La. Admin. Code tit. 43 § I-1132

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024

Section I-1132 - Nomination of State Lands and Water Bottoms for an Alternative Energy Source Lease

A. Interested, registered parties shall nominate state lands and water bottoms for an AESL by submitting a proposal (hereinafter referred to as a "nomination") by application to the board, through OMR, in the appropriate form required. Each nomination shall include the following:

1. an official letter of application;

2. any title documentation obtained by the nominating party pursuant to §1131 A;

3. a written property description of the nominated acreage including the following:

a. the gross acreage amount of state lands or water bottoms, inclusive of any DWF property that may be contained within the nomination area;

b. the net acreage amount of state lands or water bottoms, exclusive of any DWF property that may be contained within the nomination area;

c. the net acreage amount of any DWF property that may be contained within the nomination area;

d. provide the following property description for state lands and water bottoms:

i. use bearing, distance and X-Y coordinates based on the Louisiana Coordinate System of 1927, North or South Zone (as applicable), to accurately and clearly describe the nominated acreage. Determine whether the acreage to be nominated falls in the North Zone or the South Zone of the Louisiana Coordinate System of 1927 and provide this information in the nomination package. A single nomination may contain acreage that falls partially in the North Zone and partially in the South Zone. However, the nominated acreage shall be allocated to the zone wherein the majority of the acreage falls and use that zone's coordinates (see R.S. 50:1);

4. a plat of the nominated acreage using the most recent background imagery and using X-Y coordinates based on the Louisiana Coordinate System of 1927, North or South Zone (as applicable). Each plat shall include:

a. an outline of the nominated acreage with a designated point of beginning and corners using X-Y coordinates that exactly match the X-Y coordinates for the point of beginning and corners provided in the written property description, clearly labeled therein;

b. an outline of the state lands and/or water bottoms included within the nomination area, clearly labeled along with the amount of acreage contained therein;

c. an outline of any DWF property, school indemnity lands, tax adjudicated lands, vacant state lands, White Lake, or legal areas, included within the nomination area, clearly labeled along with the acreage amount contained in each;

d. an outline of each active or non-released land use agreement granted by the state, including, but not limited to, an AESL, state mineral lease, state operating agreement, state exclusive geophysical agreement, state non-exclusive seismic permit, state right-of-way, and/or state surface/subsurface agreement, as well as any nomination tract approved for advertisement or advertised as offered for a state mineral lease, state operating agreement, or state exclusive geophysical agreement abutting, adjacent to, intersecting, and partially/wholly enclosed in the nomination area, clearly labeled with its official number along with the acreage amount contained therein.

e. all water bodies, clearly labeled;

f. all section, township and range information;

g. An outline of all Port Authority property in the nomination area with jurisdictional boundaries clearly delineated.

5. A summary of all environmental issues, including the potential environmental impacts resulting from the construction, operation, and placement of the alternative energy source and other facilities and equipment necessary for the exploration, development and production of an alternative energy source, and the steps proposed to minimize and mitigate the environmental impact, along with any supporting environmental impact documentation.

6. A list of governmental entities, including each federal, state, parish or local governmental entity, having jurisdiction in the nomination area, and for each, the contact person's name, title, office address, telephone and fax numbers, and email address, as well as the type of legal authority, if any, acquired or to be acquired from the governmental entity. Included in this list shall be all port authority districts in the nomination area with complete contact information.

7. A copy of the preliminary permit, license, exemption, or other authorization issued by FERC pursuant to its authority under the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791 a, et seq., if required.

8. A summary of the overall specified AESP, including status of site control (progress with leasing and/or permitting other properties within the entire AESP boundaries) and application process with the transmission provider, as well as a time frame for the project to become operational.

9. A summary of the alternative energy source development proposed on the state lands or water bottoms sought to be leased, including a plat, the layout of the specified alternative energy source power and transmission facilities, proposed alternative energy source equipment information (size, location, number, type and depth of installation, turbine make, and nameplate power production capacity), placement information of equipment, whether the alternative energy source will be affixed to existing platforms or state owned structures or, if there will be a necessity to construct new platforms, selection criteria used, and supporting infrastructure.

10. The status and timeline of the major milestones in the AESP development, production, and decommissioning.

11. The measures proposed to reduce risk to the state, including, but not limited to, a summary of compliance with any and all standards established by state, national and international agencies, institutes, commissions or associations and any other entity responsible for establishing the alternative energy source industry standards. Standards for the alternative energy source development/operations include, but are not limited to, turbine safety and design, power performance, noise/acoustic measurement, mechanical load measurements, blade structural testing, power quality, and siting.

12. A summary of how the use of the state lands or water bottoms for the development and production of the alternative energy source will be coordinated with other users of the state lands or water bottoms, including the operation of ports, harbors, or terminal districts, shipping and recreational interests, dredging operations, and navigation safety.

13. A summary of contingency plans and emergency shut-down procedures to be followed, including the circumstances to initiate such procedures, in the event of danger or damage to life, water craft or facilities as a result of collision, dredging, anchorage, search and rescue operations, or unforeseen events.

14. A summary of the procedure for installation, recovery and repair of damaged turbines and equipment with minimal impact to navigation, shipping and recreational interests.

15. A summary of all study results, including copies of the complete final study reports, and all study data acquired by the applicant in a format agreeable to OMR, for all studies conducted by the applicant, for the area described in the lease application.

16. Any other information and documentation required by the board through OMR.

B. Each of the above items shall be submitted in original paper form. Additionally, a CD-ROM or DVD (hereinafter referred to as the "Nomination Disk") clearly labeled "AESL Nomination Disk" shall be submitted. Each Nomination Disk shall be affixed with the applicant and project names thereon and shall contain an electronic version of Item 3.d. above as a Word .doc file and Item 4. above as a .pdf file. Each Nomination Disk shall also contain a .dxf file which shall contain only the boundary of the nominated acreage, consisting of a single line, no additional lines, labels, text, or graphics, and shall be constructed of individual line segments between vertices. The X-Y coordinates in the .dxf file must exactly match those in the written property description and the plat.

C. The nominating party of an AESL shall observe the following restrictions:

1. Only bearing, distance and X-Y coordinates based on the Louisiana Coordinate System of 1927, North or South Zone (as applicable), shall be used and coordinates shall accurately and clearly describe the nominated acreage. If a single nomination contains acreage that is split between the North and South Zones, the nominated acreage shall be allocated to the zone containing the majority of the acreage pursuant to R.S. 50:1.

2. No more than 2,500 acres of state lands or water bottoms may be nominated in a single nomination.

D. Any other additional information required pursuant to §1121 of this Chapter.

La. Admin. Code tit. 43, § I-1132

Promulgated by Department of Natural Resources, Office of Mineral Resources, LR 38:130 (January 2012).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:124.