natural gas facilities in Freeborn, Washington,
Scott, Sherburne, and Stearns Counties, Minnesota and Monroe County,
Wisconsin. The proposed Project would allow Northern to provide up to
44,222 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of natural gas in incremental winter
peak day firm transportation service to its existing residential,
commercial, and industrial customer market and 6,667 Dth/d of
additional firm service that would allow enhanced reliability and
flexibility in providing natural gas transportation capacity for
electric generation.
The final EIS assesses the potential environmental effects of the
construction and operation of the Project in accordance with the
requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The FERC
staff concludes that approval of the proposed Project, with the
mitigation measures recommended in the final EIS, would result in
limited adverse environmental impacts. Most adverse environmental
impacts would be temporary or short-term during construction, but some
long-term and permanent environmental impacts would occur on some
forested lands. With the exception of climate change impacts that are
not characterized in this final EIS as significant or insignificant,
staff concludes that impacts would be reduced to less than significant
levels through implementation of Northern's proposed avoidance,
minimization, and mitigation measures, as well as staff's Project-
specific recommendations.
The Project would involve six new pipeline segments (four pipeline
extensions and two pipeline loops \1\), totaling 9.8 miles of pipe. The
pipelines would range in size from 4 to 36 inches-in-diameter. Northern
also proposes construction of four new valve settings and modifications
at six existing aboveground facilities. Additionally, Northern proposes
to abandon and remove two existing valve settings.
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\1\ Loop is parallel pipelines connected at both ends that
allows more gas to flow through that segment.
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The final EIS addresses the potential environmental effects of the
abandonment, construction and operation of the following Project
facilities:
<bullet> construction of a 2.79-mile extension of 36-inch-diameter
Ventura North E-line, Freeborn County, Minnesota;
<bullet> construction of a 1.07-mile, 30-inch-diameter loop of 20-
inch-diameter Elk River 1st and 2nd branch lines, Washington County,
Minnesota;
<bullet> construction of a 1.14-mile extension of 24-inch-diameter
Willmar D branch line, Scott County, Minnesota;
<bullet> construction of a 2.48-mile extension of 8-inch-diameter
Princeton tie over loop, Sherburne County, Minnesota;
<bullet> construction of a 2.01-mile loop of 3-inch-diameter
Paynesville branch line, Stearns County, Minnesota;
<bullet> construction of a 0.34-mile extension of 8-inch-diameter
Tomah branch line loop, Monroe County, Wisconsin;
<bullet> construction or modification of aboveground facilities
including; construction of one new pig launcher within an existing
facility, construction of four new valve settings, replacement of
valves and piping inside four existing facilities, and installation of
two rupture-mitigation valves, associated piping, and building.
Aboveground facilities would be in Freeborn, Washington, Scott,
Sherburne, and Stearns County, Minnesota; and Monroe County, Wisconsin;
and
<bullet> abandonment and removal of two valve settings and
associated piping in Scott and Freeborn County, Minnesota.
The Commission mailed a copy of this Notice of Availability to
federal, state, and local government representatives and agencies;
elected officials; regional non-governmental organizations,
environmental and public interest groups; potentially interested Indian
tribes; affected landowners; and newspapers and libraries in the
project area. The final EIS is only available in electronic format. It
may be viewed and downloaded from the FERC's website (<a href="http://www.ferc.gov">www.ferc.gov</a>), on
the natural gas environmental documents page (<a href="https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/natural-gas/environment/environmental-documents">https://www.ferc.gov/industries-data/natural-gas/environment/environmental-documents</a>). In
addition, the final EIS may be accessed by using the eLibrary link on
the FERC's website. Click on the eLibrary link (<a href="https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/search">https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/search</a>), select ``General Search'', and
enter the docket number in the ``Docket Number'' field, excluding the
last three digits (i.e. CP22-138). Be sure you have selected an
appropriate date range. For assistance, please contact FERC Online
Support at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#03456671604c6d6f6a6d66507673736c717743656671602d646c75"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="71371403123e1f1d181f14220401011e030531171403125f161e07">[email protected]</span></a> or toll free at (866) 208-3676,
or for TTY, contact (202) 502-8659.
In accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality's (CEQ)
regulations implementing NEPA, no agency decision on a proposed action
may be made until 30 days after the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency publishes a notice of availability of the final EIS in the
Federal Register. However, the CEQ regulations provide an exception to
this rule when an agency decision is subject to a formal internal
appeal process that allows other agencies or the public to make their
views known. In such cases, the agency decision may be made at the same
time the notice of the final EIS is published, allowing both periods to
run concurrently. The Commission decision for this proposed action is
subject to a 30-day rehearing period.
Additional information about the project is available from the
Commission's Office of External Affairs, at (866) 208-FERC, or on the
FERC website (<a href="http://www.ferc.gov">www.ferc.gov</a>) using the eLibrary link. The eLibrary link
also provides access to the texts of all 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 <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/overview">https://www.ferc.gov/ferc-online/overview</a> to
register for eSubscription.
Dated: March 10, 2023.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-05416 Filed 3-16-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
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