[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 121 (Monday, June 24, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37878-37880]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-15008]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[Docket No. USCG-2013-0363]


Deepwater Port License Application: Liberty Natural Gas LLC, Port 
Ambrose Deepwater Port

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of Intent; Notice of Public Meeting; Request for 
Comments.

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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MarAd), in coordination with the 
U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), will prepare an environmental impact statement 
(EIS) as part of the environmental review of the Port Ambrose Deepwater 
Port License Application. The application describes an offshore natural 
gas deepwater port facility that would be located approximately 17 
nautical miles southeast of Jones Beach, New York, 24 nautical miles 
east of Long Branch, New Jersey, and about 27 nautical miles from the 
entrance to New York Harbor in a water depth of approximately 103 feet. 
Publication of this notice begins a 30 day 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, provides information on how to participate, and 
announces informational open houses and public meetings in New York and 
New Jersey. Pursuant to the criteria provided in the Deepwater Port Act 
of 1974, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq. (the Act), both New Jersey 
and New York are the Adjacent Coastal States for this application.

DATES: There will be two public scoping meetings held in connection 
with the application. The first public meeting will be held in Long 
Beach, New York on July 9, 2013 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The second public 
meeting will be held in Edison, New Jersey on July 10, 2013 from 6 p.m. 
to 8 p.m. Both public meetings will be preceded by an open house from 
4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
    Each of the public meetings may end later than the stated time, 
depending on the number of persons wishing to speak. Additionally, 
materials submitted in response to the request for comments on the 
license application must reach the Docket Management Facility as 
detailed below, by July 14, 2013.

ADDRESSES: The open house and public meeting in Long Beach, New York 
will be held at the Allegria Hotel, 80 West Broadway, Long Beach, New 
York 11561, phone 516-889-1300. Free street parking is available and 
the parking lot at the Long Island Railroad Long Beach Train Station 
near Park Place and Park Avenue approximately 1200 feet from the hotel 
is available from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. In addition, there is free valet 
parking at the hotel for those that want and/or need to use this 
service. The open house and public meeting in Edison, New Jersey will 
be held at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center, 97 Sunfield 
Avenue, Edison, New Jersey 08837, phone 732-417-1400. Free parking is 
available at the center.
    The license application, comments and associated documentation, and 
Draft and Final EISs (when published) are available for viewing at the 
Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Web site: http://www.regulations.gov under docket number USCG-2013-0363.
    Docket submissions for USCG-2013-0363 should be addressed to: 
Department of Transportation, Docket Management Facility, West 
Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    The Federal Docket Management Facility accepts hand-delivered 
submissions, and makes docket contents available for public inspection 
and copying at the above address between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The Facility telephone 
number is 202-366-9329, the fax number is 202-493-2251, and the Web 
site for electronic submissions or for electronic access to docket 
contents is http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roddy Bachman, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-372-1451, email: [email protected], or Tracey 
Ford, Maritime Administration, telephone: 202-366-0321, email: 
[email protected]. For questions regarding viewing the Docket, call 
Barbara Hairston, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-
366-9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Meeting and Open House

    You are invited to learn about the proposed deepwater port at any 
of the above informational open houses, and to comment at any of the 
above public meetings 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.
    Speaker registration will be available at the door. Speakers at the 
public scoping meeting will be recognized in the following order: 
Elected officials, public agencies, individuals or groups in the sign-
up order, and anyone else who wishes to speak.
    In order to allow everyone a chance to speak at a public meeting, 
speaker time may be limited, meeting hours may be extended, 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 a public meeting, either in lieu 
of or in addition to speaking. Written material

[[Page 37879]]

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 
Federal Docket Management Facility (see Request for Comments).
    Public meeting locations are wheelchair-accessible. If you plan to 
attend an open house or public meeting, and need special assistance 
such as sign language interpretation or other reasonable accommodation, 
please notify the USCG (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) at least 3 
business days in advance. Include your contact information as well as 
information about your specific needs.

Request for Comments

    We request public comments or other relevant information on 
environmental issues related to the proposed deepwater port. Note that 
the public meeting is not the only opportunity you have to comment. In 
addition to, or in lieu of attending a meeting, you can submit comments 
to the Federal 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-2013-0363.
     Your name and address.
    Submit comments or material using only one of the following 
methods:
     Electronic submission to the Federal Docket Management 
Facility, http://www.regulations.gov.
     Fax, mail, or hand delivery to the Federal 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 confirm 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 FDMS Web site 
(http://www.regulations.gov), and will include any personal information 
you provide. Therefore, submitting this information makes it public. 
You may wish to read the Privacy and Use Notice that is available on 
the FDMS Web site, and the Department of Transportation Privacy Act 
Notice that appeared in the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 
19477), see PRIVACY ACT. You may view docket submissions at the 
Department of Transportation Docket Management Facility or 
electronically on the FDMS Web site (see ADDRESSES).

