[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 153 (Friday, August 7, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48070-48072]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17327]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[Docket No. MARAD-2019-0094]


Deepwater Port License Application: Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC; 
Project Scope Changes; Request for Comments

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard 
(USCG) announce the receipt and

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availability of project scope changes for the Bluewater Deepwater Port 
License Application submitted by Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC 
(Bluewater) on May 4, 2020. The purpose of this notice is to summarize 
the project scope changes between the original application, submitted 
on May 30, 2019, and the recent changes submitted on May 4, 2020. This 
notice also seeks public comment regarding the proposed project scope 
changes. Please note, MARAD and USCG have determined that this notice 
is sufficient for satisfying National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 
requirements for public scoping and seeking public comment on an agency 
action.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 11, 2020.

ADDRESSES: The public docket for the Bluewater Texas Terminal LLC 
Deepwater Port License Application is maintained by the U.S. Department 
of Transportation, Docket Management Facility, West Building, Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. 
The license application is available for viewing at the Regulations.gov 
website: http://www.regulations.gov under docket number MARAD-2019-
0094.
    We encourage you to submit comments electronically to the public 
docket online at http://www.regulations.gov. If you submit your 
comments electronically, it is not necessary to also submit a hard 
copy. If you cannot submit material using http://www.regulations.gov, 
please contact either Mr. Roddy Bachman, USCG or Ms. Yvette M. Fields, 
MARAD, as listed in the following FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section of this document. This section provides alternate instructions 
for submitting written comments. Additionally, if you go to the online 
docket and sign up for email alerts, you will be notified when comments 
are posted. Anonymous comments will be accepted. All comments received 
will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov and will 
include any personal information you have provided. The Federal Docket 
Management Facility's telephone number is 202-366-9317 or 202-366-9826, 
the fax number is 202-493-2251.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Roddy Bachman, U.S. Coast Guard, 
telephone: 202-372-1451, email: [email protected], or Ms. Yvette 
M. Fields, Maritime Administration, telephone: 202-366-0926, email: 
[email protected]. For questions regarding viewing the Docket, call 
Docket Operations, telephone: 202-366-9317 or 202-366-9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Summary of the Revised Project Description

    Bluewater is proposing to construct, own, and operate a deepwater 
port terminal in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to export domestically 
produced crude oil. The proposed project scope changes that are 
discussed in this notice involve the design, engineering, and 
construction of a deepwater port, approximately 56.18 miles of pipeline 
infrastructure, and an Operations facility.

Onshore Components

    Onshore components associated with the proposed Bluewater project 
are those components on the landward side of the western Redfish Bay 
Mean High Tide (MHT) line located in San Patricio and Aransas Counties, 
Texas. Under the original project scope, the onshore components 
included an area that was approximately 22.20 miles of two (2) new 
parallel 30-inch-diameter crude oil pipelines extending from a planned 
multi-use terminal located south of the City of Taft in San Patricio 
County, Texas. The planned multi-use terminal consisted of multiple 
inbound and outbound crude oil pipelines. Two of those outbound 
pipelines composed the proposed pipeline infrastructure that would 
extend to the inshore pipeline, which would connect to the proposed 
Harbor Island Booster Station (Booster Station) described below.
    Under the revised project scope, the onshore components now 
proposed will include an area that is approximately 22.13 miles of two 
(2) new parallel 30-inch-diameter crude oil pipelines extending from a 
planned multi-use terminal located south of the City of Taft in San 
Patricio County, Texas. The planned Multi-Use Terminal will connect to 
multiple inbound and outbound crude oil pipelines. Two of those 
outbound pipelines are the proposed pipeline infrastructure that will 
extend to the inshore pipeline, which will connect to the proposed 
operation facility located on Harbor Island described below. One water 
tank will be constructed at the Multi-Use Terminal to flush the 
offshore pipelines running to the SMPs described below.

