Mary McKenna, Philadelphia, PA.
`Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
`
`Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
`
`888 First Street NE, Room 1A
`
`Washington, DC 20426
`
`Dear Ms. Bose,
`
`I am writing to urge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to deny the
`approval of Transco s Regional Energy Access Expansion pipeline (docket number
`CP21-94-000.) This project would inflict irreparable harm to pristine streams,
`forests, and other natural resources. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement
`(DEIS) is woefully inadequate and fails to address the scope of negative effects
`that would result from this project.
`
`The project would impact 114 Exceptional Value (EV) wetlands and 37 High Quality
`(HQ) streams. Many of the streams that would be crossed by the project are cold
`water trout streams that are very sensitive to degradation. Some of these
`streams include Tunkhannock Creek, Pohopoco Creek, McMichael Creek, Mud Run, and
`the unique and sensitive Long Pond Pocono area of Monroe County - all of which
`have special protection designations.
`
`Transco fails to factor in not just the impacts of the fragmentation of the
`forest for these particular pipeline segments, but also by other cuts in the
`same region, either by Transco on its other pipeline pieces or by other
`pipeline/linear projects both within and outside the watershed. The removal of
`healthy forested buffers along the many stream crossings proposed by Transco
`REAE must be assessed   individually and cumulatively. Transco does not have
`all of its required permits from state agencies and has not provided adequate
`mitigation measures and the continued segmenting of small projects is not
`acceptable or appropriate.
`
`An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) must describe the environmental impacts
`of the proposal, including any possible alternatives and irreversible impacts
`should the proposal be carried out. In this draft EIS, FERC concludes that the
`environmental impacts of the REAE project would be  less than significant 
`except for the project s climate impacts. FERC acknowledges that the
`project s downstream emissions (16.62 million metric tons of carbon dioxide
`equivalent) exceeds FERC s own significance threshold for GHG emissions. FERC
`must justify why a project with emissions higher than its significance threshold
`should be considered the best alternative. The project would also impact 114
`Exceptional Value (EV) wetlands and 37 High Quality (HQ) streams, including cold
`water trout streams. FERC also acknowledges that environmental justice
`communities would predominantly bear the impacts from this project. This project
`actively hinders goals on reducing greenhouse gas emissions that Governor Tom
`Wolf set in 2019. Despite these impacts, FERC bizarrely believes the project
`should move forward.
`
`For these reasons, FERC should deny the Transco REAE project. The EIS is an
`incomplete assessment and does not consider or appropriately value the full
`scope of its impacts to the environment and to environmental justice
`communities.
`
`Thank you.
`
`Sincerely,
`
`