[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 173 (Friday, September 7, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51488-51489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-17649]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[USCG-2006-26844]


Woodside Natural Gas Inc. OceanWay Secure Energy Liquefied 
Natural Gas Deepwater Port License Application

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of application.

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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard 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 to proceed. 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 this application, USCG-2006-26844, is 
maintained by the: Department of Transportation, Docket Management 
Facility, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590.
    Docket contents are available for public inspection and copying at 
this address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays. The Facility's telephone number is 202-366-9329 and 
the fax number is 202-493-2251. The Web site for electronic submissions 
or for electronic access to docket contents is http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roddy Bachman, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-372-1752, 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 August 17, 2006, the Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration 
received an application from Woodside Natural Gas Inc., a wholly-owned 
subsidiary of Woodside Petroleum LTD., 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). The City of Los Angeles (City) will be a 
cooperating agency in processing this application because Woodside 
Natural Gas, Inc. has filed an application for a lease/franchise of 
offshore submerged City lands, an onshore pipeline franchise for the 
subsea pipelines through City waters, and a pipeline through the City. 
Revisions to the application were received on December 27, 2006; on 
July 9, 2007; and again on August 20, 2007. As of the date of this 
notice, the Maritime Administration and the Coast Guard have determined 
that the application appears to contain all information required by the 
Act to proceed with the application process. The application is now 
available for viewing on the docket (see ADDRESSES).

Background

    According to the Deepwater Port 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.
    Deepwater ports require a license issued by the Maritime 
Administrator (by delegated authority from 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 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 provides deadlines for processing applications. After 
determining that an application contains the required information, 
public hearings on the application must be held within 240 days, and 
the Maritime Administrator must render a decision on the application 
within 330 days. Additional Federal Register notices will be published 
throughout the application review process to provide notice of public 
hearings and other procedural milestones. The Maritime Administrator's 
decision, and other key documents, will be filed in the public docket.
    At least one public hearing will take place in each adjacent 
coastal State. For purposes of the Act, California 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/Proposed Action/Project

    Woodside Natural Gas proposes to construct, own, and operate a 
deepwater port with associated ship-to-ship transfer (STS) location(s) 
and single point mooring (SPM) buoys for the receiving of 
regasification liquefied natural gas carriers (RLNGCs), offshore and 
onshore natural gas pipelines, and a receiving and custody transfer 
facility (RCTS) to deliver natural gas with an annualized rate of 0.4 
billion cubic feet per day (bcf/d) and a peak of 1.1 bcf/d into the 
Southern California market on initial development and an annualized 
rate of 1.0 bcf/d and a peak of up to 1.6 bcf/d at full project 
development.
    The deepwater port would be located in the Federal waters of the 
Santa Monica Basin, 21 miles from the nearest point on the mainland of 
Southern California and 18 miles from the western end of Santa Catalina 
Island, approximately 27 miles southwest of Los Angeles International 
Airport (LAX), in a water depth of approximately 3,000 feet. It would 
consist of two single point mooring (SPM) buoys that serve as cargo 
discharge system connections for RLNGCs, a mooring/anchoring array, 
four flexible risers that connect the SPMs to four seafloor riser end 
manifolds, two pipeline end manifolds (PLEMs) and two parallel 24-inch 
pipelines beginning on the seafloor at the PLEMs beneath the SPM buoys 
and continuing to shore. The SPMs would be located approximately 5 
nautical miles (5.75 miles) outside established shipping lanes (SPM NE: 
Latitude: 33[deg]41[min]52[sec] N, Longitude: 118[deg]48[min]33[sec] W 
and SPM SW: Latitude: 33[deg]39[min]58[sec] N, Longitude: 
118[deg]49[min]15[sec] W).
    Woodside has proposed three ship-to-ship transfer locations ranging 
from approximately 35 to 90 nautical miles (40 to 104 miles) from shore 
and 55 to 111 nautical miles (63 to 128 miles)

