Maritime Administration February 11, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration announce the availability of the draft environmental impact statement for this license application. The application describes a project that would be located in the Outer Continental Shelf and Mississippi Sound areas of the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 11 miles south of Dauphin Island, AL, in lease block Mobile 910. The draft environmental impact statement is a Coast Guard document with several agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acting as cooperating agencies in the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 process, as described by 40 CFR 1501.6. The Coast Guard is the lead federal agency in the preparation of the draft environmental impact statement for the liquefied natural gas terminal, construction of the gravity-based structures, and the associated offshore and onshore pipelines. The joint document will satisfy the requirements of the Deepwater Port Act. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will assist in the preparation of the draft environmental impact statements for permits pursuant to section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 U.S.C. 403) and section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1344). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will assist in the preparation of the draft environmental impact statement for the onshore pipeline. Even though an affiliate of Compass Port LLC must separately apply for and receive an authorization for the onshore pipeline, and from the Army Corps of Engineers for the appropriate section 10 and 404 permits, this draft environmental impact statement will assess the environmental impacts of both the onshore and offshore portions of the project. The lead agencies (Coast Guard and Maritime Administration), as well as the cooperating agencies (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), request public comments on the draft environmental impact statement.