[Federal Register: June 17, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 116)]
[Notices]
[Page 35277-35279]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr17jn05-78]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[USCG-2004-17696]
Freeport-McMoRan Energy LLC Main Pass Energy Hub Liquefied
Natural Gas Deepwater Port License Application; Draft Environmental
Impact Statement
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS; Maritime Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of availability; notice of public meeting; request for
comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD)
announce the availability of the draft environmental impact statement
(DEIS) on the Main Pass Energy Hub (MPEH) Deepwater Port License
Application. The application describes a project that would be located
in the Gulf of Mexico in Main Pass Lease Block 299 (MP 299),
approximately 16 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana. The Coast Guard
and MARAD request public comments on the DEIS.
DATES: Three public meetings will be held. The public meeting in Grand
Bay, Alabama will be held on July 18, 2005, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., and
will be preceded by an informational open house from 4:30 p.m. to 6
p.m. The public meeting in Pascagoula, Mississippi will be held on July
19, 2005, from 6 p.m.to 8 p.m., and will be preceded by an
informational open house from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The public meeting in
New Orleans, Louisiana, will be held on July 20, 2005, from 6 p.m. to 8
p.m., and will be preceded by an informational open house from 4:30
p.m. to 6 p.m. The public meeting may end 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 on or before August 1, 2005.
ADDRESSES: The first public meeting and informational open house will
be held at the Grand Bay St. Elmo Community Center, 11610 Highway 90
West, Grand Bay, Alabama, phone: 251-865-4010. The second public
meeting and informational open house will be held at the Jackson County
Civic Center, 2902 Shortcut Road, Pascagoula, Mississippi, phone: 228-
762-6043. The third public meeting and informational open house will be
held at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans Hotel at Louisiana Superdome,
Poydras at Loyola Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, phone: 504-587-4104.
A copy of the DEIS is available for viewing at the DOT's docket
management Web site: http://dms.dot.gov under docket number 17696.
Copies are also available for review at Pascagoula Public Library, MS,
228-769-3060; Bayou La Batre City Public Library, AL, 251-824-4213;
Mobile Public Main Library, AL, 251-208-7106; Terrebonne Parish Library
Main Branch, LA, 985-76-5861; Plaquemines Parish Public Library, LA,
985-657-7121; New Orleans Public Main Library, LA, 504-529-7989; Morgan
City Public Library (St. Mary Parish), LA, 504-380-4646; and Ingleside
Public Library, TX, 361-776-5355.
Address docket submissions for USCG-2004-17696 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 Web site for electronic
submissions or for electronic access to docket contents is http://dms.dot.gov
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roddy Bachman, U.S. Coast Guard,
telephone: 202-267-1752, e-mail: rbachman@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 Meeting and Open House
We invite you to learn about the proposed deepwater port at the
informational open house, and to comment at the public meeting on the
proposed action and the evaluation contained in the DEIS.
Please notify the Coast Guard (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT)
if you wish to speak at the public meeting. In order to allow everyone
a chance to speak, 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 Management System (DMS). See
``Request for Comments'' for information about DMS and your rights
under the Privacy Act.
If you plan to attend either the open house or the 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 the
DEIS. The public meeting is not the only opportunity you have to
comment on the DEIS. In addition to or in place of attending the
meeting, you can submit material to the Docket Management Facility
during the public comment period (see DATES). The Coast Guard will
consider all comments submitted during the public comment period, and
then will prepare the final EIS. We will announce the availability of
the final EIS and once again give you an opportunity for review and
comment. (If you want that notice to be sent to you, please contact the
Coast Guard officer identified in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.)
Submissions should include:
Docket number USCG-2004-17696.
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.
[[Page 35278]]
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 Web site.
Proposed Action
We published a notice of intent to prepare an EIS for the proposed
Main Pass Energy Hub LNG Terminal LLC deepwater port in the Federal
Register (69 FR 45337, July 29, 2004). The proposed action requiring
environmental review is the Federal licensing of the proposed deepwater
port described in ``Summary of the Application'' below, which is
reprinted from previous Federal Register notices in this docket.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action
The alternatives to licensing 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. These alternatives are more fully
discussed in the DEIS.
Summary of the Application
The application calls for the proposed deepwater port to be located
in the Gulf of Mexico on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS),
approximately 16 miles offshore southeast Louisiana in Main Pass Block
299. It would be located in a water depth of approximately 210 feet (64
meters). The proposed location is a former sulphur mining facility. The
project would utilize four existing platforms, along with associated
bridges and support structures, with appropriate modifications and
additions as part of the deepwater port. Two new platforms would be
constructed to support liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks, and a
patent-pending berthing system to berth the LNG carriers would be
installed.
