Triggered missed date from extending Issuance of decision for permit/approval within 30 days of its current target date which was 12/26/2021 and extended to 12/26/2023
Description:
Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
Oil Spill Response Plan
Pause Text:
On March 10, 2020, BSEE had a meeting with the project company. It was apparent they had not yet completed much work on the Request For Additional Information that was issued in July of 2019. Therefore we would like to put this project on pause/hold as the company has given no indication as to when they might submit the requested documentation.
In August 2021, BSEE confirmed that Hilcorp has not yet provided a satisfactory response to BSEE's 2019 Request for Additional Information. Thus, no OSRP can be issued and the pause is still in effect.
Milestones:
BSEE - Oil Spill Response Plan - Initial application received
Hilcorp replied to BSEE's Requests for Additional Information on December 14. BSEE is reviewing the new submission.
BSEE - Oil Spill Response Plan - Issuance of decision for approval
BSEE - Oil Spill Response Plan - Issuance of decision for approval
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.
BSEE - Oil Spill Response Plan - Issuance of decision for approval