1 June 2006
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[Federal Register: June 1, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 105)]
[Notices]
[Page 31258-31260]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr01jn06-136]
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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; Preparation of
Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent; notice of public meeting; request for
comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD)
announce that the Coast Guard intends to prepare an environmental
impact statement (EIS) as part of the environmental review of this
license application. The application describes a project that would be
located in the Gulf of Mexico, in Main Pass block MP 258, approximately
63 miles south of Mobile Point, Alabama. Publication of this notice
begins a scoping process that will help identify and determine the
scope of environmental issues to be addressed in the EIS. This notice
requests public participation in the scoping process and provides
information on how to participate. This notice announces public
meetings and a public comment period to facilitate public
participation.
DATES: The public meeting in Mobile, Alabama will be held on June 14,
2006. The public meeting will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will be
preceded by an open house from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The public meeting
may end earlier or later than the stated time, depending on the number
of persons wishing to speak. Material submitted in response to the
request for comments must reach the Docket Management Facility by June
30, 2006.
ADDRESSES: The open house and public meeting will be held at: Mobile
Convention Center, One South Water Street, Room 203, Mobile, Alabama
36602; 251-208-2100.
Address docket submissions for USCG-2006-24644 to: Docket
Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation,400 Seventh
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
The Docket Management Facility accepts hand-delivered submissions
and makes docket contents available for public inspection and copying
at this address, in room PL-401, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Facility's telephone
number is 202-366-9329; the fax number is 202-493-2251; and its website
for electronic submissions or for electronic access to docket contents
is http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary K. Jager, U.S. Coast Guard,
telephone: 202-372-1454, e-mail: MJager@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have
questions on viewing the docket, call Renee V. Wright, Program Manager,
Docket Operations, telephone: 202-493-0402.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Meeting and Open House
We invite you to learn about the proposed deepwater port at an
informational open house and to comment at a public meeting on
environmental issues related to the proposed deepwater port. Your
comments will help us identify and refine the scope of the
environmental issues to be addressed in the EIS.
In order to allow everyone a chance to speak at the public meeting,
we may limit speaker time or extend the meeting hours or both. You must
identify yourself and any organization you represent by name. Your
remarks will be recorded or transcribed for inclusion in the public
docket.
You may submit written material at the public meeting, either in
place of or in addition to speaking. Written material must include your
name and address and will be included in the public docket.
Public docket materials will be made available to the public on the
Docket Management Facility's Docket
[[Page 31259]]
Management System (DMS). See ``Request for Comments'' for information
about DMS and your rights under the Privacy Act.
All our public meeting locations are wheelchair-accessible. If you
plan to attend the open house or public meeting and need special
assistance such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable
accommodation, please notify the Coast Guard (see FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT) at least 3 business days in advance. Include your
contact information as well as information about your specific needs.
Request for Comments
We request public comments or other relevant information on
environmental issues related to the proposed deepwater port. The public
meeting is not the only opportunity you have to comment. In addition to
or in place of attending a meeting, you can submit comments to the
Docket Management Facility during the public comment period (see
DATES). We will consider all comments and material received during the
comment period.
Submissions should include:
Docket number USCG-2006-24644.
Your name and address.
Your reasons for making each comment or for bringing
information to our attention.
Submit comments or material using only one of the following
methods:
Electronic submission to DMS at http://dms.dot.gov.
Fax, mail, or hand delivery to the Docket Management
Facility (see ADDRESSES). Faxed or hand-delivered submissions must be
unbound, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, and suitable for copying
and electronic scanning. If you mail your submission and want to know
when it reaches the Facility, include a stamped, self-addressed
postcard or envelope.
Regardless of the method used for submitting comments or material,
all submissions will be posted, without change, to the DMS Web site
(http://dms.dot.gov) and will include any personal information you
provide. Therefore, submitting this information makes it public. You
may wish to read the Privacy Act notice that is available on the DMS
website or the Department of Transportation Privacy Act Statement that
appeared in the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477).
You may view docket submissions at the Docket Management Facility
(see ADDRESSES) or electronically on the DMS Web site.
