An Interstate Natural Gas Facility On My Land
An Interstate Natural Gas Facility On My Land
An Interstate Natural Gas Facility On My Land
What Do I
Need to Know?
Prepared by the
Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission
Cover Photos: (left to right):
Pipe stringing,
Lowering the pipe into the trench,
Pipeline in the trench,
Restored right-of-way
An Interstate Natural Gas
Facility on My Land?
What do I
Need to know?
1
Background
T
he Commission approves the location, construction and operation
of interstate pipelines, facilities and storage fields involved in moving
natural gas across state boundaries. The Commission also approves the
abandonment of these facilities.
Interstate pipelines crisscross the United States, moving nearly a quarter of the
nation’s energy long distances to markets in the 48 contiguous states, and are
vital to the economy. Although pipelines generally are buried underground,
they may have associated facilities that are above-ground such as taps, valves,
metering stations, pig launchers, pig receivers, or compressor stations. A natural
gas storage field includes subsurface gas storage rights and there may be storage
field pipelines and gas wells associated with the storage rights. A Pipeline
Glossary is provided at the end of this brochure to help you understand some
of the technical terms that are associated with pipeline construction and above-
ground facilities.
If a proposed pipeline route is on, or abuts your land, you will probably
first learn of this from the company concerned as it plans and studies the
route during either the Commission’s voluntary Pre-filing Process or in the
application development process. Once a company files an application
requesting the Commission to issue a certificate authorizing the construction
of a pipeline project, the company will mail you a copy of this brochure and
other information within three days of the Commission issuing a Notice of
Application. The Commission’s staff will prepare an environmental study of
the proposal; either an Environmental Impact Statement or an Environmental
Assessment, depending on the scope of the project. For major construction
projects, local media may be notified and public meetings may be held. You
will have an opportunity to express your views and to have them considered.
You will also have the opportunity to learn the views of other interested parties.
The Commission may approve the project, with or without modifications, or
reject it. If it is approved and you fail to reach an easement agreement with the
company, access to and compensation for use of your land will be set by a court.
Understandably, the location of pipelines and other facilities may be of concern to
landowners. The Commission’s process for assessing pipeline applications is open
and public, and designed to keep all parties informed.
This brochure generally explains the Commission’s certificate process and
addresses some of the basic concerns of landowners. The Commission’s Office of
2
External Affairs at 1-866-208-3372 will be happy to answer any further
questions about the procedures involved.
3
Q: How do I make my views known?
A: 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 Web site 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.
Q: What is an intervener?
A: You may file to become what is known as an intervener. You may obtain
instructions on how to do this from the Office of External Affairs or on our
Web site at http://www.ferc.gov/help/how-to/intervene.asp. 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:
Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20426
4
You should include 14 copies of your request. Your request 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 Web site. If you use eFiling you do
not need to send paper copies.
You must normally file for intervener status within 21 days of our notice of
the application in the Federal Register, although the Commission may accept
late intervention if good reasons are given. Visit the Federal Register at
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html. You may also file for intervener status
for the purposes of environmental issues during the comment period for a draft
environmental impact statement.
Please note: “PF” dockets are assigned to projects that are in the pre-filing or
planning stage. There is no provision for becoming an intervener in PF dockets.
However, once the pre-filing stage has been completed and an application has
been filed, you may file for intervener status.
C ustomer A ssistance
5
K ey Issues Involving Location
of the Project
6
The permanent right-of-way is usually about 50 feet wide. Routine mowing
or cutting of vegetation is done no more than once every three years. A ten-
foot-wide corridor, centered on the pipeline, may be mowed or cut annually. In
cropland and residential areas the right-of-way is maintained by the landowner
consistent with the presence of a pipeline.
Q: Must the company obey local, county and state laws and
zoning ordinances?
A: Generally, yes. If there is a conflict, however, between these ordinances and
what the Commission requires; the Commission requirement prevails.
7
Q: What about bushes, trees, fences, driveways and so forth?
A: Trees with roots that may damage the pipeline or its coating and other
obstructions that prevent observation from aircraft during maintenance are
usually not allowed. Driveways and other improvements without foundations
are normally allowed. All improvements are subject to the terms of the
easement and are subject to negotiation as long as the pipeline maintenance
and safety are not affected.
8
Pipeline Install ation Sequence
After a company has received authorization from FERC as well as all
necessary permits, and has an easement on a property, construction
would proceed as follows:
1) The civil survey (and any uncompleted environmental surveys) would be
completed and the construction right-of-way would be marked/staked
for the clearing crew.
