Back to top

Phase I Cultural Resource Survey of the Georgia Portion of the Sabal Trail Project, Stewart, Webster, Terrell, Lee, Dougherty, Mitchell, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties, Georgia

Report Number
8521
Year of Publication
2015
County
Abstract

Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC (Sabal Trail), a joint venture between affiliates of Spectra Energy Partners, LP, NextEra Energy, Inc., and Duke Energy Corporation, is seeking a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity from 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. CP-15-17-000). The Project involves construction of ca. 480.7 miles of new 36-inch natural gas pipeline (the mainline route) from a Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company, LLC (Transco) pipeline in Tallapoosa County, Alabama to a new interconnection hub (the Central Florida Hub) in Osceola County, Florida. The Project will also include construction of associated compressor stations, meter and regulating (M&R) stations, and mainline valves (MLVs), and use of additional temporary work spaces (ATWSs), access roads, and contractor yards. In addition, the Project will include construction of approximately 13.1 miles of new 36-inch diameter pipeline (the Hunters Creek Line) and 21.5 miles of new 24-inch pipeline (the Citrus County Line) in Florida.

Approximately 161.7 miles of the Sabal Trail mainline route are located in Georgia, where the route traverses Stewart, Webster, Terrell, Lee, Dougherty, Mitchell, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes counties. Associated above-ground facilities in Georgia include the Albany Compressor Station as well as eight MLVs and a Launcher/Receiver site, all of which will be located along the mainline route or within the Albany Compressor Station site. In addition, the Project will also involve the use of approximately 100 access roads and five contractor yards in Georgia, as well as a number of ATWSs.

A revised draft report documenting the initial cultural resources surveys of the Georgia portion of the Project, including the mainline route as well as associated facilities, was submitted to the Historic Preservation Division (HPD) of the (Georgia) Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in May 2015. That report presented the results of surveys conducted by TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) on behalf of Sabal Trail from September 2013 through July 2014, as well as supplemental surveys requested by the HPD within the same survey areas, which were conducted in February 2015.

This addendum report documents the results of additional surveys conducted from August 2014 through May 2015 along portions of the mainline route and at associated facilities that were not available for survey during the 2013 and 2014 work, as well as surveys conducted for reroutes and proposed alternate facility locations. Associated surveys conducted for the Alabama and Florida portions of the Project are being reported separately, as are the Phase II archaeological investigations.

The Project Area of Potential Effects (APE) for archaeological resources in Georgia was defined as a 300-ft wide (ca. 91.44-m-wide) environmental study corridor containing the mainline route, and also includes a 50-ft wide (ca. 15.24-m-wide) corridor along proposed access roads as well as the footprints of compressor station and M&R station sites and of other support facilities. The archaeological surveys reported here covers approximately 12.67 miles (20.4 km) of the pipeline route in Georgia, along with one contractor yard, two potential compressor station sites, five access roads, and eight ATWSs that extend outside the 300-ft corridor.

The surveys reported here relocated two archaeological sites and identified 10 new archaeological sites or finds. One of the relocated resources (9SW170) and all of the newly identified resources (9CQ91, 9DU344, 9DU345, 9DU346, 9LW160, 9LW161, 9LW162, 9LW163, 9LW164 and 9SW264) are recommended as ineligible for the National Register. This report also documents the continued avoidance of a relocated site (9SW155) that is of unknown National Register eligibility and is outside the Project APE.

Surveys of the remaining segments of pipeline corridor, any additional line deviations or reroutes, and of any other additional workspaces or pipeline support facilities will be conducted as soon as those locations or facilities are identified, and will be reported via addendum reports.

The Project APE for above-ground historic resources (historic architectural properties) consists of areas in which those resources could be directly or indirectly affected by construction-related activities. The APE for direct effects to above-ground resources includes the 300-ft-wide environmental study corridor and the proposed construction footprint of the above-ground facilities (i.e., compressor stations), while the larger APE for indirect effects includes areas within 400 ft of the new compressor or M&R stations, other locations where land use may change (through the removal of vegetation or modifications of surface topography, for example), and any other locations where the Project may lie within view of a historic resource.

With the exception of the proposed Dawson Road Contractor Yard, all of these survey areas documented in this report had been previously surveyed for above-ground historic resources. Survey of the Dawson Road Contractor Yard identified no above-ground resources that might be affected by use of that facility.