Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff plans to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) for Freeport LNG Development LP‘s proposal to add a fourth liquefaction train to its liquefied natural gas export terminal on Quintana Island in Brazoria, TX [PF15-25] (see Daily GPI, Nov. 25, 2014). The project would be located west and adjacent to the facilities authorized and under construction for the Phase II Modification Project [CP12-29] and Liquefaction Project [CP12-509], which comprises three liquefaction trains and related facilities. The fourth train would provide additional liquefaction capacity of 5.1 million tonnes per annum for export, which equates to a natural gas throughput capacity of 0.72 Bcf/d.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff has scheduled nine public hearings for a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) on the proposed $6 billion Oregon LNG project. The sessions are set to kick off Sept. 14 in Kent, WA, continuing at three other locations on the Washington state side of the Columbia Sept. 15-17; followed by three hearings Sept. 21 in Astoria, OR; Sept. 22 in Vernonia, OR; Sept. 23 in Ridgefield, WA; and Sept. 24 in Kelso, WA. The project would include a 1 Bcf/d liquefied natural gas export facility near the mouth of the Columbia River and Northwest Pipeline Co.’s proposed expansion of a spur that would feed up to 1.2 Bcf/d into an interconnected pipeline (see Daily GPI, Aug. 6).

Investigators from Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), as well as MDU Resources Group’sCascade Natural Gas were sifting through debris from a natural gas explosion Tuesday evening in Bremerton, WA, that injured a Cascade technician at a Motel 6. The technician was checking a suspected gas leak and guests were being evacuated when the fire department arrived shortly before the explosion occurred. Investigators said “it is too early to tell what type pipeline broke,” either a utility or customer line.