[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 189 (Friday, September 30, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59487-59490]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-20752]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[Docket Number MARAD-2019-0093]


Deepwater Port License Application: Texas GulfLink, LLC--
Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.

[[Page 59488]]


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

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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard 
(USCG) announce the availability of the Supplemental Draft 
Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for the Texas GulfLink LLC 
(GulfLink) deepwater port license application for the export of crude 
oil from the United States to nations abroad. The GulfLink deepwater 
port license application describes a proposed project that would be 
located approximately 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria 
County, Texas. Publication of this notice begins a 45-day comment 
period, (1) requests public participation in the environmental impact 
review process, (2) provides information on how to participate in the 
environmental impact review process, and (3) announces the availability 
of an informational Virtual Open House website (Virtual Room), and a 
Virtual Public Meeting that will be held via Zoom. Registration 
information is provided in the Virtual Public Meeting and Virtual Open 
House website (Virtual Room) section of this notice.

DATES: Comments on the SDEIS must be received on or before 45 days from 
the date of publication of this Federal Register Notice. MARAD and USCG 
will hold one Virtual Public Meeting in connection with the GulfLink 
SDEIS. This Virtual Public Meeting will be held via Zoom on October 18, 
2022, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT). The Virtual 
Public Meeting will end no earlier than 8 p.m. CDT, but it may end 
later than the stated time, depending on the number of persons who wish 
to comment on the record. Anyone interested in attending or speaking 
during the Virtual Public Meeting must register in advance. 
Additionally, materials submitted in response to this request for 
comments on the SDEIS must be submitted to the https://www.regulations.gov website or the Federal Docket Management Facility 
as detailed in the ADDRESSES section below by the end of the comment 
period.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket Number 
MARAD-2019-0093 by any one of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov, search MARAD-2019-0093 and follow the instructions 
for submitting comments.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: The Docket Management Facility is 
in the West Building, Ground Floor of the U.S. Department of 
Transportation. The Docket Management Facility location address is U.S. 
Department of Transportation, MARAD-2019-0093, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 
SE, West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590. Due to flexible 
work schedules in response to COVID-19, call 202-493-0402 to determine 
facility hours prior to hand delivery.

    Note: If you mail or hand-deliver your comments, we recommend 
that you include your name and a mailing address, an email address, 
and/or a telephone number on a cover page, so that we can contact 
you if we have questions regarding your submission.

    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and specific docket number. All comments received will be posted 
without change to the docket at https://www.regulations.gov, including 
any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on 
submitting comments, see the section entitled ``PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.''
    Contact USCG via email at [email protected] and MARAD via 
email at [email protected]. Include ``MARAD-2019-0093'' in the 
subject line of the message. The purpose of providing the email contact 
information is to offer the public the opportunity to obtain answers 
related to the Virtual Public Meeting. This email will not be relied on 
for the intake of comments on the GulfLink deepwater port license 
application. To submit written comments and other material submissions, 
please follow the directions above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Prior Federal Actions

    A Notice of Application that summarized the GulfLink Deepwater Port 
License Application was published in the Federal Register on June 26, 
2019 (84 FR 30298-30300). A Notice of Intent to Prepare an 
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Notice of Public Scoping 
Meeting was published in the Federal Register on July 3, 2019 (84 FR 
32008-32010). A Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental 
Impact Statement (DEIS) and Notice of Public Meeting was published in 
the Federal Register on November 27, 2020 (85 FR 76157-76159). A Notice 
of Availability and Notice of Virtual Public Meeting was published in 
the Federal Register on September 24, 2021 (86 FR 53144-53147).

Request for Comments

    We request public comments or other relevant information related to 
the SDEIS for the proposed GulfLink deepwater port. These comments will 
inform the environmental review of the proposed GulfLink project. We 
encourage you to review the information on the website and attend the 
Virtual Public Meeting. Also, you may submit comments electronically. 
It is preferred that comments be submitted electronically. Please see 
the information in the ADDRESSES section above on how to properly 
submit comments. All comments submitted to the docket via https://www.regulations.gov or delivered to the Federal Docket Management 
Facility will be posted, without change, to the Federal Docket 
Management Facility website (https://www.regulations.gov) and will 
include any personal information you provide. Therefore, submitting 
such information makes it public. You may view docket submissions at 
the DOT Docket Management Facility or electronically at the https://www.regulations.gov website.

