Texas Offshore Port System Crude Oil Deepwater Port License Application, 984-985 [E9-293]
Download as PDF
984
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Notices
a Federal Register notice announcing its
public availability. (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 Coast Guard, Maritime
Administration, and NYSDEC 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.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
Availability of EIS
A notice of availability (NOA) will be
published in the Federal Register when
the DEIS is available, and NYSDEC will
publish a notice of completion of Draft
EIS, prepared in accordance with 6
NYCRR § 617.12, in NYSDEC’s online
Environmental Notice Bulletin (ENB).
The ENB is accessible on NYSDEC’s
Web site at: dec.state.ny.us. The DEIS in
hardcopy or electronic format will be
distributed to agencies, local public
libraries and interested parties that have
requested copies. Anyone who wishes
to comment on the draft report will be
provided with an opportunity to review
the DEIS and to offer comments on the
environmental effects of the proposed
project. Comments received during the
DEIS review period will be available in
the public docket and responded to in
the FEIS. A Notice of Availability of the
FEIS will also be published in the
Federal Register, and NYSDEC will
publish a notice of completion of the
final EIS and file copies of the final EIS
in accordance with 6 NYCRR § 617.12.
Additional public meetings will be held
after the draft and final documents are
published.
Summary of the Application
Atlantic Sea Island Group LLC
(ASIG), proposes to own, construct, and
operate a deepwater port, named Safe
Harbor Energy, in the Federal waters of
the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf in
the area known as the New York Bight
region in MMS lease area NK18–12
block 6655. The proposed location is
approximately 13.5 miles south of the
City of Long Beach, 19 miles east of
Highlands, New Jersey, and 23 miles
southeast of the Ports of New York and
New Jersey, in an area between the
Ambrose-to-Nantucket and Hudson
Canyon-to-Ambrose shipping lanes,
located at approximately 40°23′ N and
73°36′ E, in water depth of between 60
and 70 feet covering an area known as
Cholera Bank.
The deepwater port, Safe Harbor
Energy, consists of three components: A
60.5 acre island to be constructed of
VerDate Nov<24>2008
16:16 Jan 08, 2009
Jkt 217001
natural sand, gravel, and rock materials
surrounded by armored breakwaters,
consisting of prefabricated caissons,
armor units, and rock; an LNG
receiving, storage, and regasification
facility; and a subsea pipeline that
would transport the natural gas to an
offshore connection with the
Transcontinental Gas Pipeline
Corporation’s pipeline system. The
pipeline would consist of two parallel
36-inch diameter pipe segments
extending 12.8 miles from the island.
Safe Harbor Energy will include
berthing and offloading space for two
conventional LNG vessels with capacity
of 70,000 m3 to 270,000 m3.
Additionally, it will accommodate
support vessels including docking/
firefighting tugs and crew support
launches. The storage portion would
include four (4) 180,000 m3 fullcontainment storage tanks. The
regasification equipment would be an
ambient air heat exchange type. Safe
Harbor Energy would have an average
throughput capacity of approximately
1.15 billion cubic standard feet per day
(bscfd).
A shore based facility would be used
to facilitate movement of personnel,
equipment, supplies, and disposable
materials between the port and shore.
Construction of the deepwater port
would be expected to take
approximately five (5) years; with
startup of commercial operations
following construction, should a license
be issued. The deepwater port would be
designed, constructed, and operated in
accordance with applicable codes and
standards and would have an expected
operating life of approximately 25 years.
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 you may visit https://
www.regulations.gov.
(Authority 49 CFR 1.66)
Dated: January 6, 2009.
By order of the Maritime Administrator.
Leonard Sutter,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E9–291 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–81–P
PO 00000
Frm 00110
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[USCG–2008–1239]
Texas Offshore Port System Crude Oil
Deepwater Port License Application
Maritime Administration, DOT.
Notice of application.
AGENCY:
ACTION:
SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration
and the Coast Guard announce that they
have received an application for the
licensing of a crude oil deepwater port
and that the application contains the
required information. 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 a public hearing
on this application within 240 days of
the publication of this notice, and a
decision on the application not later
than 90 days after the final public
hearing.
ADDRESSES: The public docket for
USCG–2008–1239 is maintained by the:
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 this address between 9 a.m.
and 5 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 https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ray
Martin, U.S. Coast Guard, telephone:
202–372–1449, e-mail:
Raymond.W.Martin@uscg.mil or Linden
Houston, U.S. Maritime Administration,
telephone: 202–366–4839, e-mail:
Linden.Houston@dot.gov. 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 December 8, 2008, the Coast
Guard and the Maritime Administration
received an application from Texas
Offshore Port System 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.
E:\FR\FM\09JAN1.SGM
09JAN1
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 6 / Friday, January 9, 2009 / Notices
1501 et seq. (the Act). On January 5,
2009, we determined that the
application contains all information
required by the Act to initiate
processing.
