[Federal Register: July 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 145)]
[Notices]
[Page 45337-45339]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29jy04-70]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[USCG-2004-17696]
Main Pass Energy Hub LLC Liquefied Natural Gas Deepwater Port
License Application; Preparation of Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS; and Maritime Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent; notice of public meeting; and request for
public comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration announce
that the Coast Guard intends to prepare an environmental impact
statement as part of the environmental review of the license
application for the proposed Main Pass Energy Hub deepwater port, to be
located approximately 16 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana with its
associated onshore and offshore components. Publication of this notice
begins a public scoping process that will help determine the scope of
issues to be addressed in the environmental impact statement and
identify the significant environmental issues related to this license
application. Finally, this notice solicits public involvement in the
scoping process, and announces public meetings and a public comment
period to facilitate that involvement.
DATES: The public meetings will be held August 10, 11, and 12, 2004,
from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Mobile, Alabama, Pascagoula, Mississippi, and
New Orleans, Louisiana, respectively. Each meeting will consist of an
informational open house, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., and a public
scoping meeting, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. All meeting spaces will be
wheelchair-accessible. Comments and related material must reach the
docket on or before August 30, 2004.
ADDRESSES:
The Mobile, Alabama informational open house and public meeting
will be held at:
Mobile Government Plaza, 205 Government Street, Mobile, Alabama 36644,
(251) 574-5058.
The Pascagoula, Mississippi informational open house and public
meeting will be held at:
Jackson County Fairgrounds Assembly Hall, 2902 Shortcut Road,
Pascagoula, Mississippi 39567, (228) 762-6043.
The New Orleans, Louisiana informational open house and public
meeting will be held at:
New Orleans Marriott Hotel, 555 Canal Street, New Orleans, Louisiana
70130, 504-581-1000.
You need not attend the meetings in order to comment. You may also
submit comments identified by docket number USCG-2004-17696 to the
Docket Management Facility at the U.S. Department of Transportation. To
avoid duplication, please use only one of the following methods:
(1) Electronically through the Web site for the Docket Management
System, at http://dms.dot.gov.
(2) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, Room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC
20590-0001.
(3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at (202) 493-2251.
(4) By delivery to Room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif
Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone
number is (202) 366-9329.
(5) By the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov/
.
The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this
notice. Comments and material received from the public will become part
of this docket and will be available for inspection or copying in Room
PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street
SW., Washington, DC, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. This docket may also be found on the Internet
at http://dms.dot.gov.
[[Page 45338]]
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on the
application, this notice, or the meetings, or if you want to be
notified when the draft and final environmental impact statements
become available, call Kenneth Smith at 202-267-0578, or e-mail at
KNSmith@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have questions on the pipeline that is
subject to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) jurisdiction,
call James Martin at 202-502-8045, or e-mail at james.martin@ferc.gov.
If you have questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket,
call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone
202-366-0271.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Scoping Meetings and Request for Comments
We seek public review of and comment on this license application,
particularly with respect to the environmental review discussed in this
notice. Public input on environmental concerns related to the
application, suggested sources of relevant data, and suggested methods
for environmental analysis are especially welcome.
The Coast Guard will hold informational open houses and scoping
meetings for interested members of the public, as described under DATES
and ADDRESSES. Meeting facilities are wheelchair accessible. If you
need other special assistance in order to participate in these sessions
(for example, sign language interpretation), please contact the person
named in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, and we will try to make
reasonable accommodation for your needs. We ask that you make such
requests at least three (3) business days before the scheduled meeting.
Include a contact person's name and telephone number, your specific
need, and (for persons with hearing impairments) a TDD number.
If you submit comments or related material to the docket (see DATES
and ADDRESSES), please make your comment as specific as possible and
give us the reasons for each comment. If you mail or hand-deliver
printed documents, please submit them unbound and in a format suitable
for copying and electronic filing, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches.
If you submit comments or material by mail and want confirmation that
it has reached the facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed
postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and material
received during the comment period. All comments received will be
posted, without change, to http://dms.dot.gov/ and will include any
personal information you have provided.
