FERC staff has issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) for Gulf South Pipeline Co. LP’s Coastal Bend Header Project, which would create expansion capacity to deliver natural gas to Freeport LNG Development LP’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal near Freeport, TX.

Proposed and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff-recommended mitigation measures would mean the project would not significantly affect the environment, staff said [CP15-517].

Gulf South, a unit of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP, plans to construct the 65-mile Coastal Bend Header to serve the LNG terminal and plans to expand and modify existing facilities to access additional supply sources for the header with an anticipated start date in 2018 (see Daily GPI, Sept. 10, 2014).

The Sierra Club had sought a more rigorous environmental impact statement on the project, rather than an EA. FERC staff said an EA fulfilled its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act.

“Based on our analysis, the extent and content of comments received during the scoping period, and considering that portions of the project components would be collocated with existing facilities, we conclude that the impacts associated with this project can be sufficiently mitigated to support a finding of no significant impact, and thus, an EA is warranted,” staff said.