58228 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 192 / Wednesday, October 5, 2005 / Notices 

update the public on current agency 

programs, engage the public in 

discussions, and obtain consumer input 

on specific issues. 

We initially scheduled the meetings 

to occur on the following dates: 

September 13, 2005, in Miami, FL; 

November 2, 2005, in Boston, MA; and 

on November 30, 2005, in Phoenix, AZ. 

However, due to our need to focus on 

relief efforts associated with Hurricane 

Katrina, we postponed the Miami, FL 

meeting indefinitely (70 FR 53798, 

September 12, 2005). 

Through this notice, we regret to 

announce that we are canceling all three 

meetings at this time. Additionally, we 

will contact individuals who had 

registered for these meetings to inform 

them about the cancellation. 

Dated: September 29, 2005. 

Jeffrey Shuren, 

Assistant Commissioner for Policy. 

[FR Doc. 05–19956 Filed 10–4–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–01–S 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Maritime Administration 

[USCG–2005–22219] 

Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge, 

L.L.C., Liquefied Natural Gas 

Deepwater Port License Application; 

Preparation of Environmental Impact 

Statement 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS; Maritime 

Administration, DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of intent; notice of public 

meeting; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard and the 

Maritime Administration (MARAD) 

announce that the Coast Guard intends 

to prepare an environmental impact 

statement (EIS) as part of the 

environmental review of this license 

application. The application describes a 

project that would be located in 

Massachusetts Bay, in Block 125, 

approximately 13 miles south-southeast 

of Gloucester, MA. Publication of this 

notice begins a scoping process that will 

help identify and determine the scope of 

environmental issues to be addressed in 

the EIS. This notice requests public 

participation in the scoping process and 

provides information on how to 

participate in the process. 

DATES: A public meeting will be held in 

Boston, MA on October 18, 2005. There 

will also be a public meeting in 

Gloucester, MA on October 19, 2005. 

Both meetings will be from 6 p.m. to 8 

p.m. and will be preceded by an 

informational open house from 4:30 

p.m. to 6 p.m. The public meetings may 

end later than the stated time, 

depending on the number of persons 

wishing to speak. Material submitted in 

response to the request for comments for 

the scoping process must reach the 

Docket Management Facility by October 

31, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: The public meeting in 

Boston will be held at Faneuil Hall, 1 

Faneuil Hall Square, Boston, MA, 

telephone: 617–635–4100. The public 

meeting in Gloucester will be at The 

Elks at Bass Rocks, 101 Atlantic Road, 

Gloucester, MA, telephone: 978–282–

3200. 

Address docket submissions for 

USCG–2005–22219 to: Docket 

Management Facility, U.S. Department 

of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, 

SW., Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

The Docket Management Facility 

accepts hand-delivered submissions, 

and makes docket contents available for 

public inspection and copying at this 

address, in room PL–401, between 9 

a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. The 

Facility’s telephone number is 202–366–

9329, its fax number is 202–493–2251, 

and its Web site for electronic 

submissions or for electronic access to 

docket contents is http://dms.dot.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Roddy Bachman, U.S. Coast Guard, 

telephone: 202–267–1752, e-mail: 

rbachman@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have 

questions on viewing the docket, call 

Renee V. Wright, Program Manager, 

Docket Operations, telephone: 202–493–

0402. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Meeting and Open House 

We invite you to learn about the 

proposed deepwater port at an 

informational open house, and to 

comment at a public meeting on 

environmental issues related to the 

proposed deepwater port. Your 

comments will help us identify and 

refine the scope of the environmental 

issues to be addressed in the EIS. 

In order to allow everyone a chance 

to speak at the public meeting, we may 

limit speaker time, or extend the 

meeting hours, or both. You must 

identify yourself, and any organization 

you represent, by name. Your remarks 

will be recorded or transcribed for 

inclusion in the public docket. 

You may submit written material at 

the public meeting, either in place of or 

in addition to speaking. Written 

material must include your name and 

address, and will be included in the 

public docket. 

