STATE Of NEW YORK

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Eiuc T. SCHNEIDERMAN DIVISION OF Soci&L JUSTICE

ATrORNEY GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BUREAU

March 10, 2017

The Honorable Kimberly D. Bose
Secretary
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE, Room 1A
Washington, D.C. 20426

Re: Docket No. CP16-17-000

Millennium Pipeline Company, L.L. C.
Valley Lateral Project
Opposition to Renewed Request for Notice to Proceed with Tree Felling

Dear Secretary Bose:

On February 16, 2017, the Office of the New York State Attorney General (NYSOAG)
opposed Millennium Pipeline LC.C.s Request for Partial Notice to Proceed (Request), dated
February 6, 2017, seeking written authorization from FERCs Director of the Office of Energy
Projects to commence tree clearing activities in all upland areas of the Valley Lateral Project.
Millennium filed a second renewed request that included yesterdays U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (ACOE) Nationwide General Permit No. 12 itself conditioned upon New Yorks

issuance of a CWA 401 water quality certification and its response to the NYSOAG filing on
--

March 9, 2017. For the reasons stated in our prior submission, and those reiterated below,
NYSOAG opposes any FERC authorization to proceed with the project unless and until all
required authorizations are required, as expressly set forth in Condition 9 of the FERC order.

There are several inaccuracies in Millenniums March 9, 201 7 submission. First,

Millennium states that is has the required approvals to commence upland construction and/or tree
felling work. It does not. Millennium has not obtained authorization to discharge pollutants under
the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) General Permit for Stormwater
Discharges from Construction Activities (GP-0-1 5-002), an authorization that is required pursuant
to Section 402 of the federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1342, to construct the project. The
stormwater requirement exists independently from the Section 401 water quality certification
requirement.

Moreover, and as set forth in detail in our February 16 letter, the applicant is required by
statute as well as the FERC Order to obtain New York s Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality
certification before any project construction. There is no lesser standard for a partial notice to

THE CAPITOL, ALBANY, N.Y. 12224-0341 PHONE (518) 776-2400 FAx (518) 650-9363 WWW.AG.NY.GOV
proceed. Millenniums attempt to strategically compartmentalize CWA Section 401 and 404
requirements to engineer FERCs piecemeal authorization for segmented construction activities,
including this request for tree cutting, should be flatly rejected by the agency. Moreover, as an
objective reading of our February 1 6 submission demonstrates, we based our arguments on the
applicable law CWA, 401 404 and Stormwater permitting not simply Condition 9 in the FERC
,

Order.

Finally, the NYSOAG s February 1 6, 201 7 sought intervention in the proceeding, and
acknowledged that we did not yet enjoy party status. To our knowledge, there has been no FERC
response to our motion.

We urge FERC to deny Millenniums request to proceed with construction until it fully
complies with all legal requirements.

[y submitted,

Lisa M. Buanek
Assistant Attorney General
Deputy Bureau Chief, Environmental
Protection Bureau
Phone: (518) 776-2423
Lisa.Buanekag.ny.gov

ccc: FERC Service List

Karen Gaidasz, NYSDEC

2
 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

Pursuant to Rule 201 0 of the Commission s Rules of Practice and Procedures, 1 8, C.F.R.

Section 385.2010 (2016), I hereby certify that I have this day served the foregoing document

upon each person designated on the official service list compiled by the Secretary in this

proceeding.

Dated at Albany, New York this lO day ofMarch, 2017.

/s/Jeremy Magliaro
Environmental Protection Bureau
New York State Department of Law
The Capitol
Albany, New York 12224
(518) 776 2385