2) The clearing crew would remove any trees or brush within the right-of-
way that would interfere with construction.
3) Temporary erosion control devices would be installed as required.
4) Next, the right-of-way would be graded.
5) Topsoil would be separated from subsoil in agricultural/residential areas
(or in other areas requested during the easement negotiations).
6) Heavy equipment, such as backhoes or trenching machines, would then
dig the trench. In areas where bedrock is near the surface, blasting may
be required.
7) The pipe would be delivered to the right-of-way in segments (called
joints).
8) The pipe would be bent to fit the trench and welded together. All welds
would be tested prior to placing the pipe in the trench.
9) The trench would be back filled and if topsoil was removed it would be
returned.
10) Construction debris would be removed.
11) The right-of-way would be regraded; seeded; and temporary and
permanent erosion control devices would be installed.
12) After the right-of-way has revegetated the temporary erosion control
devices would be removed.
13) Prior to gas flowing, the pipeline would be pressure tested (normally
with water) to ensure it does not leak.
9
Pipeline Construction
10 11
Aba ndonment
12
would be stored. This is also the case for any property within
any designated “buffer zone” or “protective area” around the actual
storage field.
13
Natural gas can also be converted to liquefied natural gas (LNG) and stored
in above-ground tanks. Facilities for making LNG are usually used by gas
distribution companies for short-term peaking requirements, and are regulated
under state authority. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has
jurisdiction over a small number of these facilities.
The United States also has several large LNG import terminals, which include
large LNG tanks as part of their operations. However, these terminals have no
liquefaction capability, so they are not able to be used to store natural gas that
is produced in the United States. Instead, the LNG that is imported is regassified
before it enters the system of interstate natural gas pipelines for delivery to
consumers.
The Gulf Coast area has the country’s highest concentration of existing and
planned LNG import terminals. In this region, the use of salt cavern and
depleted reservoirs may be used as storage for the LNG imports.
14
have a high cushion gas requirement, generally between 50% and 80%,
as the water in the portion of the reservoir being used for storage must be
displaced constantly. They also have high deliverability rates but are limited to
one injection/withdrawal cycle each year.
Salt Cavern Storage: This type of storage field uses caverns that are leached or
mined out of underground salt deposits (salt domes or bedded salt formations).
Salt caverns usually operate with about 20% to 30% cushion gas and the
remaining capacity as working gas. Working gas can be recycled more than once
per year (some up to 10 – 12 times per year), the injection and withdrawal rates
being limited only by the capability of the surface facilities. Salt cavern storage
has high deliverability and injection capabilities and is usually used for peak
deliverability purposes, daily or even hourly. Most of the naturally-occurring
salt caverns in the United States lie closer to the producer region—in Louisiana,
Texas, and the Gulf Coast.
For more detailed information about natural gas storage, visit these Web sites:
• FERC Staff Report on Underground Natural Gas Storage
http://www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/Files/20041020081349-final-gs-report.pdf
• EIA: Basics of Underground Natural Gas Storage
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/
storagebasics/storagebasics.html
• NaturalGas.org: Storage of Natural Gas
http://www.naturalgas.org/naturalgas/storage.asp
• The Energy Information Administration (EIA)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/info_glance/natural_gas.html
15
some form of agreement with the owner of the mineral rights. Compensation
for that use will come as a result of the property/mineral rights conveyed to
the company by the current owner or attached to the deed from a previous
property owner. Those property/mineral rights, depending on the facts of
the particular situation, will most likely be in the form of a storage lease or an
easement agreement.
A FERC certificate is not required in order for a company to negotiate the
acquisition of a storage lease or easement. However, if FERC has issued a
certificate approving the creation of a new storage field (or expansion of an
existing field), that indicates that the agency has concluded that the storage
field is needed and is in the public interest. In accordance with the Natural Gas
Act (a law passed by the United States Congress in 1938), the FERC certificate
gives the company the right to ask a state or federal court to award the needed
property rights to the company where voluntary good faith negotiation has
failed.
If the owner of the property/mineral rights and the company do not reach an
agreement, the company can go to court to obtain the necessary rights through
eminent domain. In such cases, the court will determine the amount that the
company must pay to the owner of these rights. Similarly, if the storage field
operations affect the surface property through construction of facilities or by
reserving access rights, the company must also reach an agreement with the
owner of the surface rights or go to court to obtain any necessary property
rights through eminent domain. The court will determine the amount that the
company must pay the owner of the surface rights. The state or federal court
procedure is known as condemnation (or the exercise of eminent domain).
