The only remaining Federal action for this project is BSEE "authorization and certification," which cannot occur until the project sponsor submits, and BSEE approves, an oil spill response plan (OSRP). The project sponsor has not yet submitted a complete OSRP for BSEE review, and has requested a suspension of lease operations (SOO) to provide more time to submit a complete OSRP. BSEE anticipates making a decision on the SOO request by the end of December, 2021. Because BSEE could grant an SOO that extends as many as 2 years, BSEE is revising the completion dates for "Completed Application Received" and "Issuance of Decision" from 12/26/2021 to 12/26/2023. BOEM will revise the completion dates if the term of any SOO is different from that represented.
Description:
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
Oil Spill Response Plan
Pause Text: On 3/10/2020, BSEE met with the project sponsor. The project sponsor had not yet completed much work on the Request for Additional Information that was issued in July of 2019. Therefore, BSEE identified they were unable to determine a timeline for action completion, as the project sponsor did not have a potential date for additional information submission. BSEE requested the "Authorization and Certification" action be placed in "paused" status.
On 12/04/2020, the project sponsor provided additional information to BSEE. BSEE determined the submission wasn't sufficient to deem the application complete. In August 2021, BSEE confirmed the project sponsor has yet provide a sufficient response.
The only remaining Federal action for this project is BSEE "authorization and certification," which cannot occur until the project sponsor submits, and BSEE approves, an oil spill response plan (OSRP). The project sponsor has not yet submitted a complete OSRP for BSEE review, and has requested a suspension of lease operations (SOO) to provide more time to submit a complete OSRP. BSEE anticipates making a decision on the SOO request by the end of December, 2021. Because BSEE could grant an SOO that extends as many as 2 years, BSEE is revising the completion dates for "Completed Application Received" and "Issuance of Decision" from 12/26/2021 to 12/26/2023. BOEM will revise the completion dates if the term of any SOO is different from that represented.
Milestones:
BSEE - Oil Spill Response Plan - Initial application received
The only remaining Federal action for this project is BSEE "authorization and certification," which cannot occur until the project sponsor submits, and BSEE approves, an oil spill response plan (OSRP). The project sponsor has not yet submitted a complete OSRP for BSEE review, and has requested a suspension of lease operations (SOO) to provide more time to submit a complete OSRP. BSEE anticipates making a decision on the SOO request by the end of December, 2021. Because BSEE could grant an SOO that extends as many as 2 years, BSEE is revising the completion dates for "Completed Application Received" and "Issuance of Decision" from 12/26/2021 to 12/26/2023.
BSEE - Oil Spill Response Plan - Issuance of decision for approval
The only remaining Federal action for this project is BSEE "authorization and certification," which cannot occur until the project sponsor submits, and BSEE approves, an oil spill response plan (OSRP). The project sponsor has not yet submitted a complete OSRP for BSEE review, and has requested a suspension of lease operations (SOO) to provide more time to submit a complete OSRP. BSEE anticipates making a decision on the SOO request by the end of December, 2021. Because BSEE could grant an SOO that extends as many as 2 years, BSEE is revising the completion dates for "Completed Application Received" and "Issuance of Decision" from 12/26/2021 to 12/26/2023.
PROJECT WEBSITE: https://www.boem.gov/Liberty/
All dates below are specific to the schedule of the Environmental Review and Permitting processes for this project.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND PERMITTING STATUS
PAUSED
ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE OF ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND PERMITTING
SUBJECT TO CHANGE
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND PERMITTING PROCESSES
COMPLETED
SECTOR
Conventional Energy Production
CATEGORY
Project Category
FAST-41 Covered Projects
LEAD AGENCY
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
View FAST-41 Postings by Agencies
Other Agencies with Actions or Authorizations:
Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service
Department of Defense, US Army Corps of Engineers - Regulatory
Description:
Hilcorp Alaska, LLC proposes to construct a man-made gravel island in Foggy Island Bay, Beaufort Sea, Alaska. The Liberty Development and Production Island (LDPI) would be approximately 6 miles offshore in approximately 19 feet of water. The project includes five stages: construction of ice roads; development of a new gravel mine; construction of the island and facilities; construction of a pipeline; and drilling and hydrocarbon production.
The LDPI will have drilling and production processing facilities designed to produce up to 65,000 barrels of crude oil and 120 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day. The project life is anticipated to be 15 to 20 years, and recovery is estimated to be between 80 to 150 million stock tank barrels of oil. Oil produced from the island would be transported through a pipe-in-pipe subsea pipeline to the shoreline, where it will transition to an elevated 1.5-mile-long onshore pipeline and tie-in to the existing onshore Badami oil transportation pipeline. This infrastructure would transport sales-quality oil to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
In 2018, several environmental groups challenged the BOEM’s approval of the Liberty DPP. In December 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of petitioners. The Petitioners alleged there were NEPA violations centered on BOEM's analysis of lifecycle GHG emissions related to the no-action alternative, and ESA violations stemming from BOEM's reliance on what CBD alleged is a flawed biological opinion from the FWS. The Ninth Circuit Court vacated BOEM's approval of the Liberty DPP and remanded it to the agency. The Court's decision is available here: https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/12/07/18-73400
Associated Permitting:
Environmental Protection Agency - NPDES Permit: Completed 10/26/2018, available here: https://www.epa.gov/
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement - Oil Spill Response Plan: Returned to Hilcorp July 2019 with a Request For Additional Information (RFAI)
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement - Platform Approval Program and Platform Verification Program: Approval timeline dependent upon Oil Spill Response Plan Approval
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement - Application for Permit to Drill: Approval timeline dependent upon Oil Spill Response Plan Approval
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement - Production Safety Systems Permitting: Approval timeline dependent upon Oil Spill Response Plan Approval
Note: The project timeline represents the cooperating agencies' estimates at when agency actions could occur depending on the project proponent's future submissions.
Hilcorp replied to BSEE's Requests for Additional Information on December 14. BSEE is reviewing the new submission.
The only remaining Federal action for this project is BSEE "authorization and certification," which cannot occur until the project sponsor submits, and BSEE approves, an oil spill response plan (OSRP). The project sponsor has not yet submitted a complete OSRP for BSEE review, and has requested a suspension of lease operations (SOO) to provide more time to submit a complete OSRP. BSEE anticipates making a decision on the SOO request by the end of December, 2021. Because BSEE could grant an SOO that extends as many as 2 years, BSEE is revising the completion dates for "Completed Application Received" and "Issuance of Decision" from 12/26/2021 to 12/26/2023.
Original Target Date: 12/26/2021
Milestone: Completed application received
Requested extensions greater than 30 days for this Action are shown below:
Completed application received extended by 730
From: 12/26/2021
To: 12/26/2023