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES
Background
According to the 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.
A deepwater port must be licensed by
the Maritime Administrator (by
delegated authority of 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 and agreements between 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 requires adherence to a strict
timeline for processing an application.
Once we determine that an application
contains the required information, we
must hold public hearings on the
application within 240 days, and the
Maritime Administrator must render a
decision on the application within 330
days. We will publish additional
Federal Register notices to inform you
of these public hearings and other
procedural milestones, including the
environmental review. The Maritime
Administrator’s decision, and other key
documents, will be filed in the public
docket.
At least one public hearing must take
place in each adjacent coastal state. For
purposes of the Act, Texas is the
adjacent coastal state for this
application. Other states can apply to
the Maritime Administrator for adjacent
coastal state status in accordance with
33 U.S.C. 1508(a)(2).
Summary of the Application
Texas Offshore Port System, a general
partnership consisting of Oiltanking
Freeport, L.P., TEPPCO O/S Port
System, LLC and Enterprise Offshore
Port System, LLC, proposes to own,
construct, and operate a deepwater port
(DWP), named Texas Offshore Port
System (TOPS), in the Federal waters of
the Outer Continental Shelf in Minerals
Management Service (MMS) lease block
Galveston Area A56 (GA 56),
approximately 30 statute miles
VerDate Nov<24>2008
16:16 Jan 08, 2009
Jkt 217001
southeast of Freeport, Texas, in a water
depth of approximately 120 feet. The
proposed DWP will serve as an offshore
crude oil receiving terminal and
transmission facility. An average of
1,700,000 barrels of oil per day will be
offloaded at the terminal and will be
delivered via a new pipeline that will
terminate at a crude oil storage terminal
located in Texas City, Texas.
Two Single Point Mooring (SPM)
Buoys will be installed to offload crude
oil from crude oil tankers. A third SPM
may be added in the future. Dual 42inch outside diameter (OD), 4,000-ft
(1,219-m) long offloading pipelines will
carry the crude oil to a new Metering
and Pumping Platform. At the platform
the crude oil will be increased in
pressure to 1,950 pounds per square
inch gauge discharge pressure to
achieve a flow rate of up to 100,000
barrels per hour into the departing
Offshore Pipeline. A Quarters and
Control Platform will be connected by a
bridge to the Metering and Pumping
Platform. A new 85⁄8-inch OD fuel gas
pipeline that will be approximately 36
miles long (58 km) will supply natural
gas to the Metering and Pumping
Platform. It will originate from an
existing platform in MMS lease block
Brazos Area BR 538 (BR 538).
The new Offshore Pipeline will be a
42-inch OD pipeline and approximately
34.86 miles long. It will transport the
crude oil to a new valve station located
in Freeport, Texas. From the valve
station a new 48-mile, 42-inch OD
Onshore Pipeline will transfer the crude
oil to a new crude oil storage terminal
in Texas City, Texas. A new
intermediate Onshore Pump Station will
be located along the Onshore Pipeline to
boost the pressure of the crude oil. The
new crude oil storage terminal, the
Texas City Crude Terminal, will consist
of seven tanks, six with a storage
capacity of 600,000 barrels and one with
a storage capacity of 300,000 barrels.
Pipelines and structures such as the
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 U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
TOPS will 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 National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) review as part of the deepwater
port application process. 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 scoping meetings;
PO 00000
Frm 00111
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
985
and will incorporate the environmental
impact statement (EIS) into their
permitting processes. Comments sent to
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, TOPS
anticipates being able to offload and
transport crude oil in November 2010.
The deepwater port would be designed,
constructed and operated in accordance
with applicable codes and standards.
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 you may visit https://
www.regulations.gov.
(Authority 49 CFR 1.66)
Dated: January 6, 2009.
By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Leonard Sutter,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E9–293 Filed 1–8–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–81–P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Surface Transportation Board
[STB Finance Docket No. 35180]
Delray Connecting Railroad
Company—Trackage Rights
Exemption—Consolidated Rail
Corporation
Pursuant to a written trackage rights
agreement, Consolidated Rail
Corporation (Conrail) has agreed to
grant local trackage rights to Delray
Connecting Railroad Company (DCRR)
from Tecumseh Yard Lead to No. 1 and
No. 2 Hill Tracks and Marion Track 1
(a/k/a the Marsh Industrial Track),
Marion Track 2, and Marion Track 3 to
their connections with Canadian
National Railway Company’s (CN) line
to Zug Island.1 The entire line of
railroad is located in the State of
Michigan.
1 According to DCRR, United States Steel
Corporation (USS), a noncarrier, owns all of the
issued and outstanding stock of Transtar, Inc.
(Transtar), which is a noncarrier holding company.
Transtar owns all of the issued and outstanding
stock of seven common carrier railroads, including
DCRR, a Class III rail carrier. Conrail is the owner
and operator of certain railroad tracks that connect
with both Tecumseh Yard and track owned by CN.
