Projected emissions from Freeport LNG Development LP’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and associated facilities “would be in conformity” with the emissions output that Texas has budgeted for the Houston/Galveston area for 2005, when the project’s emissions are expected to peak, and for 2007, when the facilities are due to start operation, FERC said in a final general conformity determination.

“We believe that the federal action will meet the requirements of [the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s statutes],” and would “result in a level of emissions which, together with all other emissions in the Houston/Galveston/Brazoria nonattainment area, would not exceed the [Texas State Implementation Plan] emissions budgets,” FERC’s Office of Energy Projects concluded in its June 10 conformity review. The agency’s conclusion was based on the TCEQ’s determination in the case.

Following the Commissions’s draft determination in April, the agency noted that Freeport LNG and the TCEQ reached agreement on a number of mitigation measures to minimize project emissions to help the LNG project conform to Texas’ budgeted emissions levels (see Daily GPI, April 8).

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was required to review the anticipated emissions output of the Freeport LNG terminal because the facility will be sited in Brazoria County, TX, a county included in the Houston/Galveston area, which has been designated a “severe nonattainment area” with respect to the one-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. Specifically, it called for agency staff to look at nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile compounds (VOCs), which are ozone precursors.

Total emissions from the LNG project (both direct and indirect emissions) were calculated for each year between 2004 and 2010, and the years when NOx and VOC would be the heaviest were identified. Maximum project NOx emissions of 225.6 tons per year (tpy) were predicted to occur in 2005, and maximum VOC emissions of 27.59 tpy were seen for 2005, the final ruling said.

The levels exceeded the project threshold for NOx and VOC emissions in the Houston/Galveston Area (25 tpy for each), but they still fell within the state’s total emissions budget for the region in that year.

The general conformity review is required under the federal clear air law, and prohibits the federal government from supporting, licensing or permitting any activities that do not conform to a state clear air implementation plan.

The Freeport LNG project is expected to have a revaporization and sendout capacity of up to 1.5 Bcf/d. It would provide service to customers in the state of Texas, such as Dow Chemical and ConocoPhillips. Plans call for the construction of two LNG storage tanks, each with the capacity to hold 3.5 Bcf/d of gas, and nearly 10 miles of 26-inch diameter pipeline extending from the import terminal to a proposed meter station at the Stratton Ridge storage hub.

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