Public Participation
How To Get Involved
The FERC provides a number of important opportunities for landowners and citizens to participate in decision making on proposed natural gas projects.
These include:
- Attending and participating in public scoping meetings and site visits. Participants can tell FERC Staff about:
- environmental and socioeconomic resources that are important and should be examined by the FERC.
- other alternatives to the proposed project that should be evaluated.
- Commenting on the FERC’s draft Environmental Assessment (EA).
- All timely comments are answered in the Final EA.
- Commentors should support any recommendations for any mitigative measures that they want the FERC to include in any approval issued (certificate of public convenience and necessity).
- Asking the FERC’s Alternative Dispute Resolution for assistance in resolving disputes with the energy company that is proposing a project.
- The FERC encourages applicants and citizens to resolve disputes
- The FERC also encourages applicants and affected organizations to enter into Settlement Agreements to resolve large, controversial natural gas projects.
- Anyone can ask the FERC to reconsider its natural gas certification decisions. This is called a petition for rehearing.
Public Correspondence
You can make a difference by providing the FERC 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. Your comments should focus on the potential environmental effects, reasonable alternatives (including alternative facility sites and pipeline routes), and measures to avoid or lessen environmental impacts. The more specific your comments, the more useful they will be. To ensure that your comments are timely and properly recorded, please 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 for the attention of Gas Branch 1, DG2E;
- reference Docket No. CP08-398-000 on the original and both copies; and
- mail your comments so that they will be received in Washington, DC on or before December 10, 2007.
If you submit comments by mail, submit them in an unbound format, no larger than 8.5 by 11 inches, suitable for copying. However, the Commission strongly encourages electronic filing of any comments.
FERC Contact Information
For additional information, contact:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Office of External Affairs
888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426
www.ferc.gov
customer@ferc.gov
Enforcement Hotline: 202-502-8390
Toll Free: 1-888-889-8030
How to Obtain More Details About a Company’s Application
A copy of the company’s application can be obtained from the company
if you are an intervener (see below on how to become one), although the
company is not obligated to provide voluminous material or material that is
difficult to reproduce. You may also obtain a copy for a nominal copying charge
from the Commission’s Public Reference Room. Call 202-502-8371 for details.
The application may also be obtained through the Commission’s website, www.ferc.gov, using the “eLibrary” link and the project’s docket number. User assistance is available at 1-866-208-3676. Within three days of assignment of a
docket number, the application will also be available in at least one location in
each county in which the facility is located. Note that in most cases you will not be able to view or print copies of
maps or similar information about the location of the project from the
Commission’s website. However, the website will provide instructions for
obtaining the material.
How to Make Your Views Known
- You may contact the company through the contact person listed in the
notification letter you receive from the company.
There are two ways to make your views known to the Commission: first, if you
want the Commission to consider your views on the various environmental
issues involved in the location of the facility, you can do so by simply writing
a letter. When submitting a letter to the Secretary of the Commission, you
should identify the project’s docket number in order for the comment to be
successfully entered into the record on the eLibrary system.
The Commission undertakes several levels of environmental analysis. The
Commission affords you the opportunity to comment at various stages in
this process. Details are available from the Commission’s Office of External
Affairs at 1-866-208-3372. Check the Commission’s website for details on filing
electronically. By filing comments, your views will be considered and addressed
in the environmental documents or a final order. Additionally, you will be placed on a mailing list to receive environmental documents in the case. You can also use eRegistration and eSubscription (see www.ferc.gov) to keep track
of individual proceedings at FERC. Users with an eRegistration account may subscribe to specific dockets and receive email notification when a document is added to eLibrary for the subscribed docket.
- You may file to become what is known as an intervener. Becoming an intervener is not complicated and gives you official rights. As an intervener, you
will receive the applicant’s filings and other Commission documents related
to the case and materials filed by other interested parties. You will also be able
to file briefs, appear at hearings and be heard by the courts if you choose to
appeal the Commission’s final ruling. However, along with these rights come
responsibilities. As an intervener, you will be obligated to mail copies of what
you file with the Commission to all the other parties at the time of filing. In
major cases, there may be hundreds of parties. You may file to become an
intervener by sending a request to intervene by mail or overnight services to:
Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20426
You should include 14 copies of your letter. Your letter should include the docket number for the proceeding for which you are requesting to intervene. Alternatively, you may use eFiling to submit your request electronically through the Commission's website. If you use eFiling you do not need to send paper copies.
NOTE: A motion to intervene must be served on the applicant and any other parties to the proceeding. You can identify the parties to the proceeding by checking the Service List, which is available through eService on FERC Online.