E:\FR\FM\09JAN1.SGM
09JAN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 6 (Friday, January 9, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 984-985]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-293]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[USCG-2008-1239]
Texas Offshore Port System Crude Oil Deepwater Port License
Application
AGENCY: Maritime Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Notice of application.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration and the Coast Guard announce that
they have received an application for the licensing of a crude oil
deepwater port and that the application contains the required
information. 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 a public
hearing on this application within 240 days of the publication of this
notice, and a decision on the application not later than 90 days after
the final public hearing.
ADDRESSES: The public docket for USCG-2008-1239 is maintained by the:
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 this address between 9 a.m. and 5 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
https://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ray Martin, U.S. Coast Guard,
telephone: 202-372-1449, e-mail: Raymond.W.Martin@uscg.mil or Linden
Houston, U.S. Maritime Administration, telephone: 202-366-4839, e-mail:
Linden.Houston@dot.gov. 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 December 8, 2008, the Coast Guard and the Maritime
Administration received an application from Texas Offshore Port System
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.
[[Page 985]]
1501 et seq. (the Act). On January 5, 2009, we determined that the
application contains all information required by the Act to initiate
processing.
Background
According to the 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.
A deepwater port must be licensed by the Maritime Administrator (by
delegated authority of 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 and agreements between 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 requires adherence to a strict timeline for processing an
application. Once we determine that an application contains the
required information, we must hold public hearings on the application
within 240 days, and the Maritime Administrator must render a decision
on the application within 330 days. We will publish additional Federal
Register notices to inform you of these public hearings and other
procedural milestones, including the environmental review. The Maritime
Administrator's decision, and other key documents, will be filed in the
public docket.
At least one public hearing must take place in each adjacent
coastal state. For purposes of the Act, Texas is the adjacent coastal
state for this application. Other states can apply to the Maritime
Administrator for adjacent coastal state status in accordance with 33
U.S.C. 1508(a)(2).
Summary of the Application
Texas Offshore Port System, a general partnership consisting of
Oiltanking Freeport, L.P., TEPPCO O/S Port System, LLC and Enterprise
Offshore Port System, LLC, proposes to own, construct, and operate a
deepwater port (DWP), named Texas Offshore Port System (TOPS), in the
Federal waters of the Outer Continental Shelf in Minerals Management
Service (MMS) lease block Galveston Area A56 (GA 56), approximately 30
statute miles southeast of Freeport, Texas, in a water depth of
approximately 120 feet. The proposed DWP will serve as an offshore
crude oil receiving terminal and transmission facility. An average of
1,700,000 barrels of oil per day will be offloaded at the terminal and
will be delivered via a new pipeline that will terminate at a crude oil
storage terminal located in Texas City, Texas.
Two Single Point Mooring (SPM) Buoys will be installed to offload
crude oil from crude oil tankers. A third SPM may be added in the
future. Dual 42-inch outside diameter (OD), 4,000-ft (1,219-m) long
offloading pipelines will carry the crude oil to a new Metering and
Pumping Platform. At the platform the crude oil will be increased in
pressure to 1,950 pounds per square inch gauge discharge pressure to
achieve a flow rate of up to 100,000 barrels per hour into the
departing Offshore Pipeline. A Quarters and Control Platform will be
connected by a bridge to the Metering and Pumping Platform. A new 8\5/
8\-inch OD fuel gas pipeline that will be approximately 36 miles long
(58 km) will supply natural gas to the Metering and Pumping Platform.
It will originate from an existing platform in MMS lease block Brazos
Area BR 538 (BR 538).
The new Offshore Pipeline will be a 42-inch OD pipeline and
approximately 34.86 miles long. It will transport the crude oil to a
new valve station located in Freeport, Texas. From the valve station a
new 48-mile, 42-inch OD Onshore Pipeline will transfer the crude oil to
a new crude oil storage terminal in Texas City, Texas. A new
intermediate Onshore Pump Station will be located along the Onshore
Pipeline to boost the pressure of the crude oil. The new crude oil
storage terminal, the Texas City Crude Terminal, will consist of seven
tanks, six with a storage capacity of 600,000 barrels and one with a
storage capacity of 300,000 barrels.
Pipelines and structures such as the 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 U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers (USACE).
TOPS will 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 National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) review as part of the deepwater port application
process. 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 scoping meetings; and will incorporate the environmental
impact statement (EIS) into their permitting processes. Comments sent
to 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, TOPS anticipates being able to offload
and transport crude oil in November 2010. The deepwater port would be
designed, constructed and operated in accordance with applicable codes
and standards.
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 you may visit https://
www.regulations.gov.
(Authority 49 CFR 1.66)
Dated: January 6, 2009.
By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Leonard Sutter,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-293 Filed 1-8-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P