(a) The environmental criteria to be used in evaluating a license application are established by general consensus of expertise, scientific opinion, public interest, and institutional requirements, such as laws and regulations established for the protection of the environment. Criteria that may be established in future environmental regulations or other requirements to protect the environment will also be used.
(b) The environmental criteria to be used in evaluating a license application are applied to all relevant aspects of:
(1) The construction, operation, and decommissioning phases of a deepwater port;
(2) The operations of the vessels that serve the deepwater port;
(3) The deepwater port's servicing and support activities;
(4) Shore-based construction and fabrication sites;
(5) Shoreside supporting facilities, if appropriate, for the proposed location; and
(6) The No Action alternative and other reasonable alternatives.
(c) The criteria are also applied in a manner that takes into account the cumulative effects of other reasonably foreseeable actions as outlined in § 148.705.
[USCG-1998-3884, 71 FR 57651, Sept. 29, 2006, as amended by USCG-2013-0397, 78 FR 39178, July 1, 2013]