Feds Delay LNG’s Port Ambrose Application
The US Coast Guard and the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) have temporarily suspended their review of the proposed Port Ambrose deep-water LNG import terminal.
Liberty Natural Gas’s application to build the Port Ambrose deep-water port to receive LNG in the New York/New Jersey harbour has been delayed by the MARAD after it received more than 100,000 public comments about the project’s final environmental impact study.
“The purpose of the suspension is to allow the U.S. Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration time to assess public comments and get them into the final Environmental Impact Study,” said Curtis Borland, legal counsel for the U.S.C.G.
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was to be finished 21 days from March 16, however the clock has been stopped until federal agencies can process all comments. The suspension is indefinite.
Environmental groups opposed to the project said they rallied the public to comment on the issue.
LNG is proposing to build a deepwater port called Port Ambrose in federal waters in the New York Bight to import gas in a liquid state. The location is near the entrance of the New York/New Jersey Harbor, 28 miles east of Monmouth Beach and 18.5 miles southeast of Jones Beach, New York.
Liberty Natural Gas is a portfolio company of a fund advised by Canadian firm West Face Capital, which is also developing the Port Meridian deep-water port in the northwest UK.
According to Liberty, Port Ambrose would reduce energy bills for downstate New York consumers by $325 million each year.
