2
from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD),
in conjunction
with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
5
In a Record of Decision (ROD) dated March 13, 2017—
entitled
The Secretary of Transportation’s Decision on the Deepwater Port License Application
of Delfin LNG, LLC—MARAD authorized the issuance of this license to Delfin subject to
conditions, as discussed below.
6
Under the optimized design
of the proposed Liquefaction
Facility (or “Port”)
7
approved by MARAD, each of the four floating liquefied natural gas vessels
(FLNGVs) comprising the Facility would produce 3.3 million metric tons per annum (mtpa) of
LNG for export, or 13.3 mtpa for the
entire Facility, which is equivalent to 657.5 Bcf/yr of
natural gas for export.
8
On the basis of this ROD, and upon Delfin’s acceptance of the
conditions to be attached to its deepwater port license, MARAD will issue the license to Delfin.
9
Additionally, the onshore components of the proposed Liquefaction Facility—including
the natural gas pipelines, natural gas compressor station, gas supply header, and
metering station
(collectively, the Delfin Onshore Facility or “DOF”)—fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Delfin Onshore Facility is subject to separate
regulatory approval by FERC pursuant to sections 7(b) and 7(c) of the NGA. Delfin’s
application for the NGA section 7 authorization is currently pending in FERC Docket No. CP15-
L. No. 107-295, 116 Stat. 2064 (section 106 of the Maritime Transportation Security Act amending the Deepwater
Port Act to allow the construction of offshore terminals for storing, transporting, and handling natural gas).
Additionally, section 312 of the Coast Guard and Maritime Administration Act of 2012 (H.R. 2838) further
amended the Deepwater Port Act (33 U.S.C. § 1502(9)(A)) to include natural gas export terminals.
See Delfin App.
at 4 n.3.
5
Delfin App. at 4.
6
U.S. Dep’t of Transportation,
The Secretary’s Decision on the Deepwater Port License Application of Delfin LNG
LLC (Mar. 13, 2017) [hereinafter MARAD ROD].
7
MARAD refers to the Liquefaction Facility as Port Delfin. Therefore, unless otherwise stated, references to the
proposed Liquefaction Facility and the Port are used interchangeably.
8
See MARAD ROD at 10-11; U.S. Dep’t of Transportation Maritime Admin. & U.S. Coast Guard,
Final
Environmental Impact Statement for Port Delfin Deepwater Port Application, USCG Docket No. USCG-2015-
0472, at xxii, 2-1 (Nov. 28, 2016) [hereinafter Final EIS].
9
See MARAD ROD at 67-68 (describing MARAD’s process in issuing the ROD and license separately).
3
490.
10
To date, FERC has not yet issued a final decision concerning the Delfin Onshore Facility.
We note, however, that MARAD analyzed the Delfin Onshore Facility in its environmental
review of the Liquefaction Facility as a “reasonably foreseeable connected action[]” under the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4321
et seq.
11
FERC was a
cooperating agency in that process.
Previously, in DOE/FE Order No. 3393 (FE Docket No. 13-129-LNG), DOE/FE granted
an application from Delfin requesting authority to export LNG to countries with which the
United
States has, or in the future may enter into, a FTA requiring national treatment for trade in
natural gas (FTA countries).
12
Under the terms of that order, Delfin is authorized to export LNG
in the same volume requested in this Application (657.5 Bcf/yr) from the proposed Liquefaction
Facility to FTA countries.
13
Because the source of LNG for Delfin’s FTA order and this Order is
the Liquefaction Facility, the two export volumes are not additive. DOE/FE is issuing this
Opinion and Order subject to the additional conditions set forth below.
DOE/FE Proceeding. On March 26, 2014, DOE/FE published a Notice of Delfin’s
Application in the
Federal Register.
14
The Notice of Application called
on interested persons to
submit protests, motions to intervene, notices of intervention, and comments by May 27, 2014.
10
15 U.S.C. § 717f(b), (c);
see also MARAD ROD at 6 n.4 (stating that the ROD “applies only to Port
structures
located beyond State seaward boundaries and associated components of the Port located seaward of the high water
mark,” not to the FERC-jurisdictional onshore facilities).
11
See MARAD ROD at 23-24, 45.
12
The United States currently has FTAs requiring national treatment for trade in natural gas with Australia, Bahrain,
Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco,
Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, Republic of Korea, and Singapore. FTAs with Israel and Costa
Rica do not
require national treatment for trade in natural gas.
13
Delfin LNG LLC, DOE/FE Order No. 3393, FE Docket No. 13-129-LNG, Order Granting Long-Term, Multi-
Contract Authorization to Export Liquefied Natural Gas by Vessel from a Proposed Floating Liquefaction Project
and Deepwater Port 30 Miles Offshore of Louisiana to Free Trade Agreement Nations (Feb. 20, 2014) [hereinafter
Delfin FTA Order].
14
Delfin LNG LLC, Application for Long-Term Authorization To Export Liquefied Natural Gas Produced from
Domestic Natural Gas Resources to Non-Free Trade Agreement Countries for a 20-Year Period, 79 Fed. Reg.
16,782 (Mar. 26, 2014) [hereinafter Notice of Application].