Public docket materials will be made 

available to the public on the Docket 

Management Facility’s Docket 

Management System (DMS). See 

‘‘Request for Comments’’ for 

information about DMS and your rights 

under the Privacy Act. 

All our public meeting locations are 

wheelchair-accessible. If you plan to 

attend the open house or public 

meeting, and need special assistance 

such as sign language interpretation or 

other reasonable accommodation, please 

notify the Coast Guard (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT) at least 3 

business days in advance. Include your 

contact information as well as 

information about your specific needs. 

Request for Comments 

We request public comments or other 

relevant information on environmental 

issues related to the proposed 

deepwater port. The public meeting is 

not the only opportunity you have to 

comment. In addition to or in place of 

attending a meeting, you can submit 

comments to the Docket Management 

Facility during the public comment 

period (see DATES). We will consider all 

comments and material received during 

the comment period. 

Submissions should include: 

• Docket number USCG–2005–22219. 

• Your name and address. 

• Your reasons for making each 

comment or for bringing information to 

our attention. 

Submit comments or material using 

only one of the following methods: 

• Electronic submission to DMS, 

http://dms.dot.gov. 

• Fax, mail, or hand delivery to the 

Docket Management Facility (see 

ADDRESSES). Faxed or hand delivered 

submissions must be unbound, no larger 

than 81⁄2 by 11 inches, and suitable for 

copying and electronic scanning. If you 

mail your submission and want to know 

when it reaches the Facility, include a 

stamped, self-addressed postcard or 

envelope. 

Regardless of the method used for 

submitting comments or material, all 

submissions will be posted, without 

change, to the DMS Web site (http:// 

dms.dot.gov), and will include any 

personal information you provide. 

Therefore, submitting this information 

makes it public. You may wish to read 

the Privacy Act notice that is available 

on the DMS Web site, or the Department 

of Transportation Privacy Act Statement 

that appeared in the Federal Register on 

April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477). 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 192 / Wednesday, October 5, 2005 / Notices 58229 

You may view docket submissions at 

the Docket Management Facility (see 

ADDRESSES), or electronically on the 

DMS Web site. 

Background 

Information about deepwater ports, 

the statutes, and regulations governing 

their licensing, and the receipt of the 

current application for a liquefied 

natural gas (LNG) deepwater port 

appears at 70 FR 52422, September 2, 

2005. The ‘‘Summary of the 

Application’’ from that publication is 

reprinted below for your convenience. 

Consideration of a deepwater port 

license application includes review of 

the proposed deepwater port’s natural 

and human environmental impacts. The 

Coast Guard is the lead agency for 

determining the scope of this review, 

and in this case the Coast Guard has 

determined that review must include 

preparation of an EIS. This notice of 

intent is required by 40 CFR 1508.22, 

and briefly describes the proposed 

action and possible alternatives and our 

proposed scoping process. You can 

address any questions about the 

proposed action, the scoping process, or 

the EIS to the Coast Guard project 

manager identified in FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT. 

Proposed Action and Alternatives 

The proposed action requiring 

environmental review is the Federal 

licensing of the proposed deepwater 

port described in ‘‘Summary of the 

Application’’ below. The alternatives to 

licensing the proposed port are: (1) 

Licensing with conditions (including 

conditions designed to mitigate 

environmental impact), and (2) denying 

the application, which for purposes of 

environmental review is the ‘‘no-action’’

alternative. 

Scoping Process 

Public scoping is an early and open 

process for identifying and determining 

the scope of issues to be addressed in 

the EIS. Scoping begins with this notice, 

continues through the public comment 

period (see DATES), and ends when the 

Coast Guard has completed the 

following actions: 

• Invites the participation of Federal, 

State, and local agencies, any affected 

Indian tribe, the applicant, and other 

interested persons; 

• Determines the actions, alternatives, 

and impacts described in 40 CFR 

1508.25; 

• Identifies and eliminates from 

detailed study those issues that are not 

significant or that have been covered 

elsewhere; 

• Allocates responsibility for 

preparing EIS components; 

• Indicates any related environmental 

assessments or environmental impact 

statements that are not part of the EIS; 

• Identifies other relevant 

environmental review and consultation 

requirements; 

• Indicates the relationship between 

timing of the environmental review and 

other aspects of the application process; 

and 

• At its discretion, exercises the 

options provided in 40 CFR 1501.7(b). 

