How MARAD Cut Years Off Deepwater Port Reviews Without Changing Environmental Standards

By Tom Ewing (gCaptain) – As gCaptain reported earlier this week, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced its approval of the $8.2 billion Texas ST LNG export port application, a major development for U.S. energy production.

But the announcement also highlighted another significant milestone: the fastest deepwater port license review in more than 20 years. According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), the review was completed nearly 3.7 years faster than the historical average, representing a 70% reduction in review time.

The acceleration follows changes implemented in January, when MARAD assumed the lead role in deepwater port reviews and the U.S. Coast Guard shifted to a supporting role focused on vessel operations, maritime safety and security.

ST LNG filed its application with MARAD and the Coast Guard on June 9, 2025. Under the streamlined approach, MARAD completed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) in just 410 days. DOT credited the changes with eliminating unnecessary administrative procedures and accelerating the review process.

In response to DOT’s announcement, gCaptain followed up with questions seeking additional insight into which specific changes had the greatest impact on reducing red tape.

A DOT spokesperson, speaking on background, said “the primary efficiency gained was fixing a structural inefficiency, rather than addressing challenges within any specific partner agency.”

Previously, MARAD and the U.S. Coast Guard operated under a co-lead structure for reviews required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). DOT’s spokesperson said this shared responsibility for environmental reviews “inadvertently created duplicative administrative steps, parallel document routing, and sequential reviews.”

Now, with MARAD serving as the sole lead agency, project schedules have been consolidated and the review team has established a unified approach to interagency communication.

“The U.S. Coast Guard remains an important partner in this process,” DOT explained, adding that “this shift simply allows them to focus purely on their core statutory missions of maritime safety, security, and operational risk assessment, while MARAD drives the environmental timeline.”

The Coast Guard is listed in the project’s Record of Decision (ROD) as one of six federal cooperating agencies, but the document does not otherwise include or reference specific Coast Guard statements. Neither U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 nor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, two other federal partners, filed objections or concerns regarding application approval.

The deepwater port development will consist of four phases. Each phase includes five fixed offshore platforms (Gas Treatment, Liquefaction, Bridge Support Trestle, LNG Transfer, and Accommodation and Utilities), bridges linking the platforms, a dolphin mooring system composed of three berthing dolphins and six mooring dolphins, and a moored LNG Floating Storage Unit (FSU).

At full build-out, the deepwater port will include 20 platforms, four FSUs, four mooring systems, and 7.7 miles of pipeline, consisting of a 5.6-mile lateral pipeline and 2.1 miles of interconnecting pipelines between the phases.

DOT was asked whether the ST LNG project benefited from any one-time procedural exemptions that might not apply to future projects.

DOT’s answer: No. Going forward, MARAD’s leadership role and the related procedural steps will follow the changes formally established in January.

DOT was also asked to identify the types of red tape that have historically impeded timely reviews, such as repetitive filings or demands for unnecessary information.

The spokesperson said the primary efficiency came from eliminating duplicative administrative procedures. Under the previous co-lead model, draft environmental documents, requests for information and legal reviews often had to move sequentially between multiple agencies before they could advance or be published.

“By consolidating the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process under MARAD,” DOT said, “we established a single Federal docket and a unified project management team. We eliminated redundant legal and administrative processing, aligned our public comment periods, and streamlined how cooperating agencies provide input.”

Finally, DOT was asked about environmental reviews that must proceed according to nature’s timetable, such as studies involving temperature cycles, migration patterns or other seasonal factors. Were there opportunities to streamline reviews of environmental processes that inherently take weeks or months to evaluate?

DOT replied: “Streamlining our administrative process does not mean cutting corners on rigorous environmental science or biological mandates.”

To manage extended seasonal or biological studies efficiently, the spokesperson said MARAD is “front-loading” interagency coordination.

MARAD’s team is engaging cooperating agencies, such as NOAA Fisheries, earlier in the scoping and pre-application phases to identify required biological studies as soon as possible. MARAD is also seeking to maximize the use of existing regional data from prior offshore projects to satisfy baseline requirements where appropriate, reducing the need for duplicative studies conducted from scratch.

DOT noted that “when project-specific seasonal data collection is legally required, we integrate those study schedules into a predictable, concurrent review timeline rather than letting them cause cascading, sequential delays. This approach ensures we maintain the exact same statutory level of environmental assurance while drastically reducing idle administrative time in the schedule.”

To be clear, MARAD’s application approval is not the same as the issuance of a license to operate.

In fact, MARAD’s approval is conditional. ST LNG must agree in writing not to make changes to its deepwater port application and must demonstrate compliance with nine conditions before a license can be issued. Those conditions cover matters ranging from financial responsibility and oil spill liability to eventual decommissioning.

The required compliance documentation must be submitted at least 90 days before a license can be issued.

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