Notice2021-22048
Deepwater Port License Application: SPOT Terminal Services, LLC-Draft General Conformity Determination
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 8, 2021
Issuing agencies
Transportation DepartmentMaritime Administration
Abstract
The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) announce the availability of the Draft General Conformity Determination to ensure that the air emissions associated with the Sea Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) Deepwater Port Project (Project or SPOT Project) conform with the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP). A Notice of Application that summarized the SPOT Deepwater Port License Application was published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2019. A Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Notice of Public Scoping Meetings was published in the Federal Register on March 7, 2019. A Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Notice of Public Meetings was published in the Federal Register on February 7, 2020. This notice incorporates the aforementioned Federal Register notices by reference. The SPOT Project proposes to provide United States (U.S.) crude oil loading services on very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and other crude oil carriers for export to the global market. Publication of this notice begins a 30-day comment period, requests public participation in the general conformity review process, and provides information on how to participate in this process.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 193 (Friday, October 8, 2021)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 193 (Friday, October 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56349-56350]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22048]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[Docket No. MARAD-2019-0011]
Deepwater Port License Application: SPOT Terminal Services, LLC--
Draft General Conformity Determination
AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of Draft General Conformity Determination.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard
(USCG) announce the availability of the Draft General Conformity
Determination to ensure that the air emissions associated with the Sea
Port Oil Terminal (SPOT) Deepwater Port Project (Project or SPOT
Project) conform with the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP). A
Notice of Application that summarized the SPOT Deepwater Port License
Application was published in the Federal Register on March 4, 2019. A
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and
Notice of Public Scoping Meetings was published in the Federal Register
on March 7, 2019. A Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) and Notice of Public Meetings was published in
the Federal Register on February 7, 2020. This notice incorporates the
aforementioned Federal Register notices by reference. The SPOT Project
proposes to provide United States (U.S.) crude oil loading services on
very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and other crude oil carriers for
export to the global market. Publication of this notice begins a 30-day
comment period, requests public participation in the general conformity
review process, and provides information on how to participate in this
process.
DATES: To ensure your comments are considered, MARAD and the USCG
request that all comments be submitted to the <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> website or the Federal Docket Management Facility
as detailed in the ADDRESSES section below, 30 days from the date of
publication.
ADDRESSES: The SPOT Deepwater Port License Application, the Draft EIS,
this Draft General Conformity Determination, and other associated
documents are available for viewing at the Federal eRulemaking portal
at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> under docket number MARAD-2019-0011
(<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/MARAD-2019-0011">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/MARAD-2019-0011</a>). The Final EIS and
Final General Conformity Determination, when published, will be
announced and be available at the <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> website.
The public docket for the SPOT 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. Comments on the Draft
General Conformity Determination may be submitted to this address and
must include the docket number for this project, which is MARAD-2019-
0011. The Federal Docket Management Facility's telephone number is 202-
366-9317 or 202-366-9826; the fax number is 202-493-2251.
We encourage you to submit comments electronically through the
Federal eRulemaking Portal at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. If you submit
your comments electronically, it is not necessary to also submit a hard
copy by mail. If you cannot submit material using <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, please contact either Mr. Matthew Layman, USCG, or
Dr. Efrain Lopez, 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Matthew Layman, Project Manager,
USCG, telephone: 202-372-1421, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#83cee2f7f7ebe6f4adc7adcfe2faeee2edc3f6f0e0e4adeeeaef"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1b567a6f6f737e6c355f35577a62767a755b6e68787c35767277">[email protected]</span></a>; or Dr.
Efrain Lopez, Project Manager, Office of Deepwater Ports and Port
Conveyance, MARAD, telephone: 202-366-9761, email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#793c1f0b181017573516091c03391d160d571e160f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d792b1a5b6beb9f99bb8a7b2ad97b3b8a3f9b0b8a1">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Request for Comments
We request public comments or other relevant information related to
the Draft General Conformity Determination for the proposed SPOT
deepwater port. These comments will be considered in development of the
Final General Conformity Determination. MARAD and the USCG prefer that
comments be submitted electronically. Regardless of the method you use
to submit comments or material, all submissions will be posted without
change to the Federal Docket Management Facility website (<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/MARAD-2019-0011">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/MARAD-2019-0011</a>) and will include any
personal information you provide. Therefore, submitting this
information makes it public. You may wish to read the Privacy and Use
Notice that is available on the <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> 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 document. You may view docket submissions at the
DOT Docket Management Facility or electronically at the <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> website.
Background
On January 31, 2019, MARAD and USCG received an application from
SPOT for all Federal authorizations required for a license to own,
construct, and operate a deepwater port for the export of oil. The
proposed deepwater port would be located in Federal waters
approximately 27.2 to 30.8 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria
County, Texas. Texas was designated as the Adjacent Coastal State for
the SPOT license application.
The Federal agencies involved held a public scoping meeting in
connection with the evaluation of the SPOT license application. The
public scoping meeting was held in Lake Jackson, Texas on March 20,
2019. The transcript of the scoping meeting is included on the public
docket located at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0011-0019">https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0011-0019</a>. The Federal agencies also held a Draft EIS public
[[Page 56350]]
comment meeting to receive comments on the Draft EIS. The public
comment meeting was held in Lake Jackson, Texas on February 26, 2020. A
second 30-day public comment period due to COVID began on May 1, 2021
and ended on May 31, 2021. The transcripts of the DEIS public comment
meetings are also included on the public docket at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0011-0019">https://www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0011-0019</a>-1192.
