5 August 2009

[Federal Register: August 5, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 149)]
[Notices]               
[Page 39136-39138]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05au09-136]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2006-24644]

 
TORP Terminal LP, Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal Liquefied 
Natural Gas Deepwater Port License Application Amendment; Preparation 
of Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Amended Application; Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard announce 
receipt of an application amendment for the licensing of the TORP 
Terminal LP, Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal (BOET) liquefied 
natural gas (LNG)

[[Page 39137]]

deepwater port. The application amendment contains the information 
required to continue processing the application. This notice summarizes 
the applicant's plans and the procedures that will be followed in 
considering this application amendment. The Coast Guard, in 
coordination with the Maritime Administration, will prepare a 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) as part of the 
environmental review of this license application amendment.
    The application amendment describes the proposed change in project 
regasification technology from the ``open-loop'' LNG vaporization 
system originally proposed for TORP BOET to a ``closed-loop'' LNG 
vaporization system. The proposed vaporization system consists of a 
floating regasification unit (FRU) that contains ambient air 
vaporization (AAV) equipment to heat an intermediate fluid that would 
be sent via flexible pipes to a HiLoad floating regasification unit. 
The HiLoad would dock to a LNG carrier to provide station-keeping, 
vaporization of the LNG on the HiLoad, and transfer of natural gas back 
to the FRU in a closed-loop system. The proposed facility would be 
located in the Gulf of Mexico, in Main Pass Block MP 258, approximately 
63 miles south of Fort Morgan, Alabama. This location is the same as 
that proposed in the original application. The Draft and Final 
Environmental Impact Statements were published on the original 
application on July 6, 2007 and August 8, 2008, respectively.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the original license application, the Draft and 
Final Environmental Impact Statements (DEIS/FEIS), the application 
amendment and associated comments and documentation are available for 
viewing at the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Web site: http:/
/www.regulations.gov under docket number USCG-2006-24644.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: LT Hannah Kawamoto, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-372-1437, e-mail: Hannah.K.Kawamoto@uscg.mil. If you 
have questions on viewing the docket, call Renee V. Wright, Program 
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-493-0402.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Receipt of Application Amendment

    On June 30, 2009, the Coast Guard and Maritime Administration 
received an amendment for the Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal (BOET) 
deepwater port license application from TORP Terminal LP.

Background

    The construction and operation of a deepwater port must be 
authorized by the Secretary of Transportation (as delegated to the 
Administrator of the Maritime Administration). The Coast Guard and 
Maritime Administration are the lead federal agencies for reviewing the 
sufficiency of deepwater port license applications and assessing the 
proposed project's environmental impact on the quality of the human 
environment (see 33 CFR part 148 et seq.).
    After receiving the original application, the Maritime 
Administration and the Coast Guard completed a Draft EIS released on 
July 6, 2007. An informational open house and a public meeting were 
held in Mobile, Alabama to allow public comment and involvement. The 
Final EIS was released on August 8, 2008, and the final license hearing 
was held on August 26, 2008, in Alabama, the designated adjacent 
coastal state.
    During the original application's public interest review process, 
public and agency comments were submitted. Several comments were 
received that discussed ambient air vaporization (AAV) technology as a 
reasonable alternative for the project's regasification technology. The 
Final EIS included a brief discussion and evaluation of the AAV 
technology. The Final EIS also included a brief discussion and 
evaluation of a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). In the 
application amendment, the applicant is proposing to use a floating 
regasification unit (FRU). The difference between a FSRU and FRU system 
is that the FRU would not have any LNG storage capability.
    In the application amendment, the applicant proposes to amend the 
project to use AAV on a FRU to indirectly heat LNG on a single HiLoad 
in a closed-loop system. The original application proposed to operate 
an open-loop system using two HiLoads and a support platform. As stated 
above, AAV was discussed in the original application's FEIS as a 
generic system based on an existing application of this technology at 
an onshore LNG facility. The application amendment contains a diagram 
of the actual AAV design that is proposed to be used.
    After consulting with cooperating Federal agencies, the Coast Guard 
and Maritime Administration have determined that a Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) will provide the appropriate 
level of information for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
review and analysis. The decision to produce a SEIS was based upon the 
finding that the proposed application amendment: (i) Makes substantial 
changes in the proposed action that are relevant to environmental 
concerns; and (ii) contains significant new circumstances or 
information relevant to environmental concerns and which bear on the 
proposed action or its impacts. The SEIS will describe the project's 
changed regasification system. As much as possible, the SEIS will 
incorporate by reference the recently published Bienville Offshore 
Energy Terminal (BOET) FEIS.
    The SEIS process will allow ample opportunity for meaningful public 
comment and involvement. The Coast Guard and Maritime Administration's 
initial review of the proposed project changes indicate a reduction in 
impacts in several key resource areas that were originally identified 
with the open-loop system. In addition, comments from cooperating 
Federal agencies and the public on the original EIS discussed and 
supported the closed-loop AAV technology as an environmentally 
preferred alternative.
    The Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA Regulations (40 CFR 
1502.9(c)(4)) provide that scoping is not required for a SEIS. Once 
completed, a Draft SEIS will be announced in the Federal Register and 
made available for public comment. Following completion and release of 
the Draft SEIS, there will be a public notice and a 30-day comment 
period where the Coast Guard and Maritime Administration will receive 
comments on both the amended application and the Draft SEIS. A public 
meeting will be held in Alabama approximately two weeks after release 
of the Draft SEIS. The Coast Guard and Maritime Administration will 
consider all comments and address them in the Final SEIS. Following 
completion and release of the Final SEIS, there will be public notice 
and a 30-day comment period where the Coast Guard and Maritime 
Administration will receive comments on the Final SEIS. A final license 
hearing will be held in Alabama approximately two weeks after the 
release of the Final SEIS. A 45-day comment period will follow the 
final license hearing during which Federal agencies may provide input 
to the Maritime Administrator, and the Governor of Alabama may advise 
the Maritime Administrator of his decision to approve or disapprove the 
license application. Within 90 days of the final license hearing, the 
Maritime Administration will issue a record of decision (ROD) on the 
application.
    Questions about the proposed action or the SEIS process may be 
addressed to

[[Page 39138]]

the Coast Guard project manager identified in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT.

Privacy Act

    The electronic form of all comments received into the Federal 
Docket Management System can be searched by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). The DOT Privacy Act 
Statement can be viewed in the Federal Register published on April 11, 
2000 (Volume 65, Number 70, pages 19477-78) or you may visit http://
www.regulations.gov.

    Authority: 49 CFR 1.66.

    Dated: July 28, 2009.

    By order of the Maritime Administrator.
Murray Bloom,
Acting Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-18682 Filed 8-4-09; 8:45 am]