Brazoria News

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced the extension of the period for the public to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed SPOT Terminal Services, LLC deepwater port facility. The comment period was initially scheduled to end on March 23, 2020, but is now extended 30-days from the publication date of this Federal Register notice published on Friday, May 1, 2020.Due to the nationwide impacts of COVID-19 and the associated social distancing protocols, MARAD and the U.S. Coast Guard determined that the impact of these protocols have affected the public’s ability to assemble and provide feedback on the SPOT DEIS.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy visited the Port of Houston April 24 to highlight grants aimed at improving air quality. The port will receive about $900,000 in funding as part of EPA’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) grant program for clean diesel projects at U.S. ports. “We celebrate that the Port of Houston is growing and thriving, while still reducing pollution,” Administrator McCarthy said. “As the leading port in the nation for environmental stewardship…

A joint venture (JV) between CB&I, Chiyoda International and Zachry Industrial has won a contract worth over $2bn from FLNG Liquefaction 3 for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) train at Freeport LNG in Texas, US. Upon completion, the three-train facility will have a total export capacity of more than 13.9 million tons per year of liquefied natural gas. The deal requires the JV to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the third of the three-train natural gas liquefaction and export facility on Quintana Island, near Freeport. The contract's scope also includes a double-walled, full-containment 165,000 cubic metre LNG storage tank, which will be delivered by CB&I. Zachry built Freeport LNG’s original regasification terminal on Quintana Island.

The staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has prepared a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Phase II Modification Project and the Liquefaction Project. The Projects are proposed by Freeport LNG and are located in Brazoria County near the city of Freeport, Texas. The proposed Phase II Modification Project includes: modification to the previously authorized liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel berthing dock, LNG transfer pipelines, LNG unloading arms, and the access road system at Freeport LNG’s existing Quintana Island terminal.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has awarded two Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) grants totaling $1,162,302 to the Texas General Land Office and to Brazoria County, Texas, respectively. The grants will fund a project to develop a Coastal Impacts Technology Program (CITP) for conservation research, and will assist in the management of the CIAP Program in Brazoria County. Created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, CIAP provides funding to the six Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas producing states to conserve and protect the coastal environment. CIAP is an ongoing program with grant funding that is allocated based on the offshore energy revenues collected by the United States.

The Port of Houston Authority and Maersk Line, which partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the first-ever low-sulfur “fuel switch” demonstration on a container ship in the Gulf of Mexico last November, have been selected to receive a nearly $1.5m grant from the National Clean Diesel Program. Funded by the National Clean Diesel Emissions Reduction Program, the grant will pay the differential costs incurred when Maersk Line vessels switch from high-sulfur bunker fuel to lower-sulfur marine diesel while approaching Texas waters.

T.W. LaQuay Dredging, Inc., Port Lavaca, Texas, was awarded in Sept. 29, 2009 a $13,612,660 firm-fixed-price contract.  The work consists of approximately 2,297,000 cubic yards of maintenance dredging with a shallow draft pipeline dredge; Levee work at confined placement area No. 112B.  Work is to be performed in Brazoria and Matagorda Counties, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2010.  Four bods solicited with four bids received.  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers District, Galveston Texas, is the contracting activity (W912HY-09-C-0037).

RLB Contracting, Inc, Port Lavaca, Texas was awarded on July, 17, 2009 a $ 9,670,148 firm-fixed-price contract to Freeport Harbor, Texas, Inner Harbor and turning basin in Brazoria County, Texas, Levee construction and dredging. The work consist of raising dredged placement levee by truck haul, replacing drop-outlets structures, dredging of material and depositing it in a placement are. Work is to be performed on Freeport, Brazoria County, Texas with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2010. Twenty bids were solicited with five bids received. USA Engineer District, Galveston, Texas is the contracting activity (W912HY-09-C-0014).

Freeport LNG Development, L.P. and Technip USA Corporation, a subsidiary of Technip have signed a contract for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) leading to the finalization of the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract for its LNG receiving terminal to be located on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas. The FEED is expected to be completed by the end of December with the EPC phase of the project beginning in the first quarter of 2004. Michael Smith, CEO of Freeport LNG Development, L.P., said, "Technip has considerable experience in LNG facility design and this contract continues the relationship established with Technip during their assistance in the preparation of the FERC filing documents for our terminal.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice announcing availability of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for construction and operation of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and pipeline proposed by Freeport LNG Development, LP. The proposal includes LNG ship docking and unloading facilities in Brazoria County, Texas. Comments should be submitted within 30 days.

ConocoPhillips announced the finalization of its transaction with Freeport LNG Development, L.P. to participate in a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal in Quintana, Brazoria County, Texas. ConocoPhillips has acquired 1 billion cubic feet (BCF) per day of regasification capacity in the terminal, has obtained a 50 percent interest in the general partner managing the venture and will provide substantial construction funding to the venture. The terminal is designed with storage capacity of nearly 7 BCF and send-out capacity of 1.5 BCF per day. Natural gas will be transported through a 9.4-mile pipeline to Stratton Ridge, Texas, which is a major point of interconnection with the Texas intrastate gas pipeline system.

ESCO Marine In., is conducting an inspection, de-watering, & structural survey operation on board the mobile off-shore drilling unit Zeus which is located at the entrance of the Freeport Channel. ESCO is conducting this operation in order to end the recurrence of minor pollution discharges caused by rain-water run off. Currently, this process is expected to last several weeks, and it will be carried out with U.S. Coast Guard, Texas General Land Office, and Brazoria County Environmental Health Division oversight.

The U.S. Coast Guard, working with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and local officials, report that the sulfuric acid that began leaking from a barge in Chocolate Bayou Wednesday appears to have stopped leaking. Officials monitored the amount of product in the barge MGM3030, as well as the level of the barge in the water and the pH levels around the, throughout Wednesday night and into this morning and concluded that the barge was not leaking. Approximately 358,000 gallons of the original 430,000 gallons of acid cargo has been offloaded from the barge . Efforts to remove the remaining acid and water mixture from the barge are expected to continue into Friday.