[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 159 (Friday, August 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66757-66760]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18349]



[[Page 66757]]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Maritime Administration

[Docket No. MARAD-2019-0093]


Deepwater Port License Application: Texas GulfLink LLC--Final 
Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice of availability; Notice of virtual final public hearing; 
Notice of extension; Request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and U.S. Coast Guard 
(USCG) announce the extension of the comment period for the Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Texas GulfLink LLC 
(GulfLink) deepwater port license application for the export of oil 
from the United States to nations abroad. The GulfLink deepwater port 
license application describes a project that would be located 
approximately 26.2 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County, 
Texas. Publication of this notice extends the current comment period 
for the GulfLink FEIS to end on Friday, August 30, 2024, requests 
public participation in the final environmental impact review process, 
provides information on how to participate in the final environmental 
impact review process and announces a virtual final public hearing.

DATES: MARAD and USCG will hold one virtual final public hearing (final 
hearing) in connection with the Gulflink deepwater port license 
application. The final hearing will be held virtually on September 13, 
2024, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Time, due to the impacts of 
Hurricane Beryl. The virtual final hearing may end later than the 
stated time, depending on the number of persons who wish to comment on 
the record. Anyone interested in attending the virtual final hearing or 
speaking during the virtual final hearing must register. Registration 
information is provided in the Public Participation section of this 
Notice.
    Due to the impacts of Hurricane Beryl, we are providing an 
extension of the comment period for the public to submit comments, 
which began with the publication of the Federal Register Notice on July 
5, 2024, and will now end on Friday, August 30, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the FEIS must be submitted to the U.S. 
Department of Transportation's Docket Management Facility or online to 
www.regulations.gov under docket number MARAD-2019-0093. The address of 
the Docket Management Facility is as follows: U.S. Department of 
Transportation, MARAD-2019-0093, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West 
Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590. These are the only 
methods to submit comments on the GulfLink FEIS. Improperly submitted 
comments may not be considered.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Patrick W. Clark, Project Manager, 
USCG, telephone: 202-372-1358, email: [email protected]; or Dr. 
Linden Houston, Transportation Specialist, Office of Deepwater Ports 
and Port Conveyance, MARAD, telephone: 202-366-4839, email: 
[email protected].
    Please include ``MARAD-2019-0093, GulfLink Comment'' in the subject 
line of the message. For written comments and other material 
submissions, please follow the directions under the ``How do I submit 
comments?'' question in the Public Participation section of this 
notice.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Prior Federal Actions

    On May 30, 2019, MARAD and USCG received a license application from 
GulfLink for all Federal authorizations required for a license to 
construct, own, and operate a deepwater port for the export of oil. The 
proposed deepwater port would be located in Federal waters 
approximately 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County, 
Texas. Texas was designated as the ACS for the GulfLink license 
application.
    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). 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). 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 
located at www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0047. A Federal 
Register Notice was published on August 14, 2019 (84 FR 40476) to 
extend the public scoping comment period to August 30, 2019.
    MARAD and USCG held three virtual public comment meetings to 
receive comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). A 
Notice of Availability for the DEIS and Notice of Public Meeting was 
published in the Federal Register on November 27, 2020 (85 FR 76157). 
The first two virtual public comment meetings were held on December 16, 
2020, and December 17, 2020. The public comment period for these 
meetings began on November 27, 2020, and a Federal Register Notice was 
published on December 21, 2020 (85 FR 83142) to extend the comment 
period to January 22, 2021. Transcripts of these DEIS virtual public 
comment meetings are provided on the public docket at 
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0318, www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0319, and www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-2839. A Notice of Availability and Notice of Virtual Public 
Meeting was published in the Federal Register on September 24, 2021 (86 
FR 53144). The Federal agencies held a third virtual DEIS public 
comment meeting to receive comments on the DEIS. The DEIS public 
meeting was held virtually on October 14, 2021. The purpose of the 
October 14, 2021, virtual public meeting was to reopen the public 
comment period for the DEIS and to provide affected communities, 
including Limited English Proficient persons, further opportunities to 
review and comment on the document. The transcripts from the third DEIS 
public comment meeting are included on the public docket at 
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-2853.
    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. A Notice of Availability; Notice 
of Virtual Public Meeting; Request for Comments for the Supplemental 
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) was published in the 
Federal Register on September 30, 2022 (87 FR 59487) in response to 
proposed changes to the GulfLink deepwater port. The public meeting was 
held virtually on October 18, 2022. The transcripts of the SDEIS public 
comment meetings are also included on the public docket at 
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-3097 and 
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-3098. The GulfLink FEIS 
was published in the Federal Register Notice on July 5, 2024 (89 FR 
55679).
    This Notice of Availability incorporates the aforementioned Federal 
Register notices by reference.

[[Page 66758]]

Summary of the License Application

    GulfLink is proposing to construct, own, 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 (2) 
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. 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.
    The GulfLink deepwater port 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 deepwater port 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 deepwater port.
    Onshore storage and supply components for the GulfLink deepwater 
port would consist of the following:
    An Onshore Storage Terminal: The proposed Jones Creek Terminal 
would be located in Brazoria County, Texas, on approximately 319 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 barrels. The facility can 
accommodate four additional tanks, bringing the total to twelve tanks 
or 8,498,016 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 
GulfLink deepwater port and include the following:
    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.
    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 deepwater port.
    As previously stated, the purpose of this notice is to announce 
that the FEIS is currently available for public review and a comment 
period that will now end by the close of business on August 30, 2024. 
Comments can be submitted through the Federal docket website: 
www.regulations.gov under docket number MARAD-2019-0093.

