[Federal Register: June 10, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 111)]
[Notices]
[Page 33916-33918]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10jn05-95]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[USCG-2005-21232]
Beacon Port Natural Gas Deepwater Port License Application;
Preparation of Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS; Maritime Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of intent; notice of public meetings; 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 lease block High Island Area 27, on
the outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Main Terminal would be located
approximately 45 miles South of High Island and 50 miles East-Southeast
of Galveston, Texas, with a riser platform in lease block West Cameron
167, approximately 27 miles South of Holly Beach and 29 miles South-
Southeast of Johnson?s Bayou, Louisiana. 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.
DATES: The public meeting in Corpus Christi, Texas will be held on June
28, 2005; the public meeting in Galveston, Texas will be held on June
29, 2005; and the public meeting in Lafayette, Louisiana will be held
on June 30, 2005. Each 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.
Public meetings 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 July 11, 2005.
ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be held at:
Omni Bayfront Tower, 900 North Shoreline Boulevard, Corpus Christi, TX
78401; telephone 361-887-1600;
San Luis Resort, 5222 Seawall Blvd, Galveston, TX 77551; telephone 409-
744-1500; and
Holiday Inn Central, 2032 NE Evangeline Thruway, Lafayette, LA 70501;
telephone 337-233-6815.
Address docket submissions for USCG-2005-21232 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 is
202-366-9329, its fax 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: Ray Martin, U.S. Coast Guard,
telephone: 202-267-1683, e-mail: rmartin@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have
questions on viewing the docket, call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone: 202-366-0271.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Meetings and Open Houses
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
meetings, 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 a 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 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 an open house or public meeting, and need special
assistance such as sign
[[Page 33917]]
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
meetings are 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-2005-21232.
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, 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
Web site, 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 website.
Background
Information about deepwater ports, the statutes, and regulations
governing their licensing, and the receipt of the current application
for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater port appears at 70 FR
29776, May 24, 2005. 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 official 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 officer 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
The application plan calls for the proposed deepwater port terminal
to be located outside State waters in the Gulf of Mexico on the U.S.
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Beacon Port would consist of a Main
Terminal, Riser Platform, and connecting pipelines. The Main Terminal
would be located approximately 50 miles (80 km) off the coast, East-
Southeast of Galveston, TX (approximately 45 miles (72 km) South of
High Island, TX) in OCS lease block High Island Area 27 (HIA 27). The
Riser Platform would be located approximately 29 miles off the coast,
South-Southeast of Johnson's Bayou, LA (approximately 27 miles South of
Holly Beach, LA) in OCS lease block West Cameron 167 (WC 167). Beacon
Port would serve as an LNG receiving, storage, and regasification
facility. The Main Terminal would be located in water depth of
approximately 65 feet (20 m).
The proposed Beacon Port Main Terminal would include: Two concrete
Gravity Based Structures (GBS) that would contain the LNG storage
tanks, LNG carrier berthing provisions, LNG unloading arms, low and
high pressure pumps, vaporizers, metering, utility systems, general
facilities and accommodations. The Main Terminal would be able to
receive LNG carriers up to 253,000 cubic meters cargo capacity. LNG
carrier arrival frequency would be planned to match specified terminal
gas delivery rates. The terminal would have storage capacity for up to
300,000 cubic meters of LNG (150,000 cubic meters per tank) on site.
Regasification of LNG would be accomplished through the use of open
rack vaporizers (ORVs). In normal operation, four pumps would operate
having a combined total flow rate of approximately 167.5 million
gallons per day (26,400 m3/hr). At peak operation, five
pumps would operate with a combined total flow rate of approximately
203 million gallons per day (32,000 m3/hr).
Beacon Port proposes the installation of approximately 46 miles of
offshore
[[Page 33918]]
natural gas transmission pipeline on the OCS. A 42-inch diameter
pipeline would connect the Main Terminal with the Riser Platform. Three
additional pipelines (24-inch, 20-inch, and 12.75-inch diameter) are
proposed to connect the Riser Platform with existing gas distribution
pipelines in the West Cameron (WC) 167 OCS block. The deepwater port
would be designed to handle an average delivery of approximately 1.5
billion standard cubic feet per day (Bscfd) with a peak delivery of
approximately 1.8 Bscfd.
Dated: June 7, 2005.
Raymond J. Petow,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting 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. 05-11558 Filed 6-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P