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

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 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 (Kosalko et al. 2015) 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 in the same survey areas, which were conducted in February 2015. An initial addendum report (Addendum 1; Kosalko and Burr 2015) covering additional surveys conducted from August 2014 through May 2015 was submitted to the HPD in June 2015.

This addendum report (Addendum 2) documents the results of supplemental surveys conducted along additional portions of the mainline route and associated facilities that were not available for survey during the previous work. 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. Also, in a few cases the APE along the mainline route was enlarged to a 600-foot-wide (ca. 182.88-m-wide) corridor to allow for immediate flexibility in route selection.

The archaeological surveys reported here took place in Stewart, Dougherty, Mitchell, and Colquitt counties, and covered approximately 4.2 miles (6.8 km) of the pipeline route and three access roads. The surveys identified 12 new archaeological resources (9CQ92, 9CQ93, 9DU347, 9DU348, 9DU349, 9DU350, 9DU351, 9DU352, 9DU353, 9DU354, 9DU355, and 9DU356); all are recommended ineligible for the National Register.

A single historic architectural resource (HS-64) was identified in Dougherty County and is recommended ineligible for the National Register.

As of August 1, 2015, approximately 1.3 mi (ca. 2.1 km) of pipeline corridor in Georgia have not been surveyed for archaeological resources. Surveys of those areas, any additional line deviations or reroutes, and of any other identified workspaces or pipeline support facilities will be conducted as soon as those locations or facilities are identified, and will be reported via additional addendum reports.