Virtual Public Meeting and Virtual Open House Website

    You are invited to learn about the proposed GulfLink deepwater port 
via the informational website https://tgldwp.consultation.ai. You are 
also invited to attend the Virtual Public Meeting and encouraged to 
provide comments to the DOT GulfLink Docket on the proposed action and 
the environmental impact analysis contained in the SDEIS for the 
proposed GulfLink deepwater port. Speakers must register for the 
Virtual Public Meeting via the informational website. When registering, 
please indicate if you would like the opportunity to provide a live 
comment during the meeting or if you are participating to listen only.
    If you need help registering, have questions on how to register, or 
would like to register by telephone, please contact 833-588-1191 and 
leave a voice mail message. This line is not a manned phone line; 
however, the voice mail box is checked at regular intervals on weekdays 
(between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). 
Therefore, if you leave your full name with the correct spelling and 
your phone number after the tone, then a project team member will 
return your call and provide direct assistance.
    During the Virtual Public Meeting, speakers will be recognized in 
the following order: elected officials, public agency representatives, 
and then individuals or groups in the order in which they registered. 
In order to accommodate all speakers, speaker time may be limited, 
meeting hours may be extended, or both. Speakers' transcribed remarks 
will be included in the public

[[Page 59489]]

docket. You may also submit written material for inclusion in the 
public docket. Written material must include the author's name. We ask 
attendees to respect the meeting procedures in order to ensure a 
constructive information-gathering session. The presiding officer will 
use his/her discretion to conduct the meeting in an orderly manner.
    The Virtual Public Meeting will be conducted in English; however, 
translation services will be provided in Spanish. Virtual Public 
Meeting attendees who require special assistance, such as translation 
services or other reasonable accommodation, please notify MARAD and 
USCG (see ADDRESSES) at least five business days in advance. Please 
include contact information as well as information about specific 
needs.

Background

    On May 30, 2019, MARAD and USCG received a license application from 
GulfLink for a license to own, construct, and operate a deepwater port 
for the export of crude oil. The proposed deepwater port would be 
located in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, approximately 26.6 
nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas. Texas was 
designated as the Adjacent Coastal State (ACS) for the GulfLink license 
application.
    The Federal agencies involved held a public scoping meeting in 
connection with the evaluation of the GulfLink license application. The 
public scoping meeting was held in Lake Jackson, Texas, on July 17, 
2019. The transcript of the scoping meeting is included on the public 
docket at https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0047. 
The Federal agencies also held two consecutive virtual DEIS public 
meetings to receive comments on the DEIS. The virtual public comment 
meetings were held on December 16, 2020, and December 17, 2020. The 
public comment period began on November 27, 2020, and ended on January 
22, 2021. Transcripts of the DEIS public comment meetings are provided 
on the public docket at https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0318, https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0319, and https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-2839.
    The Federal agencies also held a third virtual DEIS public comment 
meeting to receive comments on the DEIS. The public meeting was held 
virtually on October 14, 2021. The transcripts of the DEIS public 
comment meetings are also included on the public docket at https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-2853.
    After the publication of the DEIS, GulfLink revised its deepwater 
license application in response to ongoing consultation with regulatory 
agencies and subsequently refined the design of the proposed deepwater 
port by adding a vapor control system into the design and operation of 
the proposed GulfLink deepwater port. The purpose of the SDEIS is to 
analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of 
the revised proposed action, and to identify and analyze the 
environmental impacts of a reasonable range of alternatives. The SDEIS 
is currently available for public review and comment at the Federal 
docket website: https://www.regulations.gov under docket number MARAD-
2019-0093.

Summary of the License Application

    GulfLink is proposing to own, construct, and operate a deepwater 
port terminal in the Gulf of Mexico to export domestically produced 
crude oil. Use of the deepwater port would include the loading of 
various grades of crude oil at flow rates of up to 85,000 barrels per 
hour (bph). The GulfLink deepwater port would allow for up to two Very 
Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) or other crude oil carriers to moor at 
single point mooring (SPM) buoys and connect with the deepwater port 
via floating connecting crude oil hoses and a floating vapor recovery 
hose. Although two VLCCs can be moored to the DWP simultaneously, only 
one can be loaded at a time. The maximum frequency of loading VLCCs or 
other crude oil carriers would be one million barrels per day, 365 days 
per year.
    The overall project would consist of offshore and marine components 
as well as onshore components, as described below.
    Offshore and marine components would consist of the following:
     An Offshore Platform: One fixed offshore platform with 
piles in Outer Continental Shelf Galveston Area Lease Block GA-423, 
26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas, in a water 
depth of approximately 104 feet. The fixed offshore platform would have 
four decks comprised of personal living space, pipeline metering, a 
surge system, a pig receiving station, generators, lease automatic 
custody transfer unit, oil displacement prover loop, sample system, 
radar tower, electrical and instrumentation building, portal cranes, a 
hydraulic crane, an Operations/Traffic Room, and helicopter deck.
     One 42-inch outside diameter, 28.1-nautical-mile long 
crude oil pipeline would be constructed from the shoreline crossing in 
Brazoria County, Texas, to the GulfLink DWP for crude oil delivery. 
This pipeline would connect the proposed onshore Jones Creek Terminal 
described below to the offshore platform.
     The fixed offshore platform is connected to VLCC tankers 
for loading by two separate 42-inch diameter departing pipelines. Each 
pipeline will depart the fixed offshore platform, carrying the crude 
oil to a Pipeline End Manifold (PLEM) in approximately 104 feet water 
depth located 1.25 nautical miles from the fixed offshore platform. 
Each PLEM is then connected to a Single Point Mooring (SPM) Buoy 
through two 24-inch cargo hoses. Two 24-inch floating cargo hoses will 
connect each SPM Buoy to the VLCC (or other crude oil carrier type). 
SPM Buoy 1 is positioned in Outer Continental Shelf Galveston Area 
Lease Block GA-423 and SPM Buoy 2 is positioned in Outer Continental 
Shelf Galveston Area Lease Block GA-A36.
     Use of a dynamically positioned third-party Offshore 
Support Vessel, equipped with a vapor processing system to control the 
release of vapor emissions during the cargo loading operations of the 
proposed GulfLink DWP.
    Onshore storage and supply components for the GulfLink DWP would 
consist of the following:
     An Onshore Storage Terminal: The proposed Jones Creek 
Terminal would be located in Brazoria County, Texas, on approximately 
262 acres of land, consisting of eight above ground storage tanks, each 
with a working storage capacity of 708,168 barrels, for a total onshore 
storage capacity of approximately 5,655,344 million barrels. The 
facility can accommodate four additional tanks, bringing the total to 
twelve tanks or 8,498,016 million barrels of storage capacity.
     The Jones Creek Terminal also would include: Six electric-
driven mainline crude oil pumps; three electric driven booster crude 
oil pumps; one crude oil pipeline pig launcher; one crude oil pipeline 
pig receiver; two measurement skids for measuring incoming crude oil--
one skid located on the Department of Energy's Bryan Mound facility, 
and one skid installed for the outgoing crude oil barrels leaving the 
tank storage to be loaded on the VLCC; and ancillary facilities to 
include an operations control center, electrical substation, offices, 
and warehouse building.
     Two onshore crude oil pipelines would be constructed to 
support the

