LNG facility proposal delayed

Apparently, this decision came just three days after a letter of stoppage against the Port Ambrose proposal was issued on behalf of a Clean Ocean Action led coalition of organisations.

Members of the coalition include fishermen, environmental and community groups.They say that data gaps in the proposal include everything from calls for more information on water, air and sediment to how the port could have been affected by superstorm Sandy.

The other big question is how this proposal stacks up against the proposed offshore windfarm in New York which would be entirely displaced by the project if it goes ahead.

According to its developers, Liberty Gas and Höegh LNG of Norway, the new Port Ambrose project is different to the original proposal formulated in 2010. The developers had to take onboard feedback from federal and New Jersey state officials to reduce the size and scale of the project by 50%.

They say that the new concept has been redesigned to address all of their concerns, including being located completely offshore and connecting to an existing offshore pipeline; avoiding any onshore impacts, including impacts to wetlands; avoiding any sensitive fishery areas and any near-shore areas that could affect tourism or other uses.

“The Coast Guard’s announcement of the temporary suspension of the timeline, or “stop clock” for processing the Port Ambrose license application was expected given the recent government shutdown.Timeline suspensions are a normal part of the application review process and happen with almost all deepwater port applications,” Roger Whelan, CEO, Liberty Natural Gas, said in a statement to Green Port.

He added that Liberty Gas will continue to work with the Coast Guard and other government agencies on the processing of the application and is confident that the extensive federal review will show the Port Ambrose project has minimal impacts to the environment.

Under the federal Deepwater Port Act, applications for LNG facilities in the ocean, must be processed from application to final agency approval within 356 calendar days with all public review happening in 240 days. Apparently, the decision to stop the clock was made after over half of the timeframe had already elapsed.