The US Coast Guard and the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) have temporarily suspended their review of the proposed Port Ambrose deepwater LNG import terminal.
The project, proposed by Liberty Natural Gas, will be located off the coasts of New Jersey and New York. The regulatory review period has been extended to account for the weight of public comment, amounting to mover 10 000 statements.
The suspension has been implemented to allow the Coast Guard and MARAD to complete their final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project and to allow Liberty to submit financial responsibility data.
In response to public request, MARAD extended the draft EIS public comment period from 45 days to 90 days, which concluded on 16 March 2015. However, in a letter addressed to Liberty Natural Gas, the Coast Guard explained that it still lacks “information necessary to complete development of the final EIS and make a determination of financial responsibility”.
The volume of public comments, which include letters and petition signatories, is too large for the Coast Guard and MARAD to respond to in the allotted 21-day period.
Edited from various sources by Katie Woodward