Background

    Information about deepwater ports, the statutes, and regulations 
governing their licensing including the application review process, and 
the receipt of the current application for the proposed Port Ambrose 
liquefied natural gas (LNG) Deepwater Port appears in the Federal 
Register on June 14, 2013, 78 FR 36014. 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 USCG is the lead agency for determining the scope of this 
review, and in this case USCG 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, possible 
alternatives, and our proposed scoping process. You can address any 
questions about the proposed action, the scoping process, or the EIS to 
the U.S. Coast Guard project manager 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), or (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 USCG 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 USCG will prepare a draft 
EIS in conjunction with MarAd. Also, MarAd will publish a Federal 
Register notice announcing public availability of the draft EIS. (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 
USCG 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 and 
include final public hearings as required by the Act.

Summary of the Application

    Liberty Natural Gas, LLC is proposing to construct, own, and 
operate a liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater port, known as Port 
Ambrose, located in the New York Bight. The Port Ambrose facility will 
be located at a different proposed location and include a different 
design than the previous deepwater port license application submitted 
by Liberty Natural Gas, LLC in 2010. Port Ambrose would consist of two 
Submerged Turret Loading Buoys (STL Buoys) in Federal waters 
approximately 17 nautical miles southeast of Jones Beach, New York, 
approximately 24 nautical miles east of Long Branch, New Jersey, and 
about 27 nautical miles from the entrance to New York Harbor, in a 
water depth of approximately 103 feet.
    LNG would be delivered from purpose-built LNG regasification 
vessels (LNGRVs), vaporized on site and delivered through the STL 
Buoys, flexible riser/umbilical, subsea manifold and lateral pipelines 
to a buried 19 nautical mile subsea Mainline connecting to the existing 
Transco Lower New York Bay Lateral in New York State waters 
approximately 2.2 nautical miles south of Long Beach, New York and 13 
nautical miles east of New Jersey. The buoys would be lowered to rest 
on a landing pad when not in use and would also include a pile-anchored 
mooring array.
    STL Buoy 1 is located at Latitude: 40[deg]19'24.61'' N and 
Longitude: 73[deg]25'45.33'' W. STL Buoy 2 is located at Latitude: 
40[deg]20'09.26'' N and

[[Page 37880]]

Longitude 73[deg]23'51.92'' W. The Port components would fall in the 
following U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease blocks:
    Buoy 1 (6708, 6709, 6758); Buoy 2 (6709); Lateral 1 (6708); Lateral 
2 (6708, 6709); ``Y'' Assembly (6708); Mainline Pipeline (6708, 6658, 
6657, 6607, 6606, 6556, 6555, 6554, 6504 and 6503).
    The 145,000 cubic meter LNGRVs would have onboard closed-loop 
vaporization and metering and odorant capability. Each vessel will have 
three vaporization units capable of maximum send-out of 750 million 
standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) (maximum pipeline system flow rate 
is 660 MMscfd with two buoys) with annual average expected to be 400 
MMscfd. The LNGRVs have been designed to utilize a ballast water 
cooling system that will entirely re-circulate onboard the vessel 
during Port operations, eliminating vessel discharges associated with 
regasification while at the Port. Deliveries through Port Ambrose would 
be focused during peak demand winter and summer months and it is 
anticipated that approximately 45 deliveries will occur each year.
    As proposed, the LNGRVs would access the port inbound from the 
Hudson Canyon to Ambrose Traffic Lane and depart via the Ambrose to 
Nantucket Traffic Lane. MarAd and USCG are aware that Port Ambrose 
falls within the proposed area of interest for the Long Island--New 
York City Offshore Wind Collaborative wind energy project. This project 
will be acknowledged and considered in the processing of the Port 
Ambrose application and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
analysis.
    If approved, the majority of the port and pipeline construction and 
installation would occur in 2015, with commissioning in December 2015.
    In addition, pipelines and structures such as the STL Buoy 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 Ambrose may 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 NEPA review as part of the 
deepwater port application process. The EPA and the USACE among others, 
are cooperating agencies and will assist in the NEPA process as 
described in 40 CFR 1501.6; may participate in the scoping meetings; 
and will incorporate the EIS into their permitting processes. Comments 
sent to the EPA or USACE will also be incorporated into the DOT docket 
and EIS to ensure consistency with the NEPA Process.
    Should a license be issued, the deepwater port would be designed, 
fabricated, constructed, commissioned, maintained, inspected, and 
operated in accordance with applicable codes and standards and with 
USCG oversight as regulated under Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR), subchapter NN-Deepwater Ports, parts 148, 149, and 150. This 
also includes waterways management and regulated navigation areas, 
maritime safety and security requirements, risk assessment, and 
compliance with domestic and international laws and regulations for 
vessels that may call on the port.

Privacy Act

    The electronic form of all comments received into the FDMS can 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.). The DOT Privacy Act Statement can be 
viewed in the Federal Register published on April 11, 2000 (Volume 65, 
Number 70, pages 19477-78) or by visiting http://www.regulations.gov.

(Authority 49 CFR 1.93)

    Dated: June 19, 2013.

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Julie P. Agarwal,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2013-15008 Filed 6-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P