States.” In many ways it is a model of the “newer” 
approach to the siting—particularly the licensing 
component—of energy facilities. Some key features 
are: 
1. Coordination. The law designates the Depart- 
ment of Transportation as the “lead agency” for 
licensing deepwater ports outside the 3-mile 
zone. In addition, it clearly lists the jurisdictions 
and responsibilities of the various Federal agen- 
cies involved and establishes specific procedures 
and deadlines for coordinating their actions. The 
statute also provides for an unusual, but clear- 
cut, way of coordinating State and Federal view- 
points: no Federal license shall be issued with- 
out the approval! of the governor of each adjacent 
State. 
2. Performance standards. The law sets forth the 
conditions which must be met before the Secre- 
tary of Transportation may issue a license (it 
must be in the national interest, meet environ- 
mental criteria, meet antitrust requirements, etc.) 
and also directs the Secretary to prepare environ- 
mental review criteria for use in evaluating 
applications. 
3. Public participation. The Act explicitly provides 
for public access to information about the appli- 
cations, for public hearings, and for judicial 
review and citizen civil action. 
The Act also settles some substantive policy 
matters that might otherwise be brought up during 
the review of individual applications; one is the 
question of liability for oil spills from the ports, 
which is settled by establishing a Deepwater Port 
Liability Fund. 
Two groups have applied for licenses under the 
Act. In both cases, licenses have been offered, sub- 
ject to the applicants’ meeting specified conditions. 
The conditions, dealing largely with antitrust and 
financing matters, are considered strict by the 
industry. 
In August 1977 the five firms which make up the 
Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP) consortium 
accepted the terms and conditions of their license. 
It is now expected that construction will start some- 
time in late 1978, with completion of the first stage 
in 1980 and two additional stages later. Located in 
water more than 100 feet deep, LOOP will be able 
to handle tankers of up to 750,000 deadweight tons, 
which is about half again as large as the biggest 
tanker in the world today. 
Outer Continental Shelf Oi! and Gas 
The process for leasing offshore oil tracts, per- 
mitting their development, and siting associated off- 
shore pipelines and onshore facilities has been de- 
bated intensely in recent years. The reason is that 
many States and others have felt that ithe present 
process does not adequately deal with important 
issues such as environmental safeguards and the 
timing of the development. 
Substantive Policy Issues 
States and citizens argue that until recently the 
Interior Department, which leases offshore tracts to 
industry, has not listened to them fully, or ade- 
quately addressed the policy issues that bother them. 
These are the issues of information (the States want 
information on the tracts being considered for lease 
and, later on, information on industry’s plans to 
develop the areas it has leased), timing (States and 
citizens want time to review proposed plans, com- 
ment on them, and pian to handle associated onshore 
development), selection of sites (they want Interior 
to consider exempting environmentally important 
areas from lease sales), environmental safeguards, 
and financial arrangements. Because these issues 
have not been addressed to their satisfaction, they 
have often used court suits to block lease sales and 
have pushed for a larger role in OCS decision- 
making. 
The Siting Process 
Pending in Congress is legislation that would: (1) 
address the substantive policy issues of concern to 
the States; (2) also address some other policy issues 
of national concern, particularly the questions of oil 
spill liability, the role of government in exploratory 
drilling, and how to modify the bidding system for 
lease sales to ensure that the government receives 
maximum payment for these publicly owned re- 
sources; and (3) change the leasing process to in- 
crease the amount of information gathered and 
distributed, give the governors a larger say in the 
locations and timing of lease sales (though not a 
veto over Federal decisions), and, in accordance 
with the Department of Energy Act, tie leasing 
schedules more closely to overall national energy 
policy. 
The two bills revising the Cuter Continental Shelf 
Lands Act of 1953, similar in nature and both con- 
taining these basic provisions, are S. 9, passed by 
the Senate,in July 1977, and H.R. 1614 passed by 
the House in February 1978. 
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Facilities 
LNG is a classic example of where a fragmented 
regulatory process based on the “traditional” ap- 
proach to siting has led to problems. 
Substantive Policy Issues 
Shipments of liquefied natural gas imported via 
tankers are expected to become increasingly impor- 
tant to the United States. In 1976, total U.S. natural 
gas consumption was slightly under 20 trillion cubic 
feet. In that year, with only one LNG project operat- 
IV—75 