Inshore Components

    Inshore components associated with the proposed Bluewater project 
are those components located between the western Redfish Bay MHT line 
and the MHT line located at the interface of San Jose Island and the 
GOM. Under the original project scope, the inshore components included 
an area that was approximately 7.15 miles of two (2) new 30-inch-
diameter crude oil pipelines connecting to the onshore facility, an 
approximately 19-acre booster station and a connection to the offshore 
pipeline. The onshore pipeline would have been located within San 
Patricio County, Texas and Nueces County, Texas, and the Booster 
Station would have been located on Harbor Island in Nueces County, 
Texas.
    Under the revised project scope, the inshore components now 
proposed will include an area that is approximately 7.29 miles of two 
(2) new 30-inch-diameter crude oil pipelines connecting to the onshore 
facility, an approximately 12-acre operations station and a connection 
to the offshore pipeline. The onshore pipeline will be located within 
San Patricio County, Texas and Nueces County, Texas, and a proposed 
operations facility will be located on Harbor Island in Nueces County, 
Texas.
    The Booster Station will include approximately 19 acres of land 
with two (2) above ground crude oil storage tanks, each with a total 
storage capacity of 181,000 barrels and two (2) 181,000-barrel water 
storage tanks. The purpose of water tanks is to allow for the clearing 
of the pipeline infrastructure. During clearing operations, water from 
the water storage tanks will be pumped through the pipelines and back 
to the Booster Station. The displaced crude oil will be placed in the 
two crude oil storage tanks.
    Additionally, the Booster Station will contain equipment and piping 
to provide interconnectivity with the crude oil supply network for the 
Bluewater project. This will include the installation of four (4) 5,500 
horsepower electrically powered motors in a series electronically 
locked into operation as two booster pumping systems delivering 
approximately 11,000 horsepower to each of the two (2) 30-inch diameter 
pipelines. Further, the Booster Station will house the necessary 
infrastructure to support the transport of crude oil through the 
proposed pipeline infrastructure to the deepwater port for the loading 
of moored vessels to include a fire water tank, firewater pumps, storm 
water runoff treatment plant and pumps, emergency generator, foam and 
water monitors and an operations office.
    The operations facility located on Harbor Island will include 
approximately 12 acres of land and house the necessary infrastructure 
to support the transport of crude oil through the proposed pipeline 
infrastructure to the deepwater port for the loading of moored vessels. 
The facility will consist of pig launchers/

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receivers, meters and valves, operations building, and communications 
facility.

Offshore Components

    Offshore components associated with the proposed Bluewater project 
are those components located seaward of the MHT line located at the 
interface of San Jose Island and the GOM. Under the original project 
scope, the offshore components included an area that was approximately 
27.13 miles of two (2) new 30-inch-diameter crude oil pipelines 
extending from the shoreline crossing at the interface of San Jose 
Island to the offshore Bluewater deepwater port for crude oil delivery 
to Single Point Mooring (SPM) buoys.
    Under the revised project scope, the offshore components now 
proposed include:
     An area that is approximately 26.76 miles of two (2) new 
30-inch-diameter crude oil pipelines extending from the shoreline 
crossing at the interface of San Jose Island to the offshore Bluewater 
deepwater port for crude oil delivery to Single Point Mooring (SPM) 
buoys.
     Two (2) SPMs in Outer Continental Shelf Matagorda Island 
Area TX4 lease blocks 698 and 699, approximately 15 nautical miles 
(17.26 statute miles) off the coast of San Patricio County, Texas in a 
water depth of approximately 89 feet.
     A catenary anchor leg mooring (CALM) system for each SPM 
buoy connected to a pipeline end manifold (PLEM) system, mooring 
hawsers, floating hoses, and submarine hoses to allow for the loading 
of crude oil to vessels moored at the proposed deepwater port. The SPM 
buoy system will be permanently moored with a symmetrically arranged 
six-leg anchor dual chain configuration extending to twelve (12) 72-
inch-diameter pile anchors installed on the seafloor.
     Each of the proposed SPM buoy systems will consist of 
inner and outer cylindrical shells subdivided into twelve equal-sized 
watertight radial compartments. A rotating table will be affixed to the 
SPM buoy and allow for the connection of moored vessels to the SPM buoy 
system via mooring hawsers. Two floating hoses equipped with marine 
break-away couplings will be utilized for the transfer of crude oil 
from the SPM buoy systems to the moored vessel. Floating hoses will be 
equipped with strobe lights at 15-foot intervals for detection at night 
and low-light conditions.

Privacy Act

    The electronic form of all comments received into the Federal 
Docket Management System 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: 33 U.S.C. 1501, et seq.; 49 CFR 1.93(h))

    Dated: August 4, 2020.

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr.,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2020-17327 Filed 8-6-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P