FME proposes the installation of approximately 192 miles of natural
gas and natural gas liquid (NGL) transmission pipelines on the OCS,
varying in size ranging from 12 to 36 inches in diameter. Five proposed
pipelines would connect the deepwater port with several existing gas
distribution pipelines, one of which would connect with a gas
distribution pipeline near Coden, Alabama. NGL derived from natural gas
conditioning (i.e. ethane, propane, and butanes) would be delivered via
a 12-inch pipeline to an existing NGL facility near Venice, Louisiana.
A proposed metering platform would be installed at Main Pass 164 and
would also provide a tie-in location for two lateral transmission
lines.
The proposed project would sit atop a salt dome, approximately 2
miles in diameter. An on-site total gas storage capacity of
approximately 28 billion cubic feet would be provided in three salt
caverns to be constructed under the deepwater port.
The deepwater port facility would consist of LNG storage tanks, LNG
carrier berthing provisions, LNG unloading arms, low and high pressure
pumps, vaporizers, a gas conditioning plant, salt cavern gas storage,
compression, dehydration, metering, utility systems, general facilities
and accommodations. The terminal would be able to receive LNG carriers
ranging in capacity between 60,000 and 160,000 cubic meters. LNG would
be stored in six tanks located on two new fixed platforms. Each tank
would have an approximate gross capacity of 24,660 cubic meters, for a
total net capacity of approximately 145,000 cubic meters. Four
unloading arms would be provided to offload the LNG carriers at a rate
of 10,500 to 12,000 cubic meters per hour. The facility would have
living quarters to routinely accommodate up to 50 personnel, but would
be capable of accommodating up to 94 personnel for brief periods.
FME Main Pass Energy Hub would be designed to handle a nominal
capacity of 7.0 million metric tons per year of LNG, or 350 billion
cubic feet per year of gas. This is equivalent to an average delivery
of approximately 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd). The facility
would be capable of delivering a peak of 1.6 bcfd of pipeline-quality
natural gas during periods of high demand, and a peak of 85,000 barrels
per day of natural gas liquids.
Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity
The onshore portion of this project shoreward of the mean high
water line falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) and must receive a separate authorization
from the FERC. As required by their regulations, FERC will also
maintain a docket. The FERC docket numbers for this project are CP04-
68-000 and CP04-69-000. To submit comments to the FERC docket, send an
original and two copies of your comments to Secretary, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First St., NE., Room 1A, Washington, DC
20426. Label one copy of the comments to the Attention of Gas Branch 2.
The FERC strongly encourages electronic filing of any comments or
interventions or protests to this proceeding. See 18 CFR
385.2001(a)(1)(iii) and the instructions on the FERC's Web site at
http://www.ferc.gov under the ``e-Filing'' link and the link to the
Users Guide. Additional information about the project is available from
the Commission's Office of External Affairs at 1-866-208 FERC (3372) or
on the FERC Internet Web site (http://www.ferc.gov). Using the
``eLibrary'' link, select ``General Search'' from the eLibrary menu,
enter the selected date range and ``Docket Number'' (i.e., CP04-68-000
or CP04-69-000), and follow the instructions. For assistance with
access to eLibrary, the helpline can be reached at 1-866-208-3676, TTY
202-502-8659, or at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. The eLibrary link on
the FERC Internet Web site also provides access to the texts of formal
documents issued by the Commission, such as orders, notices, and
rulemakings. In addition, the FERC now offers a free service called
eSubscription that allows you to keep track of all formal issuances and
submittals in specific dockets. This can reduce the amount of time you
spend researching proceedings by automatically providing you with
notification of these filings, document summaries, and direct links to
the documents. To register for this service, go to http://www.ferc.gov/esubscribenow.htm
.
Department of Army Permit
New Orleans District, Army Corps of Engineers is issuing a public
notice advising all interested parties of the proposed activity for
which a Department of the Army permit is being sought and soliciting
comments and information necessary to evaluate the probable impact on
the public interest. Comments should be furnished to the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, OD-SW, P.O. Box 60267, New
Orleans, LA 70160-0267.
[[Page 35279]]
Dated: June 13, 2005.
Howard L. Hime,
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. 05-12017 Filed 6-16-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P