[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 145 (Thursday, July 29, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45337-45339]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17207]


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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.

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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 
[email protected]. 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 [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:

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 [email protected].
    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