Once the scoping process is complete, 

the Coast Guard will prepare a draft EIS, 

and we will publish 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 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. 

Summary of the Application 

Northeast Gateway Energy Bridge, 

L.L.C. has proposed a facility to import 

liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the New 

England region providing a base load 

delivery of 400 million cubic feet per 

day (MMcfd) and capable of peak 

deliveries of approximately 800 MMcfd 

or more. The facility will be located 

offshore in Massachusetts Bay, 

approximately 13 miles south-southeast 

of the city of Gloucester, MA, in federal 

waters approximately 270 to 290 feet in 

depth, commonly referred to as Block 

125. 

Northeast Gateway will deliver 

natural gas to onshore markets via a new 

24-inch-diameter-pipeline, 

approximately 16.4 miles in length, 

from the proposed deepwater port to the 

existing offshore 30-inch-diameter 

Algonquin HubLine Pipeline System. 

The proposed new pipeline lateral will 

be owned and operated by Algonquin 

Gas Transmission, LLC. Algonquin is 

seeking Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission (FERC) approval for the 

pipeline concurrent with this deepwater 

port application. In addition, pipelines 

within the three-mile limit require an 

Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) 

permit under Section 404 of the Clean 

Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers 

and Harbors Act. Structures such as the 

moorings and lateral pipelines beyond 

the three-mile limit require a Section 10 

permit. 

As required by their regulations, 

FERC will also maintain a docket. This 

is available at the FERC Web site 

(http://www.ferc.gov) using the 

‘‘Documents & Filing’’ then ‘‘eLibrary’’

link and FERC Docket number CP05–

383. The eLibrary helpline is 1–866–

208–3676 or e-mail online support is at 

FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. As 

required by their regulations, the 

USACE will maintain a permit file. The 

USACE New England District phone 

number is 978–318–8338 and their Web 

site is http://www.nae.usace.army.mil. 

The new pipeline will be included in 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA) review as part of the deepwater 

port application process. FERC and the 

USACE among others are cooperating 

agencies and will assist in the NEPA 

process as described in 40 CFR 1501.6; 

will be participating in the scoping 

meetings; and will conduct joint public 

meetings with the Coast Guard and 

MARAD when the draft EIS is released 

for public comment. Comments sent to 

the FERC docket or USACE will also be 

incorporated into the DOT docket and 

EIS to ensure consistency with the 

NEPA Process. 

The Northeast Gateway deepwater 

port facility will consist of two subsea 

submerged turret loading buoys (STL 

Buoys), two flexible risers, two pipeline 

end manifolds (PLEMs), and two subsea 

flow lines. Each STL Buoy will connect 

to a PLEM using the flexible riser 

assembly, and the PLEM will connect to 

the subsea flow line. A fleet of specially 

designed Energy Bridge Regasification 

Vessels (EBRVs), each capable of 

transporting approximately 4.9 million 

cubic feet (138,000 cubic meters) of 

LNG, will deliver natural gas to the 

Northeast Gateway DWP. 

The EBRVs will vaporize the LNG in 

a closed loop mode of recirculating 

fresh water on-board requiring no intake 

or discharge of seawater for the 

vaporization process. Natural gas will be 

used to operate the regasification 

facilities as well as to provide vessel 

electrical needs in normal operation. 

Dated: September 28, 2005. 

Howard L. Hime, 

Acting Director of Standards, Marine Safety, 

Security, and Environmental Protection, U.S. 

Coast Guard. 

H. Keith Lesnick, 

Senior Transportation, Specialist, Deepwater 

and Ports Program Manager, U.S. Maritime 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 05–19951 Filed 10–4–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–15–M