BILLING CODE: 4910-81-P
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[Docket No. MARAD-2019-0093]
Deepwater Port License Application: Texas GulfLink LLC – Final Environmental
Impact Statement
AGENCY: Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard
(USCG) announce the availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)
for the Texas GulfLink LLC (GulfLink) deepwater port license application for the export
of oil from the United States to nations abroad. The GulfLink deepwater port license
application describes a project that would be located approximately 26.2 nautical miles
off the coast of Brazoria County, Texas. Publication of this notice announces a 45-day
comment period ending on Monday, August 19, 2024, requests public participation in the
final environmental impact review process and provides information on how to
participate in the final environmental impact review process.
DATES: MARAD and USCG will hold one Final Hearing in connection with the
GulfLink Application. The time and location for the Final Hearing will be published in a
future notice. Public comments on the FEIS must be submitted to www.regulations.gov
or the Federal Docket Management Facility as detailed in the ADDRESSES section
below by the close of business on Monday, August 19, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the FEIS must be submitted to the U.S. Department of
Transportation’s Docket Management Facility or online to www.regulations.gov under
docket number MARAD-2019-0093. The address of the Docket Management Facility is
as follows: U.S. Department of Transportation, MARAD-2019-0093, 1200 New Jersey

Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, D.C. 20590. Instructions are
listed in the Public Participation section of this Notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Patrick W. Clark, Project
Manager, USCG, telephone: 202-372-1358, email: DeepwaterPorts@USCG.mil; or Dr.
Linden Houston, Transportation Specialist, Office of Deepwater Ports and Port
Conveyance, MARAD, telephone: 202-366-4839, email: Linden.Houston@dot.gov.
Please include “MARAD-2019-0093, GulfLink Comment” in the subject line of
the message. For written comments and other material submissions, please follow the
directions under the “How do I submit comments?” question in the Public Participation
section of this notice.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Prior Federal Actions
On May 30, 2019, MARAD and USCG received a license application from
GulfLink for all Federal authorizations required for a license to construct, own, and
operate a deepwater port for the export of oil. The proposed deepwater port would be in
Federal waters approximately 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County,
Texas. Texas was designated as the ACS for the GulfLink license application.
A Notice of Application that summarized the GulfLink Deepwater Port License
Application was published in the Federal Register on June 26, 2019 (84 FR 30298). A
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Notice of
Public Scoping Meeting was published in the Federal Register on July 3, 2019 (84 FR
32008). A public scoping meeting in connection with the evaluation of the GulfLink
license application was held in Lake Jackson, Texas on July 17, 2019. The transcript of
the scoping meeting is included on the public docket located at
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0047. A Federal Register Notice
was published on August 14, 2019 (84 FR 40476) to extend the public scoping comment

period to August 30, 2019.
MARAD and USCG held three virtual public comment meetings to receive
comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). A Notice of
Availability for the DEIS and Notice of Public Meeting was published in the Federal
Register on November 27, 2020 (85 FR 76157). The first two virtual public comment
meetings were held on December 16, 2020, and December 17, 2020. The public
comment period for these meetings began on November 27, 2020, and a Federal Register
Notice was published on December 21, 2020 (85 FR 83142) to extend the comment
period to January 22, 2021. Transcripts of these DEIS virtual public comment meetings
are provided on the public docket at www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-20190093-0318, www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-0319, and
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-2839. A Notice of Availability
and Notice of Virtual Public Meeting was published in the Federal Register on
September 24, 2021 (86 FR 53144). The Federal agencies held a third virtual DEIS
public comment meeting to receive comments on the DEIS. The DEIS public meeting
was held virtually on October 14, 2021. The purpose of the October 14, 2021, virtual
public meeting was to reopen the public comment period for the DEIS and to provide
affected communities, including Limited English Proficient persons, further opportunities
to review and comment on the document. The transcripts from the third DEIS public
comment meeting are included on the public docket at
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-2853.
After the publication of the DEIS, GulfLink revised its deepwater license
application in response to ongoing consultation with regulatory agencies and
subsequently refined the design of the proposed deepwater port by adding a vapor control
system into the design and operation of the proposed GulfLink deepwater port. A Notice
of Availability; Notice of Virtual Public Meeting; Request for Comments for the

Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) and was published in the
Federal Register on September 30, 2022 (87 FR 59487) in response to proposed changes
to the GulfLink deepwater port. The public meeting was held virtually on October 18,
2022. The transcripts of the SDEIS public comment meetings are also included on the
public docket at www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-3097 and
www.regulations.gov/document/MARAD-2019-0093-3098.
This Notice of Availability incorporates the aforementioned Federal Register
notices by reference.
Summary of the License Application
GulfLink is proposing to construct, own, 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 GulfLink 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 connecting crude oil hoses
and a floating vapor recovery hose. The maximum frequency of loading VLCCs or other
crude oil carriers would be one million barrels per day, 365 days per year.
The overall project would consist of offshore and marine components as well as
onshore components as described below.
The GulfLink deepwater port offshore and marine components would consist of
the following:
An Offshore Platform: One fixed offshore platform with piles in Outer Continental
Shelf Galveston Area Lease Block GA-423, 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria
County, Texas, in a water depth of approximately 104 feet. The fixed offshore platform
would have four decks comprised of personal living space, pipeline metering, a surge
system, a pig receiving station, generators, lease automatic custody transfer unit, oil

displacement prover loop, sample system, radar tower, electrical and instrumentation
building, portal cranes, a hydraulic crane, an Operations/Traffic Room, and helicopter
deck.
One 42-inch outside diameter, 28.1-nautical-mile long crude oil pipeline would be
constructed from the shoreline crossing in Brazoria County, Texas, to the GulfLink
deepwater port for crude oil delivery. This pipeline would connect the proposed onshore
Jones Creek Terminal described below to the offshore platform.
The fixed offshore platform is connected to VLCC tankers for loading by two
separate 42-inch diameter departing pipelines. Each pipeline will depart the fixed
offshore platform, carrying the crude oil to a Pipeline End Manifold (PLEM) in
approximately 104 feet of water depth located 1.25 nautical miles from the fixed offshore
platform. Each PLEM is then connected to a Single Point Mooring (SPM) Buoy through
two 24-inch cargo hoses. Two 24-inch floating cargo hoses will connect each SPM Buoy
to the VLCC (or other crude oil carrier type). SPM Buoy 1 is positioned in Outer
Continental Shelf Galveston Area Lease Block GA-423 and SPM Buoy 2 is positioned in
Outer Continental Shelf Galveston Area Lease Block GA-A36.
Use of a dynamically positioned third-party Offshore Support Vessel, equipped
with a vapor processing system to control the release of vapor emissions during the cargo
loading operations of the proposed GulfLink deepwater port.
Onshore storage and supply components for the GulfLink deepwater port would
consist of the following:
An Onshore Storage Terminal: The proposed Jones Creek Terminal would be in
Brazoria County, Texas, on approximately 319 acres of land, consisting of eight aboveground storage tanks, each with a working storage capacity of 708,168 barrels, for a total
onshore storage capacity of approximately 5,655,344 million barrels. The facility can
accommodate four additional tanks, bringing the total to twelve tanks or 8,498,016

million barrels of storage capacity.
The Jones Creek Terminal also would include: Six electric-driven mainline crude
oil pumps; three electric-driven booster crude oil pumps; one crude oil pipeline pig
launcher; one crude oil pipeline pig receiver; two measurement skids for measuring
incoming crude oil—one skid located on the Department of Energy’s Bryan Mound
facility, and one skid installed for the outgoing crude oil barrels leaving the tank storage
to be loaded on the VLCC; and ancillary facilities to include an operations control center,
electrical substation, offices, and warehouse building.
Two onshore crude oil pipelines would be constructed to support the GulfLink
deepwater port and include the following:
One proposed incoming 9.1-statute mile long, 36-inch outside diameter pipeline
connected to a leased 40-inch ExxonMobil pipeline originating at the Department of
Energy’s Bryan Mound facility with connectivity to the Houston market.
One proposed outgoing 12.1-statute mile long, 42-inch outside diameter pipeline
connecting the Jones Creek Terminal to the shore crossing, where the offshore portion of
this pipeline begins and supplies the proposed offshore GulfLink deepwater port.
As previously stated, the purpose of this notice is to announce the availability of
the FEIS and the public comment period. Comments can be submitted through the
Federal docket website: www.regulations.gov under docket number MARAD-2019-0093.
Purpose of the Final Environmental Impact Statement
The purpose of the FEIS is to analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative
environmental impacts of the proposed action, and to identify and analyze environmental
impacts of a reasonable range of alternatives. The FEIS is currently available for public
review and comment at the Federal docket website: www.regulations.gov under docket
number MARAD-2019-0093.
Request for Comments

