[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 224 (Tuesday, November 21, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67422-67424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-19659]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2006-26009]


Calypso LNG LLC, Calypso Liquefied Natural Gas Deepwater Port 
License Application; Preparation of Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of intent; notice of public meeting; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MARAD) 
announce that the Coast Guard intends to prepare an environmental 
impact statement (EIS) as part of the environmental review of this 
license application. The application describes a project that would be 
located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 9 miles northeast of Port 
Everglades, Florida. Publication of this notice begins a scoping 
process that will help identify and determine the scope of 
environmental issues to be addressed in the EIS. This notice requests 
public participation in the scoping process and provides information on 
how to participate.

DATES: The public meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL will be held on 
December 6, 2006. The public meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 
8:30 p.m. and will be preceded by an open house from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. 
The public meeting may end earlier or 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 by December 21, 2006.

ADDRESSES: The public meetings will be held at: Fort Lauderdale 
Marriott North, 6500 North Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 
33309; 954-771-0440.
    Address docket submissions for USCG-2006-26009 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: 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: 

Public Meeting and Open House

    We invite you to learn about the proposed deepwater port at an 
informational open house, and to comment at a public meeting on 
environmental issues related to the proposed deepwater port. Your 
comments will help us identify and refine the scope of the 
environmental issues to be addressed in the EIS.
    In order to allow everyone a chance to speak at the public meeting, 
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.
    All of our public meeting locations are wheelchair-accessible. If 
you plan to attend the open house or 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.

[[Page 67423]]

Request for Comments

    We request public comments or other relevant information on 
environmental issues related to the proposed deepwater port. The public 
meeting is not the only opportunity you have to comment. In addition to 
or in place of attending a meeting, you can submit comments to the 
Docket Management Facility during the public comment period (see 
DATES). We will consider all comments and material received during the 
comment period.
    Submissions should include:
     Docket number USCG-2006-26009.
     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.

Background

    Information about deepwater ports, the statutes and regulations 
governing their licensing, and the receipt of the current application 
for the proposed Calypso deepwater port appears at 71 FR 65031, 
November 6, 2006. The ``Summary of the Application'' from that 
publication is reprinted below for your convenience.
    Consideration of a deepwater port license application includes 
review of the proposed deepwater port's natural and human environmental 
impacts. The Coast Guard is the lead agency for determining the scope 
of this review, and in this case the Coast Guard has determined that 
review must include preparation of an EIS. This notice of intent is 
required by 40 CFR 1501.7, and briefly describes the proposed action 
and possible alternatives and our proposed scoping process. You can 
address any questions about the proposed action, the scoping process, 
or the EIS to the Coast Guard contact person identified in FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT.

Proposed Action and Alternatives

    The proposed action requiring environmental review is the Federal 
licensing of the proposed deepwater port described in ``Summary of the 
Application'' below. The alternatives to licensing the proposed port 
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.

Scoping Process

    Public scoping is an early and open process for identifying and 
determining the scope of issues to be addressed in the EIS. Scoping 
begins with this notice, continues through the public comment period 
(see DATES), and ends when the Coast Guard has completed the following 
actions:
     Invites the participation of Federal, State, and local 
agencies, any affected Indian tribe, the applicant, and other 
interested persons;
     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 the 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 that notice to be sent to you, 
please contact the Coast Guard project manager identified in FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.) You will have an opportunity to review 
and comment on the draft EIS. The Coast Guard will consider those 
comments and then prepare the final EIS. As with the draft EIS, we will 
announce the availability of the final EIS and once again give you an 
opportunity for review and comment.

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 9 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 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,

[[Page 67424]]

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)

    By order of the Maritime Administrator.

    Dated: November 16, 2006.
Joel C. Richard,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E6-19659 Filed 11-20-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P