[Federal Register: May 30, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 104)]
[Notices]
[Page 32538-32539]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30my03-97]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[USCG-2002-14134]
Port Pelican LLC Deepwater Port License Application
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS, and Maritime Administrative, DOT.
ACTION: Draft environmental impact statement, notice of availability
and request for public comments; notice of meeting.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration announce
the availability of the draft environmental impact statement for the
Port Pelican LLC Deepwater Port License Application. We request your
input on this draft environmental impact statement, which covers the
construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas deepwater port
known as ``Port Pelican'' and associated anchorage on the Outer
Continental Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 36 miles south
southwest of Freshwater City, Louisiana.
DATES: The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) will be available
on May 30, 2003, and comments must reach the Coast Guard on or before
July 15, 2003. A public meeting will be held on July 1, 2003, 3 p.m. to
7 p.m., in Lafayette, LA.
ADDRESSES: The draft EIS will be available in the docket on the
Internet at http://dms.dot.gov under docket number USCG-2002-14134 or
by contacting the U.S. Coast Guard as indicated in FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT. The meeting location is: Lafayette Hilton Hotel,
West Pinhook Road, Lafayette, LA 70503, (337) 235-6111.
Comments may be submitted in several ways. To make sure your
comments and related material are not entered more than once in the
docket, please submit them by only one of the following means:
(1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility (USCG-2002-14134),
U.S. Department of Transportation, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
(2) By delivery to Room PL-401 on the Plaza Level of the Nassif
Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
[[Page 32539]]
The telephone number is (202) 366-9329.
(3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at (202) 493-2251.
(4) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this
notice. Comments will become part of this docket and will be available
along with the draft EIS for inspection or copying at Room PL-401,
located on the Plaza Level of the Nassif Building at the above address
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except for Federal
holidays. You may also view this docket, including this notice and
comments, on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.
Anyone can 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 the Department of
Transportation's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register
published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-78), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions about the
project, you may contact Commander Mark Prescott, U.S. Coast Guard at
(202) 267-0225 or mprescott@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have questions on
viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Dorothy Beard,
Chief, Dockets, DOT, telephone (202) 366-5149.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1504(f).
Request for Comments
We encourage you to submit comments on this draft EIS (A copy of
the draft EIS is available as indicated under ADDRESSES). If you do so,
please include your name and address, identify the docket number for
this notice (USCG-2002-14134) and give the reasons for each comment.
You may submit your comments by mail, hand delivery, fax or electronic
means to the Docket Management Facility at the address given under
ADDRESSES, but please submit your comments and materials by only one
means. If you submit them by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail, and would
like to know if they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped,
self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments
received during the comment period. Comments received during the draft
EIS review period will be available in the public docket and addressed
in the final EIS. A notice of availability of the final EIS will also
be published in the Federal Register.
Public Meeting/Open House
The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration will host an
informational open house from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1,
2003, at the Lafayette Hilton Hotel, West Pinhook Road, Lafayette,
Louisiana. A public meeting will be held concurrently with the
informational open house, and will commence at 5 p.m. We invite the
public and representatives of interested agencies to attend and provide
their views on the proposed action and the evaluation contained in the
draft EIS (A copy of the draft EIS is available as indicated under
ADDRESSES). If you plan to attend the meeting and need special
assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable
accommodations, contact the U.S. Coast Guard as indicated in FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Proposed Action
The application plan calls for construction of the Port Pelican
Deepwater Port and associated anchorage in an area situated in the Gulf
of Mexico approximately 36 miles south southwest of Freshwater City,
Louisiana, in Vermilion Block 140. Additional information on the
application can be found online at http://dms.dot.gov under docket
number USCG-2002-14134, or in the notice of application published in
the Federal Register at 67 FR 79234 (Dec. 27, 2002).
The proposed project would deliver natural gas to the United States
Gulf Coast using existing gas supply and gathering systems in the Gulf
of Mexico and southern Louisiana. Gas would then be delivered to
shippers using the national pipeline grid through interconnections with
major interstate and intrastate pipelines.
The project would consist of two concrete gravity based structure
(GBS) units fixed to the seabed, which would include integral liquefied
natural gas (LNG) storage tanks, support deck mounted LNG receiving and
vaporization equipment and utilities, berthing accommodations for LNG
carriers, facilities for delivery of natural gas to a pipeline
transportation system, and personnel accommodations.
A 42-inch diameter offshore Pelican Interconnector Pipeline (PIPL),
37 nautical miles in length, would be constructed as part of the
project. The PIPL would transport gas from the terminal to a point near
the Tiger Shoal Platform ``A'' where it would connect to the Henry-
Floodway Gas Gathering System (HFGGS). The HFGGS would deliver the gas
to the onshore U.S. gas pipeline network.
Alternatives
The draft EIS examines in detail an alternative location for siting
of the project and a no-action alternative. The alternative site,
approximately 30 miles east of Vermilion Block 140, would involve use
of South Marsh Island Block 4.
Evaluation of the no-action alternative, defined as not approving
the license application, provides a baseline for comparing the impacts
associated with the proposed action and use of the alternative site.
Dated: May 22, 2003.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security and Environmental
Protection, U.S. Coast Guard.
Raymond R. Barberesi,
Director, Office of Ports and Domestic Shipping, Maritime
Administration.
[FR Doc. 03-13418 Filed 5-23-03; 3:17 pm]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P