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 Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register
published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov/
.
Environmental Review
Deepwater ports for the transportation, storage, or further
handling of oil or natural gas must be licensed in accordance with the
Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. (``the
Act''). The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) jointly
process applications for deepwater port licenses. A notice of
application for the Main Pass Energy Hub liquefied natural gas
deepwater port proposed by Freeport-McMoRan Energy LLC, to be located
in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 16 miles southeast of Venice,
Louisiana was published in the Federal Register on June 9, 2004 (69 FR
32363). That notice contains a fuller description of the proposed
deepwater port. The complete application, including environmental
documentation provided by the applicant, is available in the public
docket. The six-mile onshore portion of this pipeline above the mean
high water line falls under the jurisdiction of FERC and must receive a
separate authorization from FERC. Additional information about the
onshore segment of the project is available on the FERC Internet Web
site (http://www.ferc.gov) using the eLibrary link. Click on the
eLibrary link, click on ``General Search'' and enter the docket number
excluding the last three digits in the Docket Number field (e.g., CP04-
374, CP04-375 and CP04-376). Be sure you have selected an appropriate
date range. For assistance with eLibrary, the eLibrary helpline can be
reached at 1-866-208-3676, TTY (202) 502-8659, or at FERC Online
Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov.
The Act establishes a licensing process for proposed deepwater
ports, and that process includes review of the proposed port's natural
and human environmental impacts. Consistent with the DWPA, this
environmental review must comply with the National Environmental Policy
Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. 4332, and with the following authorities:
Coast Guard regulations in 33 CFR part 148, Council on Environmental
Quality regulations in 40 CFR parts 1500-1508, DOT Order 5610.1C
(Procedures for Considering Environmental Impacts), and Coast Guard
Commandant's Instruction (COMDTINST) M16475.1D. Environmental review
includes public involvement, and consultation with States deemed
adjacent to the proposed port (in this case, Louisiana, Alabama and
Mississippi). The Coast Guard is the lead agency for determining the
required scope of environmental review, and in this case the Coast
Guard has determined that an environmental impact statement (EIS) must
be prepared. Even though an affiliate of Main Pass Energy Hub LLC must
separately apply for and receive an authorization from FERC for the
onshore pipeline, this EIS will assess the environmental impacts of
both the onshore and offshore portions of the project. We have
consulted with FERC and understand that the affiliate applied to FERC
for onshore pipeline authorization under Docket Number CP04-374-000,
CP04-375-000 and CP04-376-000. Therefore, we are publishing the notice
of intent described in 40 CFR 1508.22, to announce our intention to
prepare and consider an EIS, and to describe our proposed action and
possible alternatives, describe the scoping process required by 40 CFR
1501.7, and provide contact information. All comments related to this
project, including the onshore pipeline, may be submitted in accordance
with the guidance under ADDRESSES. Contact information is provided
above, under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
The proposed action requiring environmental review is the Federal
licensing of the Main Pass Energy Hub deepwater port application. The
alternatives to licensing approval are licensing with conditions
(including conditions designed to mitigate environmental impact), and
denying the application, which for purposes of environmental review is
the ``no-action'' alternative.
Public scoping is an early and open process for determining the
scope of issues to be addressed in an EIS and for identifying the
significant issues related to a proposed action. The scoping process
begins with publication of this notice, extends through the public
comment period (see Dates), and ends when the Coast Guard completes the
following actions:
Invites the participation of Federal, State, and local
agencies, any affected Indian tribe, the applicant, and other
interested persons;
[[Page 45339]]
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 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 to be mailed or emailed the draft
EIS notice of availability, please contact the person named in FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. We will provide the public with an
opportunity to review and comment on the draft EIS. After the Coast
Guard considers those comments, we will prepare the final EIS and
similarly announce its availability and solicit public review and
comment.
Dated: July 23, 2004.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental
Protection, U.S. Coast Guard.
H. Keith Lesnick,
Senior Transportation Specialist, Deepwater Ports Program Manager, U.S.
Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-17207 Filed 7-28-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P