The purpose of this Draft General Conformity Determination is to
ensure that the air emissions associated with the SPOT Project conform
with the Texas SIP in accordance with 40 CFR part 93, subpart B. The
Draft General Conformity Determination is currently available for
public review at the Federal docket website: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>
under docket number MARAD-2019-0011.
This review and determination is triggered by air emissions from
construction activities proposed by SPOT Terminals, LLC (the Applicant)
that would exceed the applicable General Conformity de minimis
threshold of 50 tons per year of nitrogen oxides or volatile organic
compounds set by Determinations of Attainment by the Attainment Date,
Extensions of the Attainment Date, and Reclassification of Several
Areas Classified as Moderate for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air
Quality Standards, published in the Federal Register on August 23, 2019
(84 FR 44238), within the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) area. The
HGB area includes Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris,
Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller counties, and extends 9 nautical miles
offshore over state water.
Summary of the License Application
SPOT 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 SPOT 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 crude oil hoses and floating vapor recovery hoses. The maximum
frequency of loading VLCCs or other crude oil carriers would be 2
million barrels per day, 365 days per year.
The proposed SPOT Deepwater Port (DWP) would be located in Federal
waters of the Gulf of Mexico, in Galveston Area Outer Continental Shelf
lease blocks 463 and A-59, approximately 27.2 to 30.8 nautical miles
off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas, in water depths of
approximately 115 feet. Onshore components of the proposed Project
would be located in both Brazoria and Harris counties.
The overall project would consist of both onshore and offshore
marine components. The onshore components would consist of:
<bullet> Modifications to the existing Enterprise Crude Houston
(ECHO) Terminal, including four electric motor-driven mainline crude
oil pumps, four electric motor-driven booster crude oil pumps, and one
measurement skid to support delivery of crude oil to the proposed
Oyster Creek Terminal;
<bullet> One 50.1-mile, 36-inch-diameter ECHO to Oyster Creek
Pipeline;
<bullet> One pipeline interconnection from the existing Rancho II
36-inch-diameter pipeline to the ECHO to Oyster Creek Pipeline (Rancho
II Junction);
<bullet> A new Oyster Creek Terminal on approximately 140 acres of
land, including six electric motor-driven mainline crude oil pumps with
the capacity to push crude oil to the offshore pipelines at a rate of
up to 85,000 bph, four electric motor-driven booster crude oil pumps,
seven aboveground storage tanks (each with a capacity of 685,000
barrels [600,000 barrels of working storage]) for a total onshore
storage capacity of approximately 4.8 million barrels (4.2 million
barrels working storage) of crude oil, metering equipment, two
permanent and one portable vapor combustion units, and a firewater
system;
<bullet> Two collocated 12.2-mile, 36-inch-diameter Oyster Creek to
Shore Pipelines; and
<bullet> Ancillary facilities for the onshore pipelines, including
ten mainline valves, of which six would be along the ECHO to Oyster
Creek Pipeline and four along the Oyster Creek to Shore Pipelines, pig
launchers for the ECHO to Oyster Creek Pipeline, and pig launchers and
receivers for the Oyster Creek to Shore Pipelines.
The offshore and marine components would consist of:
<bullet> Two collocated, bi-directional, 46.9-mile, 36-inch-
diameter crude oil offshore pipelines for crude oil delivery from the
Oyster Creek Terminal to the platform;
<bullet> One fixed offshore platform with eight piles, four decks,
and three vapor combustion units;
<bullet> Two SPM buoys to concurrently moor two VLCCs or other
crude oil carriers with capacities between 120,000 and 320,000
deadweight tonnage for loading up to 365 days per year, including
floating crude oil and vapor recovery hoses;
<bullet> Four pipeline end manifolds (PLEMs)--two per SPM buoy--to
provide the interconnection between the SPOT DWP and the SPM buoys;
<bullet> Four 0.66-nautical mile, 30-inch-diameter pipelines (two
per PLEM) to deliver crude oil from the platform to the PLEMs;
<bullet> Four 0.66-nautical mile, 16-inch diameter vapor recovery
pipelines (two per PLEM) to connect the VLCC or other crude oil carrier
to the three vapor combustion units on the platform.
<bullet> Three service vessel moorings, located in the southwest
corner of Galveston Area lease block 463; and
<bullet> An anchorage area in Galveston Area lease block A-59,
which would not contain any infrastructure.
As stated, the purpose of this notice is to announce the
availability of the Draft General Conformity Determination to ensure
that the SPOT Project conforms with the Texas SIP. Comments are
welcomed.
Privacy Act
Regardless of the method used for submitting comments or materials,
all submissions will be posted, without change, to the <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> website and will include any personal information
you provide. Therefore, submitting this information to the docket makes
it public. You may wish to read the Privacy and Security Notice and the
User Notice that are available at <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2005/03/24/05-5823/establishment-of-a-new-system-of-records-notice-for-the-federal-docket-management-system">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2005/03/24/05-5823/establishment-of-a-new-system-of-records-notice-for-the-federal-docket-management-system</a>. The Privacy Act notice
regarding the Federal Docket Management System is available in the
March 24, 2005 issue of the Federal Register (70 FR 15086).
(Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq., 49 CFR 1.93(h)).
By Order of the Acting Maritime Administrator.
T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr.,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2021-22048 Filed 10-7-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-81-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 8, 2021.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.