16
developed between the landowner and the storage facility operator
usually indicate minimum spacing of the facilities with respect to existing
structures, like your home.
In most cases, if the company does not have any surface facilities on your
property, the company would not need access to your property. However,
the company may need access to your land to check the integrity of a pipeline
crossing your property or to monitor the effects of previously abandoned
facilities (such as an old gas well) or facilities owned by another company
to insure that those facilities do not interfere with the company’s storage
operations. Because the need for access cannot be predicted, the storage lease
or easement agreement typically references the right of the company to enter
your property when needed. The company should inform the property owner
when its employees plan to enter the property.
NOISE ISSUES
17
conducted with the goal of keeping the perceived noise from the drilling at any
pre-existing noise-sensitive area (such as schools, hospitals, or residences) at or
below a day-night level of 55 decibels. States may have their own allowable noise
level requirements for construction sites.
18
right-of-way. If Commission approval is ultimately denied, or the route
changes, the initial easement agreement with the landowner is usually void
(depending on the wording of the right-of-way or access contract). Further,
disputes over the wording of an easement agreement are subject to state law.
19
Q: Can a pipeline be placed in a river or the ocean?
A: A pipeline can be placed in the ocean or across a river; however, it is usually
not acceptable to place one longitudinally down a river or other stream. There
are different environmental, cost, design and safety issues associated with
construction in a water body.
20
action by someone other than the pipeline company. The DOT enforces
strict safety standards and requires safety checks.
C ompressor S tations
Compressor Stations are facilities located along a natural gas pipeline which
house and protect compressors. Compressors are used to compress (or pump)
the gas to move it through the system. Compressor stations are strategically
placed along the pipeline to boost the system pressure to maintain required
flow rates.
E asement
An easement is an acquired privilege or right, such as a right-of-way, afforded a
person or company to make limited use of another person’s or company’s real
property. For example, the municipal water company may have an easement
across your property for the purpose of installing and maintaining a water
line. Similarly, oil and natural gas pipeline companies acquire easements from
property owners to establish rights-of-way for construction and operation of
their pipelines.
L ater al
A lateral is a segment of a pipeline that branches off the main or transmission
line to transport the product to a termination point, such as a tank farm or a
metering station.
L auncher
A launcher is a pipeline component that is used
for inserting an inline inspection tool, cleaning
pig, or other device into a pressurized pipeline.
After performing its task, the tool or pig is
removed via receiver.
Launcher
L oop
A loop is a segment of pipeline installed adjacent to an existing pipeline and
connected to it at both ends. A loop allows more gas to be moved through the
system.
22
M etering and R egulating (M&R) S tations
Metering and regulating stations are installations
containing equipment to measure the amount
of gas entering or leaving a pipeline system and,
sometimes, to regulate gas pressure.
P ig
A pig, also known as a “smart” pig, is a generic
term signifying any independent, self-contained Metering and Regulating
device, tool, or vehicle that is inserted into and Station
moves through the interior of a pipeline for
inspecting, dimensioning, or cleaning. These tools are commonly
referred to as ‘pigs’ because of the occasional squealing noises that
can be heard as they travel through the pipe.
R eceivers
A pipeline component used for removing an inline inspection tool,
cleaning pig, or other device from a pressurized pipeline. The device
is inserted into the pipeline via a launcher.
R ights-of- W ay (ROW)
A right-of-way is a defined strip of land on which an operator has the
rights to construct, operate, and/or maintain a pipeline. A ROW may
be owned outright by the operator or an easement may be acquired
for specific use of the ROW.
T rench
A trench is a long narrow ditch dug into the
ground and embanked with its own soil. They
are used for concealment and protection of
pipeline. Trenches are usually dug by a backhoe
or by a specialized digging machine.
Pipeline in trench
V alve
A valve is a mechanical device installed in a pipeline and used to
control the flow of gas or liquid.
See http://www.phmsa.dot.gov for additional pipeline-related
terminology definitions.
23
Additional Infor m ation
F or additional information, contact:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Office of External Affairs
888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426
Toll Free: 1-866-208-3372
E-mail: customer@ferc.gov
www.ferc.gov
http://www.ferc.gov/for-citizens/citizen-guides.asp
n Your Guide to Electronic Information at FERC
24
PROCESS FOR NATUR AL
GAS CERTIFIC ATES
Conduct Scoping to
Determine Environmental
Issues and Attempt to
Resolve Issues
Conduct Scoping
(if the PF Process is not used)
Issue EA or
Draft EIS
Respond to environmental
comments / Issue Final EIS
Commission
Issues Order
Your project’s docket number