[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 76 (Thursday, April 21, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20762-20764]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8006]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2004-18474]


Pearl Crossing LNG Terminal LLC 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 U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) 
announce the availability of the draft environmental impact statement 
(DEIS) on the Pearl Crossing LLC Deepwater Port License Application and 
Pearl Crossing Pipeline LLC Application for a Certificate of Public 
Convenience and

[[Page 20763]]

Necessity. The application describes a project that would be located in 
the Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf West Cameron Block 220, 
approximately 41 miles south of Cameron, Louisiana. The Coast Guard and 
the Maritime Administration, as well as the cooperating agencies (i.e., 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) 
request public comment on the DEIS.

DATES: The DEIS will be available on April 22, 2005. Three public 
meetings will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and each will be preceded 
by an informational open house from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The first 
meeting will be held in Sulphur, Louisiana on Tuesday, May 3, 2005. The 
second meeting will be held in Johnsons Bayou, Louisiana on Wednesday, 
May 4, 2005. The third meeting will be held in Portland, Texas on 
Thursday, May 5, 2005. The public meetings 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 June 7, 2005.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting and informational open house in Sulphur, 
Louisiana, will be held at the Holiday Inn Express, 102 Mallard Street, 
phone: 337-625-2500.
    The public meeting and informational open house in Johnsons Bayou, 
Louisiana, will be held at the Johnsons Bayou Community Center, 5556 
Gulf Beach Highway, phone: 337-569-2815.
    The public meeting and informational open house in Portland, Texas, 
will be held at the City of Portland Recreation Department, 2000 Billy 
G. Webb Drive, phone: 361-777-3301.
    Address docket submissions for USCG-2004-18474 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: If you have questions on this notice, 
call Lieutenant Ken Kusano, U.S. Coast Guard at 202-267-1184, or e-mail 
at [email protected]. If you have questions on viewing or 
submitting material to the docket, call Andrea 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-2004-18474.
     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 Web site.

Proposed Action

    We published a notice of intent to prepare an EIS for the proposed 
Pearl Crossing LNG Terminal LLC deepwater port in the Federal Register 
at 69 FR 50395, Aug, 16, 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 
outside State waters in the Gulf of Mexico on the U.S. Outer 
Continental Shelf, approximately 41 miles (66 kilometers) south of the 
Louisiana coast in West Cameron Block 220. It would be located in a 
water depth of approximately 62 feet (19 meters). The proposed Pearl

[[Page 20764]]

Crossing liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater port terminal would 
serve as the platform for facilities to offload and regasify LNG.
    The deepwater port terminal would include two concrete gravity-
based LNG storage tanks, LNG carrier berthing provisions, LNG unloading 
arms, low and high pressure pumps, vaporizers, metering, utility 
systems, general facilities, and accommodations for up to 60 persons. 
The total net working capacity of the two integral LNG storage tanks 
would be 250,000 cubic meters. Pearl Crossing proposes to regasify the 
LNG using an open rack vaporization system. The terminal would have the 
ability to accommodate two LNG carriers having capacities ranging from 
125,000 to 250,000 cubic meters per vessel. The terminal would be 
designed to have an average delivery of approximately 2.0 billion cubic 
feet per day of pipeline quality gas.
    The applicant proposes to install two 42-inch-diameter (1.1-meter) 
offshore pipelines that would originate at the terminal and traverse 
the Gulf of Mexico in a northwesterly direction to the high water mark 
near Johnsons Bayou in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Each offshore 
pipeline would have a throughput capacity of 1.4 billion standard cubic 
feet per day (Bscfd) for a total peak capacity of 2.8 Bscfd. 
Thereafter, the pipelines would continue onshore to multiple gas 
delivery points in Louisiana and come under FERC jurisdiction as Pearl 
Crossing Pipeline LLC. Pearl Crossing Pipeline LLC would transport 
natural gas from the terminal/s two offshore pipelines to a metering 
and distribution station in Johnsons Bayou for delivery to several 
interstate and intrastate pipelines near the station. Once onshore, an 
additional 63.75 miles (102.6 kilometers) of 42-inch-diameter (1.1-
meter) pipeline and five additional meter stations would be 
constructed. The pipeline would terminate near Starks, Louisiana.
    The project application includes a fabrication site where the 
applicant proposes to construct the concrete GBS and its integral 
components prior to towing the GBS out to the offshore LNG Terminal 
site. The DEIS evaluates three potential fabrication sites located 
within San Patricio and Nueces Counties, Texas, near Corpus Christi, 
Texas.

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-
374-000, CP04-375-000 and CP04-376-000. 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., CP04-374, 
CP04-375 or CP04-376), and follow the instructions. Searches may also 
be done using the phrase ``Pearl Crossing'' in the ``Text Search'' 
field. For assistance with access to eLibrary, the helpline can be 
reached at 1-866-208-3676, TTY 202-502-8659, or at 
[email protected]. 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, PO Box 60267, New 
Orleans, LA 70160-0267.

    Dated: April 14, 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. 05-8006 Filed 4-20-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P