Docket No. CP21-498-000
The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) has prepared a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Virginia Electrification Project (Project).
The Project would consist of the following facilities all located in Virginia:
- installation of one zero emission electric motor compressor unit at the Boswell Tavern Compressor Station located in Louisa County;
- facility modifications to the Boswells Tavern Point of Receipt (POR) located in Louisa County to increase capacity;
- replacement of all five existing gas-powered compressor units at the Goochland Compressor Station, located in Goochland County, with new units that will run exclusively on electric motors, but will have the ability to run on gas in order to ensure reliability; and
- status change of an existing compressor unit from backup mode to active mode and increase the site-rated station horsepower to 5,500 horsepower at the Petersburg Compressor Station located in Prince George County.
The EIS was prepared in compliance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality regulations for implementing NEPA (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] 1500–1508), and FERC regulations implementing NEPA (18 CFR 380).
The FERC staff concludes that modifying and installing the Project facilities would result in limited adverse impacts on the environment. Most adverse environmental impacts would be temporary or short-term and would have minimal impact. To ensure impacts on the environment are avoided, reduced, and minimized to the extent practical, staff recommends that Columbia implement additional mitigation measures. These recommendations are identified in sections 4 and 5 of the EIS. Staff also recommends that these mitigation measures be attached as conditions to any authorization issued by the Commission. Therefore, with the exception of climate change impacts that are not characterized in this EIS as significant or insignificant, staff concludes that Project impacts on the environment would not be significant.