PHASE II ARCHAEOLOGICAL TESTING OF SITES 9ML240, 9CQ90, 9BO51, 9BO61, 9BO70, 9LW143, 9LW145, AND 9LW146 FOR THE SABAL TRAIL PROJECT, MITCHELL, COLQUITT, BROOKS, AND LOWNDES COUNTIES, GEORGIA

Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC (Sabal Trail), a joint venture between affiliates of Spectra Energy Partners,

LP, NextEra Energy, Inc., and Duke Energy Corporation has been issued a Certificate of Public

Convenience and Necessity by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pursuant to Section

7(c) of the Natural Gas Act authorizing the construction and operation of the Sabal Trail Project (Project)

(FERC Docket No. CP15-17-000; DA Permit No. SAS-2013-00942; HPD No. HP-131022-004).

The Project is being reviewed under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its

implementing regulations (36 CFR Part 800, Protection of Historic Properties), which require federal

agencies (including the FERC) to take into account the effect of federal undertakings (such as the issuance

of a FERC Certificate) on any cultural resources listed or eligible for listing in the National Register, and

to afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) the opportunity to comment on the

undertaking. The Section 106 compliance process is coordinated at the state level by the State Historic

Preservation Officer, which is represented in Georgia by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources

(DNR) Historic Preservation Division (HPD).

The cultural resource surveys for the Project thus were conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the

NHPA and its implementing regulation, as well as 18 CFR Part 380, the FERC’s Regulations Implementing

the National Environmental Policy Act; the FERC’s Office of Energy Project’s Guidelines for Reporting

on Cultural Resources Investigations (2002); the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and Guidelines for

Archeology and Historic Preservation (48 Federal Register 44716-42, Sept. 29, 1983); the Georgia Council

of Professional Archaeologists’ Georgia Standards and Guidelines for Archaeological Surveys (Georgia

CPA, 2001); the Georgia SHPO’s Archaeological Assessment Report Guidelines and Components (Georgia

SHPO 2004) and Georgia Historic Resources Survey Manual (Georgia SHPO 2005); and National Register

Bulletin 24, Guidelines for Local Surveys: A Basis for Preservation Planning (Derry et al. 1985).

Phase I surveys of the Georgia portion of the Project have been conducted by TRC Environmental

Corporation (TRC) on behalf of Sabal Trail since September 2013, and a revised draft Phase I survey report

containing information on all surveys conducted through July 2014 was submitted to the Historic

Preservation Division (HPD) in May 2015 (Kosalko et al. 2015). Additional surveys conducted through

October 2015 have been reported to the HPD via report addendums (Kosalko and Burr 2015a, 2015b, 2016;

Kosalko and Webb 2015), and additional addendum reports will be submitted as necessary.

This report documents Phase II archaeological testing that was conducted from March 2014 through August

2015 at eight predominantly prehistoric sites (9ML240, 9CQ90, 9BO51, 9BO61, 9BO70, 9LW143,

9LW145, and 9LW146) in Mitchell, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes counties, Georgia; one of the sites

(9BO61) also contains a substantial 20th century historic period component. This work followed Phase II

research methods that were approved by the HPD (Bryan Tucker, email of November 1, 2013). The work

at seven of the sites was constrained to the Sabal Trail Project Area of Potential Effects (APE) for

archeological resources, which consists of a 300-foot (ca. 91.44-m) wide corridor surrounding the Project

centerline and workspace and was the only area accessible at the time of the testing; the work at 9BO70

was conducted at an earlier stage of the project, and explored a much larger corridor.

All eight of the sites extend outside of the investigated areas and could not be fully delineated; for this

reason, following HPD guidelines (Jennifer Dixon, letter of January 26, 2015), the National Register of

Historic Places (National Register) eligibility of these resources is considered unknown. Based on site

characteristics and the location and nature of the potential Project activities at each site, however, it is

TRC’s recommendation that these sites will not be adversely affected by the Project.

Based on the extent of site testing and site characteristics, TRC does not recommend that any protective

measures are necessary at seven of these resources (9ML240, 9BO51, 9BO61, 9BO70, 9LW143, 9LW145,

and 9LW146). At 9CQ90, however, TRC recommends that protective fencing be installed along the east

side of the Project workspace to provide additional protection to deposits situated east of the workspace in

that area. A Resource Protection Plan for 9CQ90 is provided in Appendix 3.