[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 214 (Monday, November 6, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65031-65032]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-18598]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2006-26009]


Calypso LNG LLC, Calypso 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-2006-26009 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary K. Jager, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-372-1454, e-mail: [email protected]. If you have 
questions on viewing the docket, call Renee V. Wright, Program Manager, 
Docket Operations, telephone: 202-493-0402.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Receipt of Application

    On March 1, 2006, the Coast Guard and MARAD received an application 
from Calypso LNG LLC, 1990 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 1900, Houston, 
Texas 77056 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 
October 27, 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 requires adherence to a strict timeline 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 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, Florida 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

    Calypso LNG LLC, proposes to own, construct, and operate a 
deepwater port, named Calypso, in the Federal waters of the Outer 
Continental Shelf in the OCS NG 17-06 (Bahamas) lease area, 
approximately 8 to 10 miles off the east coast of Florida to the 
northeast of Port Everglades, in a water depth of approximately 800 to 
950 feet. Calypso would consist of a permanently moored unloading buoy 
system with two (2) submersible buoys separated by a distance of 
approximately three (3) miles. Each unloading buoy would be permanently 
secured to eight or nine mooring lines, consisting of wire rope, chain, 
and buoyancy elements, each attached to anchor points on the seabed. 
Anchor points would consist of a

[[Page 65032]]

combination of suction piles and gravity anchors.
    The buoys would be designed to moor and unload two (2) types of LNG 
vessels: a transport and regasification vessel (TRV) of approximately 
140,000 cubic meter capacity and a storage and regasification ship 
(SRS) of approximately 250,000 cubic meter capacity. Both vessels would 
be equipped to vaporize LNG cargo to natural gas through an onboard 
closed loop vaporization system, and to odorize and meter gas for send-
out by means of the unloading buoy to conventional subsea pipelines. 
The TRVs would moor to the westernmost buoy, and the SRS to the 
easternmost buoy. The mooring buoys would be connected through the 
vessels' hulls to specially designed turrets that would enable the 
vessel to weathervane or rotate in response to prevailing wind, wave, 
and current directions. When the vessels are not present, the buoys 
would be submerged approximately 100 feet below the sea surface.
    The unloading buoys would connect through flexible risers and two 
(2) approximately 2.5 mile long 30-inch flowlines located on the seabed 
that would connect directly to the Calypso pipeline, a Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (FERC) permitted pipeline.
    Three types of vessels would be associated with the port: the TRV 
drawn from the existing and future global fleet of specialized LNG 
carriers compatible with Calypso's unloading buoy system; the SRS, a 
specialized, purpose-built modified LNG carrier, designed to accept, 
regasify, odorize and meter LNG from conventional LNG carriers and 
deliver it to the pipeline through Calypso's unloading buoy system; and 
conventional LNG carriers. When empty the TRV would disconnect from the 
buoy and leave the port, followed by another full TRV that would arrive 
and connect to the buoy. The SRS would normally remain attached to its 
mooring buoy. To sustain continuous vaporization, the SRS' cargo tanks 
would be refilled approximately every two (2) to four (4) days by 
standard LNG carriers drawn from the global fleet. The SRS would be 
capable of detaching from the buoy if threatened by a severe storm, 
such as a hurricane, and move under its own power to safety; then 
return and reconnect to the buoy and continue operations once the storm 
danger passed.
    Calypso would be capable of delivering natural gas in a continuous 
flow by having at least one TRV or SRS regasifying at all times. The 
system would be designed so that a TRV and SRS can be moored 
simultaneously for concurrent unloading of natural gas. Calypso would 
have an average throughput capacity of approximately 1.1 billion 
standard cubic feet per day and a peak delivery capacity of 1.9 Bcsfd.
    No onshore pipelines or LNG storage facilities are associated with 
the proposed deepwater port application. A shore based facility would 
be used to facilitate movement of personnel, equipment, supplies, and 
disposable materials between the port and shore.
    Construction of the deepwater port would be expected to take three 
(3) years; with startup of commercial operations following 
construction, 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)


    Dated: October 31, 2006.

    By order of the Maritime Administrator.
Joel C. Richard,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
 [FR Doc. E6-18598 Filed 11-3-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P