[[Page 51489]]

from the port where each RLNGC is expected to receive LNG cargo at sea 
from conventional LNG carriers. STS1 Santa Rosa (Latitude 
33[deg]39[min] N, Longitude 119[deg]56[min]30[sec] W), STS2 Inshore San 
Clemente (Latitude 33[deg]05[min] N, Longitude 118[deg]10[min] W) and 
STS3 Skaugen Offshore (Latitude 32[deg]15[min] N, Longitude 
120[deg]0[min] W). Only one transfer location would be used at a time. 
The RLNGCs, with storage capacity of 224,000 m\3\ of LNG would be 
capable of receiving conventional LNG carriers (LNGCs) with storage 
capacities of up to 216,000 m\3\ of LNG.
    As proposed, LNG would be delivered from overseas by LNGCs and 
transferred to a Woodside RLNGC at one of the three STS locations. The 
RLNGC would then be sailed and moored to a SPM, where the LNG would be 
regasified into natural gas and delivered to shore via two new parallel 
24-inch pipelines. The RLNGC would then return to a STS location.
    The RLNGCs would use a turret system with the SPMs to allow the 
RLNGC to weathervane (rotate) around the buoy. Onboard utilities and 
systems associated with RLNCG operations would include electric power 
generation and distribution, instrumentation and controls, and fire and 
safety systems. The RLNGC would include all marine systems, 
communications, navigation aids and equipment necessary to safely 
conduct RLNGC carrier operations, receive and vaporize product.
    The RLNGCs would use a forced draft ambient air LNG vaporization 
system using a combination of intermediate fluid and direct ambient air 
with heat provided by ambient air called the Woodside Hybrid Air 
Vaporization (WHAV) concept.
    Natural gas would be delivered onshore via two 24-inch parallel 
pipelines, approximately 35 miles in length. These pipelines would come 
onshore on the north end of LAX at Dockweiler Beach. It is proposed 
that horizontal directional drilling be used to install the pipelines 
beneath land and seabed in offshore City waters and underneath the 
beach and adjacent dunes from a point about 1000 feet inland from the 
high tide mark just east of Vista del Mar on LAX property.
    Woodside would lease/franchise from the City a 300 foot wide 
corridor on submerged City lands out to the 3 nautical mile (3.45 mile) 
offshore limit of the City boundary. On-shore pipelines would be 
constructed on City-owned land from the high tide line to Pershing 
Drive, passing under the beach and the El Segundo Dunes, and 
underground through City streets. The route would include Westchester 
Parkway/Arbor Vitae Street, then south on Bellanca Avenue to the 
receiving and custody transfer station (RCTS) and adjacent Inert Gas 
Injection Facility (IGIF) located at 5651 96th Street, Los Angeles, 
about 4 miles inland. A single 36-inch pipeline would run approximately 
a quarter of a mile back north on Bellanca Avenue to Arbor Vitae, then 
to the existing Southern California Gas natural gas pipeline 
infrastructure with Tie-in 1 at the intersection of Aviation 
Boulevard and Arbor Vitae Street. A second stage, with development 
depending on demand, may include additional pipelines and tie-ins that 
are an approximate 11-mile single 24-inch line from Tie-In 1 
along Arbor Vitae, Prairie, Manchester, Firestone, and California to 
Tie-In 3 at Santa Ana Street and Otis Avenue in Huntington 
Park and an approximate 1 mile single 24-inch line from Manchester 
Street to Central Ave to Tie-In 2 at the intersection of S. 
Central Avenue and E. Century Boulevard. These pipeline routes include 
running through the cities of Los Angeles, Inglewood, South Gate and 
Huntington Park. At full development, Southern California Gas would own 
and operate the system downstream of the RCTS.
    The application also includes an alternative DWP location in the 
Gulf of Santa Catalina approximately 30 miles from Huntington Beach at 
latitude 117[deg]56[min]28.53[sec] west, longitude 
33[deg]13[min]24.88[sec] north with a 30 mile pipeline running north to 
a shore crossing at the AES power plant in Huntington Beach. It would 
cross through the cities of Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, 
Westminster, Garden Grove, Santa Anna, and Orange. The pipeline would 
be trenched through city streets traveling north along Newland Street 
towards Bolsa Avenue; turn east at Bolsa Ave. (1st Street); turn north 
at the OCTA Metrolink Right of Way and join Lincoln Ave; east on 
Fairhaven Ave.; north at Cambridge Street; and finally west on Palm 
Ave. where the pipeline would connect to the SCG tie-in in Orange.

(Authority: 49 CFR 1.66)

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
    Dated: August 31, 2007.
Daron T. Threet,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
 [FR Doc. E7-17649 Filed 9-6-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P