[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 168 (Friday, August 29, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52048-52049]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-22139]


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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: Final environmental impact statement, notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration announce 
the availability of the final environmental impact statement for the 
Port Pelican LLC Deepwater Port License Application. We request your 
input on this final 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 final environmental impact statement (FEIS) will be 
available on August 29, 2003. Comments must reach the Coast Guard on or 
before October 2, 2003.

ADDRESSES: The FEIS 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 under

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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) Electronically through the Web site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    (2) 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.
    (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 between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is (202) 366-9329.
    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 FEIS 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.

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 [email protected]. 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: 

    Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1504(f).

Request For Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments on this FEIS. If you do so, 
please include your name and address, identify this notice (USCG-2002-
14134), and give the reason 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.

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 on the Internet 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 the Port Pelican Terminal (the 
Terminal), an LNG receiving, storage and regasification facility and 
the Pelican Interconnector Pipeline (PIPL) to transport the gas to the 
existing offshore gas gathering system.
    The project would consist of two concrete gravity based structure 
(GBS) units fixed to the seabed, which would include integral 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.
    The Terminal would be able to receive the largest LNG carriers in 
service or on order in 2002. LNG carrier arrival frequency will be 
planned to match specified terminal gas delivery rates. All marine 
systems, communication, navigation aids and equipment necessary to 
conduct safe LNG carrier operations and receiving of product during 
specified atmospheric and sea states would be provided at the port.
    The regasification process would consist of lifting the LNG from 
storage tanks, pumping the cold liquid to pipeline pressure, 
vaporization across heat exchanging equipment and delivery through 
custody transfer metering to the gas pipeline network. No gas 
conditioning would be required for the Terminal since the incoming LNG 
would be pipeline quality.
    A 42-inch diameter offshore 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 Henry-Floodway Gas Gathering System (HFGGS). 
The HFGGS would deliver the gas to the onshore U.S. gas pipeline 
network.
    The Terminal would be constructed in two phases. Phase I would 
include the installation of two GBS units with internal storage tanks 
and facilities for LNG offloading, and vaporization capability to 
deliver a peak 1.0 billion standard cubic feet per day (SCFD) of

[[Page 52049]]

natural gas to the pipeline system. Additional vaporization equipment 
and associated support equipment and facilities would be installed 
during Phase II to increase the facility vaporization and send out rate 
to 2.0 billion SCFD peak.

Alternatives

    The FEIS 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: August 29, 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. 03-22139 Filed 8-28-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P