Background
Information about deepwater ports, the statutes and regulations
governing their licensing, and the receipt of the current application
for the proposed Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal deepwater port
appeared in the Federal Register on May 5, 2006 (71 FR 26605). The
``Summary of the Application'' from that publication is reprinted below
for your convenience.
Consideration of a deepwater port license application includes
review of the proposed deepwater port's natural and human environmental
impacts. The Coast Guard is the lead agency for determining the scope
of this review, and in this case the Coast Guard has determined that
review must include preparation of an EIS. This notice of intent is
required by 40 CFR 1508.22 and briefly describes the proposed action
and possible alternatives and our proposed scoping process. You can
address any questions about the proposed action, the scoping process,
or the EIS to the Coast Guard contact person identified in FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT.
Proposed Action and Alternatives
The proposed action requiring environmental review is the Federal
licensing of the proposed deepwater port described in ``Summary of the
Application'' below. The alternatives to licensing the proposed port
are: (1) Licensing with conditions (including conditions designed to
mitigate environmental impact) and (2) denying the application, which
for purposes of environmental review is the ``no-action'' alternative.
Scoping Process
Public scoping is an early and open process for identifying and
determining the scope of issues to be addressed in the EIS. Scoping
begins with this notice, continues through the public comment period
(see DATES), and ends when the Coast Guard has completed the following
actions:
Invites the participation of Federal, State, and local
agencies, any affected Indian tribe, the applicant, and other
interested persons;
Determines the actions, alternatives, and impacts
described in 40 CFR 1508.25;
Identifies and eliminates from detailed study those issues
that are not significant or that have been covered elsewhere;
Allocates responsibility for preparing EIS components;
Indicates any related environmental assessments or
environmental impact statements that are not part of the EIS;
Identifies other relevant environmental review and
consultation requirements;
Indicates the relationship between timing of the
environmental review and other aspects of the application process; and
At its discretion, exercises the options provided in 40
CFR 1501.7 (b).
Once the scoping process is complete, the Coast Guard will prepare
a draft EIS and we will publish a Federal Register notice announcing
its public availability. (If you want that notice to be sent to you,
please contact the Coast Guard project manager identified in FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.) You will have an opportunity to review
and comment on the draft EIS. The Coast Guard will consider those
comments and then prepare the final EIS. As with the draft EIS, we will
announce the availability of the final EIS and once again give you an
opportunity for review and comment.
Summary of the Application
TORP Terminal LP, proposes to own, construct, and operate a
deepwater port, named Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal (BOET), in the
Federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf on Main Pass block MP
258, approximately 63 miles south of Mobile Point, Alabama, in a water
depth of approximately 425 feet. The BOET Deepwater Port would be
capable of mooring two LNG carriers of up to approximately 250,000
cubic meter capacity by means of two Single Anchor Leg Moorings
(SALMs).
The LNG carriers would be off loaded one at a time to HiLoad
floating re-gasification facilities, which use four submerged shell-
and-tube heat exchangers to vaporize the LNG before sending it via 14-
inch diameter flexible risers to a Pipeline End Manifold (PLEM) on the
seafloor, then through 30-inch diameter pipeline to the support
platform, where the gas will be metered and further sent out via
interconnecting pipelines to four existing pipelines (Dauphin Island
Gathering System Feedline, Transco Feedline, Destin Feedline, and
Viosca Knoll Gathering System Feedline).
The major fixed components of the proposed deepwater port would be
the Support Platform, two PLEMs with ancillary risers and terminal
pipelines, HiLoad parking line pilings, and approximately 25 miles of
new pipeline.
BOET will have an average throughput capacity of 1.2 billion
standard cubic feet per day (Bscfd). No onshore pipelines or LNG
storage facilities are associated with the proposed deepwater port
application. A shore based facility will be used to
[[Page 31260]]
facilitate movement of personnel, equipment, supplies, and disposable
materials between the Terminal and shore.
Construction of the deepwater port would be expected to take 30
months; with startup of commercial operations in the latter half of
2009, should a license be issued. The deepwater port would be designed,
constructed and operated in accordance with applicable codes and
standards and would have an expected operating life of approximately 25
years.
Privacy Act
Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70, pages 19477-78) or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov.
(Authority 49 CFR 1.66)
By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Dated: May 26, 2006.
Joel C. Richard,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-8497 Filed 5-31-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P