The U.S. Coast Guard is working on a temporary interim rule that would add regulation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) deepwater ports to the agency’s jurisdiction. The interim rule is expected to be published shortly — “more likely” after Jan. 1, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.

In another development, the Coast Guard officials in Boston confirmed last week that they were monitoring tanker shipments of LNG into Boston Harbor in the wake of the federal government’s decision to raise the terrorism alert level to orange over the holiday season.

The interim rule would incorporate the requirements of the Maritimes Transportation Security Act (MTSA), which was signed into law in November 2002 and gives the Coast Guard and other agencies the authority to review and regulate the construction and operation of offshore LNG facilities. The MTSA law amended the Deepwater Port Act of 1974, which limited the Coast Guard’s authority to mostly oil and gas deepwater facilities.

“We have been receiving and processing applications since last year” for LNG deepwater ports, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Jolie Shifflet. The MTSA “gave us the jurisdiction [to do this] in 2002. We’re officially incorporating [that law] into the regulations now. It sort of closes the loop.”

Deepwater ports are defined as any fixed or floating manmade structure, other than vessels, located beyond state seaward boundaries that are used for the transportation, storage or further handling of oil and natural gas (including compressed or liquefied gas) to any state, according to Shifflet.

The interim rule also will address a May 2002 proposal aimed at updating regulations for deepwater oil ports, she said.

The public will have 60 days to comment on the interim rule once it is published in the Federal Register. Interested parties should “[keep] checking the Federal Register over the next month” for the initiative, Shifflet noted.

In Boston, officials with the Coast Guard and the Distrigas of Massachusetts terminal, where the LNG imports would be off-loaded, would not confirm reports last week that LNG supplies into Boston Harbor were being put on hold due to the heightened security alert.

“We are exercising the flexibility in the delivery schedule” for LNG shipments through the harbor during the higher terror alert, said a spokeswoman with the Coast Guard’s office in Boston.

“Deliveries [to Distrigas] will continue under enhanced security” measures, said company spokeswoman Julie Vitek. She declined to say what the “enhanced security” measures were and what impact, if any, they were having on LNG tanker deliveries.

Interrupted deliveries of LNG to the Distrigas terminal could lead to gas supply problems in New England, which depends on the facility to satisfy more than 20% of its fuel demand.

The Coast Guard had banned LNG shipments into Boston Harbor for three weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and suburban Washington, DC, citing safety and security concerns. In its latest decision to raise the terrorist alert level, the federal government said “credible sources” indicated that terrorists were planning attacks during the holiday season that could rival or exceed the Sept. 11 strikes.

In the past two years, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino has waged a campaign to halt LNG deliveries into Boston Harbor, arguing that the tankers are a potential hazard to the city and other communities that border the harbor.

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