You are encouraged to provide comments on the proposed action and the
environmental impact analysis contained in the FEIS for the proposed GulfLink
deepwater port. These comments will inform MARAD’s Record of Decision for the
GulfLink deepwater license application. We encourage you to review the information on
the project’s docket located online at www.regulations.gov under docket number
MARAD-2019-0093. It is preferred that comments be submitted electronically.
Please see the information in the “Public Participation” section below on how to
properly submit comments. All comments submitted to the docket via
www.regulations.gov or delivered to the Federal Docket Management Facility will be
posted, without change, to the Federal Docket Management Facility website
(www.regulations.gov) and will include any personal information you provide.
Therefore, submitting such information makes it public. You may wish to read the
Privacy and Use Notice available on the www.regulations.gov 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. You may view docket
submissions at the DOT Docket Management Facility or electronically at the
www.regulations.gov website.
Public Participation
How do I prepare comments?
To ensure that your comments are correctly filed in the Docket, please include the
docket number (MARAD-2019-0093) shown at the beginning of this document in your
comments. If you are submitting comments electronically as a .pdf (Adobe Acrobat)
File, MARAD and USCG ask that the documents be submitted using the Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) process, thus allowing the agencies to search and copy
certain portions of your submissions.

Please note that pursuant to the Data Quality Act, for substantive data to be relied
upon and used by the agency, it must meet the information quality standards set forth in
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Department of Transportation (DOT)
Data Quality Act guidelines. Accordingly, we encourage you to consult the guidelines in
preparing your comments. OMB’s guidelines may be accessed at
www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg/reproducible.html. DOT’s guidelines may be accessed
at www.bts.gov/programs/statistical_policy_and_research/data_quality_guidelines.
How do I submit comments?
You may submit comments for the GulfLink deepwater license application
(identified by DOT Docket Number MARAD-2019-0093) by any one of the following
methods:
Mail or Hand Delivery: The Docket Management Facility is in the West Building,
Ground Floor of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Docket Management
Facility location address is U.S. Department of Transportation, MARAD-2019-0093,
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-140, Washington, D.C. 20590.
Due to flexible work schedules in response to COVID-19, call 202-493-0402 to
determine facility hours prior to hand delivery.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov. Search “MARAD-2019-0093”
and follow the instructions for submitting comments.
Note: If you mail or hand-deliver your comments, we recommend that you include your
name and a mailing address, an email address, and/or a telephone number on a cover
page so that we can contact you if we have questions regarding your submission. All
submissions received must include the agency name and specific docket number to
ensure your comment is filed in the appropriate docket. All comments received will be
posted without change to the docket at www.regulations.gov, including any personal
information provided.

What will happen if I submit comments in any other manner?
Comments that are not submitted directly to the Docket Management Facility
using the methods specified and outlined within this Federal Register notice may not be
considered.
How long do I have to submit comments?
We are providing a comment period for the public to submit comments, which
begins with the publication of this Federal Register Notice and ends on Monday, August
19, 2024.
How can I be sure that my comments were received?
If you wish for Docket Management to notify you upon its receipt of your
comments, enclose a self-addressed, stamped postcard in the envelope containing your
comments. Upon receiving your comments, Docket Management will return the postcard
by mail.
Will the agency consider late comments?
No. MARAD and USCG will consider all substantive comments that Docket
Management receives before the close of business on the comment closing date indicated
above under DATES.
How can I read the comments submitted by other people?
You may read the comments received by Docket Management at the address
given above under ADDRESSES. The hours of the Docket Management Unit are
indicated above in the same location. You may also see the comments on the internet.
To read the comments on the internet, go to www.regulations.gov. Search using
“MARAD-2019-0093” and follow the online instructions.
Privacy Act
Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our
dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or signing the comment if

submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). For information on
DOT’s compliance with the Privacy Act, visit www.transportation.gov/privacy.
(Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1501, et seq.; 49 CFR 1.93(h))
By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
T. Mitchell Hudson, Jr.,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.

[FR Doc. 2024-14370 Filed: 7/3/2024 8:45 am; Publication Date: 7/5/2024]