[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 87 (Friday, May 5, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26605-26606]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-6789]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2006-24644]


TORP Terminal LP, Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal Liquefied 
Natural Gas Deepwater Port License Application

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of application.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) 
announce that they have received an application for the licensing of a 
natural gas 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: The Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as amended, requires any public 
hearing on this application to be held not later than 240 days after 
this notice, and requires a decision on the application to be made not 
later than 90 days after the final public hearing.

ADDRESSES: The public docket for USCG-2006-24644 is maintained by the: 
Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Docket contents are 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. Note that all comments received will be posted without 
change to http://dms.dot.gov including any personal information 
provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary K. Jager, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-267-6084, e-mail: [email protected]. If you have 
questions on viewing the docket, call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program 
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone: 202-366-0271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Receipt of Application

    On January 12, 2006, the Coast Guard and MARAD received an 
application from TORP Terminal LP, 15995 North Barkers Landing, Suite 
310, Houston, Texas 77079 for all Federal authorizations required for a 
license to own, construct, and operate a deepwater port governed by the 
Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. (the 
Act). On May 1, 2006, we determined that the application appears to 
contain all information required by the Act.

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 by the Maritime Administrator (by 
delegated authority of the Secretary of Transportation, published on 
June 18, 2003 (68 FR 36496)). Statutory and regulatory requirements for 
licensing appear in 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. and in 33 CFR part 148. 
Under delegations from and agreements between the Secretary of 
Transportation and the Secretary of Homeland Security, applications are 
processed by the Coast Guard and MARAD. Each application is considered 
on its merits.
    The Act provides strict deadlines for processing an application. 
Once we determine that an application contains the required 
information, we must hold public hearings on the application within 240 
days, and the Maritime Administrator must render a decision on the 
application within 330 days. We will publish additional Federal 
Register notices to inform you of these public hearings and other 
procedural

[[Page 26606]]

milestones, including environmental review. The Maritime 
Administrator's decision, and other key documents, will be filed in the 
public docket.
    At least one public hearing must take place in each adjacent 
coastal State. For purposes of the Act, Alabama is the adjacent coastal 
State for this application. Other States can apply for adjacent coastal 
State status in accordance with 33 U.S.C. 1508 (a)(2).

Summary of the Application

    TORP Terminal LP, proposes to construct, own, and operate a 
deepwater port, named Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal (BOET), in the 
Federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf on Main Pass block MP 
258, approximately 63 miles south of Mobile Point, Alabama, in a water 
depth of approximately 425 feet. The BOET Deepwater Port would be 
capable of mooring two LNG carriers of up to approximately 250,000 
cubic meter capacity by means of two Single Anchor Leg Moorings 
(SALMs).
    The LNG carriers would be off loaded one at a time to HiLoad 
floating re-gasification facilities, which use four submerged shell-
and-tube heat exchangers to vaporize the LNG before sending it via 14-
inch diameter flexible risers to a Pipeline End Manifold (PLEM) on the 
seafloor, then through 30-inch diameter pipeline to the support 
platform, where the gas will be metered and further sent out via 
interconnecting pipelines to four existing pipelines (Dauphin Island 
Gathering System Feedline, Transco Feedline, Destin Feedline, and 
Viosca Knoll Gathering System Feedline).
    The major fixed components of the proposed deepwater port would be 
the Support Platform, two PLEMs with ancillary risers and terminal 
pipelines, HiLoad parking line pilings, and approximately 25 miles of 
new pipeline.
    BOET will have an average throughput capacity of 1.2 billion 
standard cubic feet per day (Bcsfd). No onshore pipelines or LNG 
storage facilities are associated with the proposed deepwater port 
application. A shore based facility will be used to facilitate movement 
of personnel, equipment, supplies, and disposable materials between the 
Terminal and shore.
    Construction of the deepwater port would be expected to take 30 
months; with startup of commercial operations in the latter half of 
2009, should a license be issued. The deepwater port would be designed, 
constructed and operated in accordance with applicable codes and 
standards and would have an expected operating life of approximately 25 
years.

Privacy Act

    Anyone is able to 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 DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on 
April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 70; Pages 19477-78) or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

(Authority: 49 CFR 1.66)

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
    Dated: May 1, 2006.
Joel C. Richard,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
 [FR Doc. E6-6789 Filed 5-4-06; 8:45 am]
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