Purpose of the Final Environmental Impact Statement

    The purpose of the FEIS is to analyze the direct, indirect, and 
cumulative environmental impacts of the proposed action, and to 
identify and analyze environmental impacts of a reasonable range of 
alternatives. The FEIS is currently available for public review and 
comment at the Federal docket website: www.regulations.gov under docket 
number MARAD-2019-0093.

Request for Comments

    You are encouraged to provide comments on the proposed action and 
the environmental impact analysis contained in the FEIS for the 
proposed GulfLink deepwater port. These comments will inform MARAD's 
Record of Decision for the GulfLink deepwater license application. We 
encourage you to review the information on the project's docket located 
online at www.regulations.gov under docket number MARAD-2019-0093.
    Please see the information in the Public Participation section 
below on how to properly submit comments. All comments submitted to the 
docket via www.regulations.gov or delivered to the Federal Docket 
Management Facility will be posted, without change, to the Federal 
Docket Management Facility website (www.regulations.gov) and will 
include any personal information you provide. Therefore, submitting 
such information makes it public. You may wish to read the Privacy and 
Use Notice available on the www.regulations.gov website and the 
Department of Transportation (DOT) Privacy Act Notice that appeared in 
the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), see Privacy Act 
section of this Notice. You may view docket submissions at the DOT 
Docket Management Facility or electronically at the www.regulations.gov 
website.

Final Hearing Information

    You are invited to attend the Final Hearing and encouraged to 
provide comments on the Gulflink deepwater port application. These 
comments will inform MARAD's Record of Decision for the GulfLink 
deepwater license application. Speakers are requested to register for 
the Final Hearing. Registration instructions are listed under the ``How 
do I register to speak at the public hearing?'' section under the 
Public Participation section of this notice. Speakers will be 
recognized in the following order during the Final Hearing: elected 
officials, public agency

[[Page 66759]]

representatives, and then individuals or groups in the order in which 
they registered. In order to accommodate all speakers, speakers' time 
may be limited, meeting hours may be extended, or both. Speakers' 
transcribed remarks will be included in the public 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 to ensure a constructive information-gathering 
session. The presiding officer will use their discretion to conduct the 
meeting in an orderly manner.
    The Final Hearing will be conducted in English and Spanish. Final 
Hearing attendees who require special assistance, such as translation 
services or other reasonable accommodation, please notify MARAD or the 
USCG (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT) at least five business days 
in advance. Please include contact information as well as information 
about specific needs.

Public Participation

How do I prepare comments?

    To ensure that your comments are correctly filed in the Docket, 
please include the docket number (MARAD-2019-0093) shown at the 
beginning of this document in your comments. If you are submitting 
comments electronically as a .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) 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.
    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 Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) and Department of Transportation (DOT) Data Quality Act 
guidelines. Accordingly, we encourage you to consult the guidelines in 
preparing your comments. OMB's guidelines may be accessed at 
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/reproducible.html. DOT's guidelines may 
be accessed at www.bts.gov/programs/statistical_policy_and_research/data_quality_guidelines.

How do I submit comments?

    You may submit comments for the GulfLink deepwater license 
application FEIS (identified by DOT Docket Number MARAD-2019-0093) by 
any one of the following methods:
    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.
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. Search 
``MARAD-2019-0093'' and follow the instructions for submitting 
comments.
    Fax: Comments may be faxed to the Docket Management Facility at 
202-493-2251. Your comment must include the docket number (MARAD-2019-
0093) to be placed to the proper docket.
    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. All submissions received must 
include the agency name and specific docket number to ensure your 
comment is filed in the appropriate docket. All comments received will 
be posted without change to the docket at www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided. If you submit your 
comments by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an unbound format, no 
larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for copying and electronic 
filing. MARAD may only consider comments and material received during 
the comment period. The instructions listed in this section are the 
only methods in which comments will be accepted for submission to the 
docket. It is the commenter's responsibility to comply with the 
instructions above to ensure that their comments are properly submitted 
for consideration and review. Comments that are submitted in any other 
manner and to any other location may not be considered.

What will happen if I submit comments in any other manner?

    Comments that are not submitted directly to the Docket Management 
Facility using the methods specified and outlined within this Federal 
Register notice may not not be considered. It is the commenter's 
responsibility to comply with the instructions above to ensure that 
their comments are properly submitted for review.

How long do I have to submit comments?

    We are providing an extension of the comment period for the public 
to submit comments, which began with the publication of the Federal 
Register Notice on July 5, 2024, and will now end on Friday, August 30, 
2024.
    I provided MARAD and USCG comments on the GulfLink scoping meeting, 
DEIS, or 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 for 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 the USCG will review all substantive comments that Docket 
Management receives before the close of business on the comment closing 
date indicated above under DATES section. Comments submitted outside 
the comment period may not be considered.

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 section of this Notice. 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 www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions 
for accessing the dockets.

How do I register to speak at the virtual public hearing?

    You may register for the proceedings using the following link: 
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YRFeRRrNTbSJSzKMPfRP6A. If 
you need assistance with registration, you may call 1-(800) 949-0771, 
and leave a message and someone will call you back and assist with 
getting you registered. Please note this phone line is not staffed 24/
7.

[[Page 66760]]

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, visit www.transportation.gov/privacy.

(Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1501, et seq.; 49 CFR 1.93(h))

    By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr.,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-18349 Filed 8-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P