Pending Applications

To date, eighteen Deepwater Port License Applications have been filed for approval. Sixteen applications were filed for licenses to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) and two applications were filed for licenses to import oil.

Eight applications have been approved; of the eight applications that have been approved, seven licenses have been issued to import both LNG and oil; currently one license is pending for an approved application for an LNG port proposed for construction and operation in the Gulf of Mexico.

Additionally, one application has been denied; six applications have been withdrawn or are inactive; and three applications are currently under review.

Bienville Offshore Energy Terminal Port (TORP L.P.)

TORP Technology LP filed an application on January 12, 2006 for a Liquefied Natural Gas facility to be located in the Gulf of Mexico, 63 miles south of Mobile Point, AL.  The proposed facility will consist of a HiLoad Unit, a floating structure connecting directly to the Liquefied Natural Gas carrier hull.  The Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard stopped the regulatory timeline for processing the application on August 21, 2007 after determining that additional information was needed to effectively process the application.

Current Status:  On October 9, 2008, the applicant elected to withdraw its application in order to consider technical modifications to its proposed project.  A revised application was submitted on June 30, 2009, featuring a redesigned terminal using “closed loop” ambient air technology for LNG vaporization, and a Notice of Amended Application and Notice of Intent to produce a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) was published in the Federal Register on August 5, 2009.  Preparation of the supplemental EIS is currently ongoing.

Clearwater Port (NorthernStar Natural Gas Inc. [Formerly Crystal Energy])
Clearwater Port filed an application on January 28, 2004, for a liquefied natural gas facility 12.6 miles off the coast of Ventura County, California. The proposed facility will convert an existing off-shore oil drilling platform into a liquefied natural gas receiving terminal. Public scoping meetings were held in Oxnard, CA & Santa Clarita, CA, on October 3, 2007 and October 4, 2007, respectively, with the public comment period ending on October 18, 2007. On October 23, 2007, the regulatory timeline for processing the application was suspended for applicants to gather data essential to the project.  In early 2009, a teleconference was held with Federal agencies to discuss data needs.

Current Status: The state and applicant are collaboratively working to gather information essential to the project.
Website:  Clearwater Port

Safe Harbor Energy (Atlantic Sea Island Group LLC)
The Atlantic Sea Island Group LLC (ASIG), filed an application with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration on September 13, 2006, for a license under the Deepwater Port Act, to build, own and operate a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification deepwater port facility.

The deepwater port, Safe Harbor Energy (Safe Harbor), will consist of three components: an island constructed in Federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf approximately 13.5 miles south of the city of Long Beach, New York, and 23 miles southeast of the New York Harbor; an LNG receiving, storage, and regasification terminal; and a subsea pipeline that will extend from the Safe Harbor Island and interconnect with the onshore KeySpan pipeline.  Once constructed and fully operational, the Safe Harbor facility will be capable of delivering up to two billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the New York metropolitan region.  The ambient air vaporization process will be used to convert the LNG into natural gas using a closed-loop regasification system.

The Maritime Administration and U.S. Coast Guard sent a letter of incompleteness to the applicant citing insufficient data and other data gaps.  On September 6, 2007, the state of New Jersey requested the state be designated an adjacent coastal state.  On October 24, 2007, a letter was issued to the applicant to suspend the regulatory timeline to address the need for additional information.  New Jersey's request was to be designated an adjacent coastal state was granted on November 2, 2007, by the Maritime Administration.  ASIG sued the U.S. Department of Transportation alleging that the Maritime Administrator’s decision to designate the State of New Jersey as an Adjacent Coastal State was unlawful.On December 8, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the ASIG claim as moot, and summary judgment was granted in favor of the Maritime Administration.  This action upholds the Maritime Administrator’s decision to designate the State of New Jersey as an adjacent coastal state for the Safe Harbor project.  

Public scoping meetings were conducted in Eatontown, NJ on January 27, 2009 and in Long Beach, NY on January 29, 2009.  On February 10, 2009, the Maritime Administration issued a Federal Register notice to extend the public scoping comment period to March 11, 2009. A Congressional request was made to the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard to convene a public meeting in Far Rockaway, NY in order to educate the public on the details of the Atlantic Sea Island Group’s Safe Harbor project. Although public scoping meetings were previously held in January of 2009, the Maritime Administration and U.S. Coast Guard held an additional scoping meeting in Far Rockaway, NY on Sunday, April 19, 2009.

Current Status: Comments made during the extended comment period and during the public scoping meetings are being incorporated into the development of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.  Additionally, the Maritime Administration is currently evaluating an independent review of the decommissioning plan (and associated cost estimate) as part of the environmental review process for the proposed Safe Harbor project.  

Website: http://www.safeharborenergy.com/
Link to the Federal Docket for Safe Harbor Energy at www.regulations.gov (Docket Number: USCG USCG-2007-28535)

Texas Offshore Port System
On December 8, 2008, the Texas Offshore Port System project filed an application with the Maritime Administration seeking approval to build, own, and operate a crude oil deepwater-port facility 30 miles off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico.  If approved and constructed as planned, the deepwater port should be capable of importing 1.7 million barrels of oil per day into the United States, and should also facilitate delivery of the waterborne crude to refining centers along Texas' Gulf Coast.  Project plans call for the proposed deepwater port facility to be located in the Gulf, approximately 30 miles southeast of Freeport, Texas.

On January 5, 2009, the application was deemed complete and four days later, on January 9, 2009, a Notice of Application was published in the Federal Register. Public scoping meetings were held in Freeport, Texas and in Texas City, Texas on February 18, 2009 and February 19, 2009.  The Maritime Administration and U.S. Coast Guard are reviewing public comments obtained during the scoping meetings and developing data gap questions to be answered by the applicant.  On March 13, 2009, the Maritime Administration and the U.S. Coast Guard issued a letter to the Texas Offshore Port System - suspending the regulatory timeline for processing the application - due to the need for additional environmental and financial data. The applicant is currently in the process of gathering the required information and addressing the identified data gaps.   On April 21, 2009, two of the three companies composing the Texas Offshore Port System partnership formally announced their dissociation, or exit, from the proposed project. However, the remaining company has agreed to continue the TOPS project.

Current Status: The Maritime Administration is reviewing information sent by the applicant in order to resolve the data gaps necessary to processing the application for the project.   

Website: None
Link to the Federal Docket for Texas Offshore Port System at www.regulations.gov (Docket Number: USCG-2008-1239)