[[Page 59490]]

GulfLink DWP and include the following:
    [cir] One proposed incoming 9.1-statute mile long, 36-inch outside 
diameter pipeline connected to a leased 40-inch ExxonMobil pipeline 
originating at the Department of Energy's Bryan Mound facility with 
connectivity to the Houston market.
    [cir] One proposed outgoing 12.1-statute mile long, 42-inch outside 
diameter pipeline connecting the Jones Creek Terminal to the shore 
crossing, where the offshore portion of this pipeline begins and 
supplies the proposed offshore GulfLink DWP.
    As previously stated, the purpose of this notice is to announce 
that the SDEIS is currently available for public review and a 45-day 
public comment period. Comments can be submitted through the Federal 
docket website: https://www.regulations.gov under docket number MARAD-
2019-0093.

Public Participation Instructions

How long do I have to submit comments?

    We are providing a 45-day comment period.

How do I prepare and submit comments?

    To ensure that your comments are correctly filed in the Docket, 
please include the docket number shown at the beginning of this 
document in your comments.
    If you are submitting comments electronically as a PDF (Adobe) 
File, MARAD and USCG ask that the documents be submitted using the 
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process, thus allowing the agencies 
to search and copy certain portions of your submissions. Comments may 
be submitted to the docket electronically at http://www.regulations.gov. Search using the MARAD docket number in this 
notice and follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
    You may also submit two copies of your comments, including the 
attachments, to Docket Management at the address given above under 
ADDRESSES.
    Please note that pursuant to the Data Quality Act, for substantive 
data to be relied upon and used by the agency, it must meet the 
information quality standards set forth in the OMB and DOT Data Quality 
Act guidelines. Accordingly, we encourage you to consult the guidelines 
in preparing your comments. OMB's guidelines may be accessed at https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/reproducible.html. DOT's guidelines may 
be accessed at https://www.bts.gov/programs/statistical_policy_and_research/data_quality_guidelines.

I provided MARAD and USCG comments on the GulfLink SDEIS, orally or in 
writing, in another forum. May I provide comments in response to this 
notice as well?

    Yes, MARAD and USCG encourage any member of the public to submit 
relevant comments for the docket, including input that has previously 
been communicated to the agencies.

How can I be sure that my comments were received?

    If you wish Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of 
your comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the 
envelope containing your comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket 
Management will return the postcard by mail.

Will the agency consider late comments?

    MARAD and USCG will consider all substantive comments that Docket 
Management receives before the close of business on the comment closing 
date indicated above under DATES.

How can I read the comments submitted by other people?

    You may read the comments received by Docket Management at the 
address given above under ADDRESSES. The hours of the Docket Management 
Unit are indicated above in the same location. You may also see the 
comments on the internet. To read the comments on the internet, go to 
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for 
accessing the dockets.
    Please note that even after the comment closing date, MARAD will 
continue to file relevant information in the Docket as it becomes 
available. Accordingly, we recommend that you periodically check the 
Docket for new material.

Privacy Act

    Anyone can 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.). For information on DOT's compliance with 
the Privacy Act, please visit https://www.transportation.gov/privacy.

(Authority: 49 CFR 1.93)

    By order of the Maritime Administrator.
T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr.,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2022-20752 Filed 9-29-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P