[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 111 (Wednesday, June 9, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32363-32364]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-12965]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS; and Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of application.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) give 
notice, as required by the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as amended, that 
they have received an application for the licensing of a deepwater 
port, and that the application appears to contain the required 
information. This notice summarizes the applicant's plans and the 
procedures that will be followed in considering the application.

DATES: Any public hearing held in connection with this application must 
be held no later than February 4, 2005, and it would be announced in 
the Federal Register. A decision on the application must be made within 
90 days after the last public hearing held on the application.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard 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) Web site: http://dms.dot.gov.
    (2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (4) Delivery: 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.
    (5) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
call Mr. Kenneth Smith at 202-267-0578, or e-mail at 
[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:

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    You may submit comments concerning this application. All comments 
received will be posted, without change, to http://dms.dot.gov and will 
include any personal information you have provided. We have an 
agreement with the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use their 
Docket Management Facility. Please see DOT's ``Privacy Act'' paragraph 
below.
    Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your 
name and address, identify the docket number for this rulemaking (USCG-
2004-17696), indicate the specific section of this document to which 
each comment applies, and give the reason for each comment. You may 
submit your comments and material by electronic means, mail, fax, or 
delivery to the Docket Management Facility at the address under 
ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material by only one 
means. If you submit them by mail or 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 that they

[[Page 32364]]

reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard 
or envelope.
    Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, as well as 
documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket, 
go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time and conduct a simple search using 
the docket number. You may also visit the Docket Management Facility in 
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.
    Privacy Act: 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.
    Receipt of application; determination. On February 27, 2004, the 
Coast Guard and MARAD received an application from Freeport-McMoRan 
Energy LLC (FME), 1615 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 for 
all federal authorizations required for a license to own, construct and 
operate a deepwater port off the coast of Louisiana. Supplemental 
information was furnished at our request on May 10, 2004. On May 24, 
2004, we determined that the application contains all information 
required by the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1501 
et seq. (the Act). The application and related documentation supplied 
by the applicant (except for certain protected information specified in 
33 U.S.C. 1513) will be available in the public docket (see ADDRESSES).
    Background. According to the Act, a deepwater port is a fixed or 
floating manmade structure other than a vessel, or a group of 
structures, located beyond State seaward boundaries and used or 
intended for use as a port or terminal for the transportation, storage, 
and further handling of oil or natural gas for transportation to any 
State.
    A deepwater port must be licensed, and the Act provides that a 
license applicant submit detailed plans for its facility to the 
Secretary of Transportation, along with its application. The Secretary 
has delegated the processing of deepwater port applications to the U.S. 
Coast Guard and MARAD. The Act allows 21 days following receipt of the 
application to determine if it contains all required information. If it 
does, we must publish a notice of application in the Federal Register 
and summarize the plans. This notice is intended to meet those 
requirements of the Act and to provide general information about the 
procedure that will be followed in considering the application.
    Application procedure. The application is considered on its merits. 
The U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) will 
prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for this project. Under 
the Act, we must hold at least one public hearing within 240 days from 
the date this notice is published. A separate Federal Register notice 
will be published to notify interested parties of any public hearings 
that are held. At least one public hearing must be held in each 
adjacent coastal state. Pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 1508, we designate 
Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi as adjacent coastal states for this 
application. Other states may apply for adjacent coastal state status 
in accordance with 33 U.S.C. 1508(a)(2). After the last public hearing, 
Federal agencies have 45 days in which to comment on the application, 
and approval or denial of the application must follow within 90 days of 
the last public hearing. Details of the application process are 
described in 33 U.S.C. 1504 and in 33 CFR part 148.
    Summary of the application. The application plan 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 will 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 will be constructed to support 
liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage tanks, and a patent-pending 
berthing system to berth the LNG carriers will 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 is to be installed at Main Pass 164 and 
would also provide a tie-in location for two lateral transmission 
lines.
    The proposed project will 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 liquid.

    Dated: June 2, 2004.
J. G. Lantz,
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. 04-12965 Filed 6-8-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P