17 November 2010

Liberty Liquified Natural Gas Deepwater Port

[Federal Register: November 17, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 221)]
[Notices]               
[Page 70350-70351]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17no10-157]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2010-0993]

 
Liberty Natural Gas LLC, Liberty Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) 
Deepwater Port License Application

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Application.

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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard announce 
they have received an application for the licensing of a natural gas 
deepwater port and the application contains the required information. 
This notice summarizes the applicant's plans and procedures that will 
be followed in considering the application.

DATES: The Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as amended, requires a public 
hearing on this application within 240 days of the publication of this 
notice, and a decision on the application not later than 90 days after 
the final public hearing.

ADDRESSES: The public docket for USCG-2010-0993 is maintained by the: 
Department of Transportation, Docket Management Facility, West 
Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    The Federal Docket Management Facility accepts hand-delivered 
submissions, and makes docket contents available for public inspection 
and copying at this address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays. The Facility telephone number is 202-
366-9329, the fax number is 202-493-2251, and the Web site for 
electronic submissions or for electronic access to docket contents is 
http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Ray Martin, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-372-1449, e-mail: Raymond.W.Martin@uscg.mil or Ms. 
Yvette Fields, Maritime Administration, telephone: 202-366-0926, e-
mail: Yvette.Fields@dot.gov. If you have questions on viewing the 
Docket, call Ms. Renee V. Wright, Program Manager, Docket Operations, 
telephone: 202-493-0402.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Receipt of Application

    On September 28, 2010, the Maritime Administration and U.S. Coast 
Guard received an application from Liberty Natural Gas LLC for all 
Federal authorizations required for a license to own, construct, and 
operate a deepwater port authorized under the Deepwater Port Act of 
1974, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. (the Act). On November 1, 
2010, we determined the application contained all information required 
by the Act to initiate processing.

Background

    According to the Act, a deepwater port is a fixed or floating 
manmade structure other than a vessel, or a group of structures, 
located beyond state seaward boundaries and used or intended for use as 
a port or terminal for the transportation, storage, and further 
handling of oil or natural gas for transportation to any state.
    The Maritime Administrator possesses the authority to license a 
deepwater port (by delegation from the Secretary of Transportation, 
published on June 18, 2003 (68 FR 36496)). Statutory and regulatory 
requirements for licensing appear in 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. and in 33 
CFR Part 148. Under delegations from, and agreements between, the 
Secretary of Transportation and the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
applications are jointly processed by the Maritime Administration and 
U.S. Coast Guard. Each application is considered on its own merits.
    The Act imposes a strict timeline for processing an application. 
Once we determine that an application contains the required 
information, we must hold public hearings on the application within 240 
days, and the Maritime Administrator must render a decision on the 
application within 330 days. We will publish additional Federal 
Register notices to inform you of these public hearings and other 
procedural milestones, including the environmental review. The Maritime 
Administrator's decision, and other key documents, will be filed in the 
public docket.
    At least one public hearing must take place in each adjacent 
coastal state. Pursuant to the criteria provided in the Act, New Jersey 
and New York are adjacent coastal states for this application. Other 
states may apply for adjacent coastal state status in accordance with 
33 U.S.C. 1508(a)(2).

Summary of the Application

    Liberty Natural Gas, LLC, proposes to own, construct, and operate a 
natural gas deepwater port, known as Liberty Deepwater Port. It would 
be located approximately 16 miles off the coast of New Jersey to the 
east of Asbury Park in a water depth of approximately 100 to 120 feet. 
It will connect via offshore pipeline to a 9.2 mile onshore pipeline 
that will traverse through Perth Amboy, Woodbridge and Carteret in 
Middlesex County, New Jersey and terminate in Linden, Union County, New 
Jersey.

[[Page 70351]]

    Liberty Deepwater Port would receive and transfer natural gas from 
purpose-build LNG regasification vessels (LNGRVs) with a total cargo 
tank capacity of approximately 145,000 m\3\. The vessels would be 
equipped to vaporize LNG cargo to natural gas through onboard closed 
loop vaporization systems and to odorize and meter gas for send-out by 
means of a Submerged Turret Loading\TM\ (STL) buoy system. When the 
vessels are not present, the buoy would be submerged on a special 
landing pad on the seafloor, 100-120 feet below the sea surface. The 
top of the buoy would be approximately 50-70 feet below the surface of 
the water.
    Liberty Deepwater Port would consist of up to four STL Buoy 
systems. Each buoy system would connect to an 18-inch diameter 
pipeline, called a Lateral, at a pipeline end manifold (PLEM) installed 
on the seafloor. The Laterals would be approximately 0.6 miles to 1 
mile in length. Natural gas would flow through each Lateral to the 36-
inch diameter, 44.37 mile long Offshore Pipeline. The Offshore Pipeline 
would connect to a 36-inch diameter, 9.2 mile long Onshore Pipeline 
that would traverse through Perth Amboy, Woodbridge and Carteret in 
Middlesex County, New Jersey and terminate in Linden, Union County, New 
Jersey. The Onshore Pipeline would connect to Transco and TETCO 
pipeline systems.
    The Liberty Deepwater Port would be installed in two phases, with 
the first two STL Buoy systems and accompanying onshore and offshore 
pipeline infrastructure proposed to be installed and operational by the 
end of 2013. The second phase, consisting of an additional pair of STL 
Buoy systems and associated Laterals, would be constructed at a later 
date.
    The Offshore Pipeline ultimately used by four STL Buoy systems will 
have a delivery capacity of approximately 2.4 billion cubic feet per 
day (bcf/d) of natural gas. Each LNGRV will have an average natural gas 
delivery capacity of 600 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) with a 
maximum capacity of 750 MMcf/d.
    Liberty Natural Gas LLC is currently seeking Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval for the onshore pipelines. As 
required by FERC regulations, FERC will also maintain a docket for the 
FERC portion of the project. The docket number is CP11-10. The filing 
may also be viewed on the Web at http://www.ferc.gov using the 
``eLibrary'' link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three 
digits in the docket number field to access the document. For 
assistance, call (866) 208-3767 or TYY, (202) 502-8659.
    In addition, the deepwater port pipelines and structures, such as 
the STL moorings, may require permits under Section 404 of the Clean 
Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which are 
administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
    Liberty Deepwater Port may also require permits from the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the provisions of the 
Clean Air Act, as amended, and the Clean Water Act, as amended.
    The offshore and onshore pipelines will be included in the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review as part of the deepwater port 
application process. FERC, EPA, and the USACE, among others, are 
cooperating agencies and will assist in the NEPA process as described 
in 40 CFR 1501.6; will be participating in the scoping meetings; and 
will incorporate the EIS into their permitting processes. Comments sent 
to the FERC docket, or to the EPA or USACE, will be incorporated into 
the DOT docket and considered as the EIS is developed to ensure 
consistency with the NEPA Process.
    Should a license be issued, construction of the deepwater port 
would be expected to take approximately 18 months over a two-year 
period with startup of commercial operations following construction. 
The deepwater port would be designed, constructed and operated in 
accordance with applicable codes and standards.

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: November 9, 2010.

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Christine Gurland,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-28881 Filed 11-16-10; 8:45 am]
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