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 Addendum 3

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 over 100 access roads and contractor yards in Georgia, as well as a number of ATWSs. 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.

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. Addendum reports (Kosalko and Burr 2015a, 2015b) covering additional surveys conducted from August 2014 through August 2015 have also been submitted to and reviewed by HPD, and requested revisions to those reports are pending. Associated surveys conducted for the Alabama and Florida portions of the Project are being reported separately, as are the Phase II archaeological investigations.

This addendum report (Addendum 3) documents supplemental surveys conducted along additional portions of the mainline route and associated facilities that were not available for survey during the previous work, as well as work conducted for a reroute to avoid a potential cemetery location. The archaeological surveys took place in Mitchell, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes counties, and covered approximately 1.9 miles (3.1 km) of the pipeline route, one ATWS, and four access roads. The surveys identified four new archaeological resources (9LW166, 9LW167, 9LW168, and 9LW169) as well as a slight extension of a previously reported resource (9LW139).

One of these five resources (9LE139) has been previously determined ineligible for the National Register (Jennifer Dixon, letter of January 26, 2015), and TRC recommends that that resource continue to be determined ineligible. A second resource (9LW167) is also recommended ineligible for the National Register, as that site lack evidence of substantial artifact concentrations or intact cultural deposits or features that could provide information regarding the prehistory and/or history of the region (National Register Criterion D), and also lacks the characteristics necessary for eligibility under Criteria A–C. TRC recommends that no additional archaeological investigations be required at those resources for this Project.

The other three archaeological resources (9LW166, 9LW168, and 9LW169) appear to extend outside the Project APE and have not been fully delineated; for that reason the National Register eligibility of those sites is recommended as unknown. Due to the nature of the deposits present within the Sabal Trail workspace, however, TRC recommends that the Project will have no effect on those resources, and that no additional work or protective measures be required at those sites.

Additional archaeological survey, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) studies, and associated ground truthing also were conducted to ensure avoidance of a potential historic cemetery site in Lowndes County. The cemetery site was tentatively identified based on landowner reports and the GPR survey, and has now been avoided by the Project.

No historic architectural resources were identified during the surveys.