The US Coast Guard (USCG) has deemed the Safe Harbor Energy LNG project application complete and has begun its review of the proposal to build a deepwater LNG import terminal on a man-made island 23mi from the entrance to New York harbour. Atlantic Sea Island Group, a Manhattan-based consortium of investors developing the USD 1 billion Safe Harbor Energy project, states that the 60.5-acre island and its terminal would be located far from population centres and outside shipping lanes. The facility would be able to process 2 billion ft3 of natural gas per day, equivalent to deliveries of approx. 15 million tonnes of LNG per annum. The plan calls for terminal construction work to begin in 2009 and for the facility to be commissioned in 2014. The island will be constructed of natural sand, gravel and rock materials, surrounded by breakwaters consisting of prefabricated caissons, prefabricated armour units and rock. The island would be designed to be able to withstand a 200yr storm. The LNG facilities will feature four 180,000m3 full containment storage tanks and two jetties able to accommodate LNG carriers up to 265,000m3 in size. The Atlantic Sea Island Group plans to run a subsea pipeline from the new island to feed natural gas into an existing pipeline that runs from New Jersey to Long Beach on Long Island. The pipeline connection point would be at a point about 5 or 6mi offshore and the current arrangement on the New Jersey-Long Island line allows gas to flow in both directions.
