[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 121 (Monday, June 25, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34741-34742]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-12243]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2007-28532]


Port Dolphin Energy LLC, Port Dolphin 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 announce that 
they have received an application for the licensing of a natural gas 
deepwater port and that the application contains 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 a public 
hearing on this application within 240 days of the publication of this 
notice, and a decision on the application not later than 90 days after 
the final public hearing.

ADDRESSES: The public docket for USCG-2007-28532 is maintained by the: 
Department of Transportation, Docket Management Facility, West 
Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC 20590.
    Docket contents are available for public inspection and copying, at 
this address, in room W12-140, 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: Ray Martin, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-372-1449, e-mail: [email protected] or 
Lieutenant Commander Brian Moore, U.S. Coast Guard, telephone: 202-372-
1442, e-mail: [email protected] or Chris Hanan, U.S. Maritime 
Administration, telephone: 202-366-1900, 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 29, 2007, the Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration 
received an application from Port Dolphin Energy LLC for all Federal 
authorizations required for a license to own, construct, and operate a 
deepwater port authorized under the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, as 
amended, 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. (the Act). On June 15, 2007, we 
determined that the application contains all information required by 
the Act to initiate processing.

Background

    According to the Act, a deepwater port is a fixed or floating man-
made 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 the Maritime Administration. 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 the 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

    Port Dolphin Energy LLC, proposes to own, construct, and operate a 
deepwater port, named Port Dolphin, in the Federal waters of the Outer 
Continental Shelf in the St. Petersburg (PB) blocks: PB545, PB589 and 
PB590, approximately 28 miles off the west coast of Florida to the 
southwest of Tampa Bay, in a water depth of approximately 100 feet. 
Port Dolphin would consist of a permanently moored unloading buoy 
system with two submersible buoys separated by a distance of 
approximately three miles. Each unloading buoy would be permanently 
secured to eight mooring lines, consisting of wire rope, chain, and 
buoyancy elements, each attached to anchor points on the seabed. Anchor 
points would consist most likely of driven piles.
    The buoys would be designed to moor a specialized type of LNG 
vessel called a Shuttle and Regasification Vessel (SRV) of between 
145,000 and 217,000 cubic meter capacity. SRV vessels are equipped to 
vaporize cryogenic 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 SRVs 
would moor to the unloading buoys which connect through the hull of the 
vessels to specially designed turrets that would enable the vessels to 
weathervane or rotate in response to prevailing wind, wave, and current 
directions. When the vessels are not present, the buoys would be 
submerged on a special landing pad on the seabed, 60-70 feet below the 
sea surface.
    Each unloading buoy would connect through a 16-inch flexible riser 
and a 36-inch flowline to a Y intersection and then a 36-inch pipeline 
approximately 42 miles in length that would connect onshore in Port 
Manatee, Manatee County, Florida. The pipeline would connect with the 
Gulfstream Natural Gas System, LLC and Tampa Electric Company (TECO).
    The 36-inch gas transmission line will make landfall on Port 
Manatee property. From there, the transmission pipeline would proceed 
in a generally easterly direction to the first interconnection point 
with the Gulfstream system at 3.6-miles. The Gulfstream Interconnection 
Station would occupy an approximately two-acre site. Up to 
approximately 80 percent of the natural gas or 800 million standard 
cubic feet per day (mmscfd) is expected to be delivered to the 
Gulfstream Pipeline.
    The remaining portion of the natural gas, up to approximately 360 
mmscfd, would be transported by 14-inch line to the TECO 
interconnection station, located 5.8-miles east of the Gulfstream 
interconnect. Only shuttle and regasification vessels (SRVs) would call 
on Port Dolphin. Offloading should

[[Page 34742]]

require between 4-8 days and when empty the SRV would disconnect from 
the buoy and leave the port.
    Initially it is expected that Port Dolphin would be capable of a 
natural gas throughput of 400 mmscfd and would eventually be capable of 
800 mmscfd with a peak capacity of 1200 mmscfd by having at least one 
SRV regasifying and discharging at all times. The system would be 
designed so that two SRVs can be moored simultaneously for continuous 
unloading of natural gas.
    Port Dolphin Energy LLC is seeking Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (FERC) approval for the onshore pipelines concurrent with 
this deepwater port application. As required by FERC regulations, FERC 
will also maintain a docket for the FERC portion of the project. The 
docket numbers are CP07-191-000 and CP07-192-000. The filing may also 
be viewed on the web at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``eLibrary'' 
link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the 
docket number field to access the document. For assistance, call (866) 
208-3767 or TYY, (202) 502-8659.
    In addition, pipelines and structures such as the moorings may 
require permits under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 
of the Rivers and Harbors Act which are administered by the Army Corps 
of Engineers (USACE).
    Port Dolphin will also require permits from the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the provisions of the Clean Air 
Act, as amended, and the Clean Water Act, as amended.
    The new pipeline will be included in the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) review as part of the deepwater port application 
process. FERC, EPA, and the USACE among others, are cooperating 
agencies and will assist in the NEPA process as described in 40 CFR 
1501.6; will be participating in the scoping meetings; and will 
incorporate the EIS into their permitting processes. Comments sent to 
the FERC docket, EPA or USACE will also be incorporated into the DOT 
docket and EIS to ensure consistency with the NEPA Process.
    Construction of the deepwater port would be expected to take 
approximately 22 months 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.

Privacy Act

    The electronic form of all comments received into the DOT docket 
are available to any person and may be searched 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: June 20, 2007.

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Daron T. Threet,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E7-12243 Filed 6-22-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P