Port Ambrose project on hold again

In a letter to the developer, Liberty Natural Gas, LLC, the US Coast Guard and Maritime Administration (MARAD) said that following the extended Draft EIS public comment period – extended from 45 days to 90 days and concluded on 16 March 2015 – it still lacks “information necessary to complete development of the Final EIS”.

Roger Whelan, CEO, Liberty Natural Gas, told GreenPort: “The Coast Guard’s announcement of the suspension of the timeline, or “stop clock” for processing the Port Ambrose license application was expected and is a normal part of the application review process.”

This latest “stop clock” comes after more than 10,000 public comments including form letters and petition signatories were received during the Draft EIS public comment period. The USCG and MARAD says more time is needed to “ensure all reasonable comments are properly considered and responded to”.

In addition, information related to the Clean Air Act-General Conformity analysis is still being compiled and analysed. It must be reviewed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and included in the Final EIS.

“We support the Coast Guard’s efforts to conduct an extensive and thorough federal review, and are confident the results will show the Port Ambrose project will have minimal impacts on the environment, while bringing significant benefits to the region, including lowering energy prices during peak demand periods like the frigid winter we are experiencing again this year,” added Mr Whelan.

The project, which would see LNG pumped from 900ft ships through 26 miles of sub-ocean pipeline into the existing natural gas system to serve Long Island, has faced a mass of public and governmental opposition over the years.

A letter of stoppage against the Port Ambrose proposal was issued on behalf of a Clean Ocean Action led coalition of organisations last year. Members of the coalition include fishermen, environmental and community groups. They said “data gaps” in the proposal included calls for more information on water, air and sediment.

According to Liberty Gas, 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.