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Jordan Cove Energy Project LP moved through another hoop on Monday when it received draft approval from the U.S. Department of Energy to export liquefied natural gas to countries that don’t have free trade agreements with the U.S.

Jordan Cove received its license to export to free trade countries in 2012, but this draft license would allow it to export North American liquefied natural gas to countries including India, China and Japan, said Michael Hinrichs, a spokesman for Jordan Cove.

“This is a special license that all LNG projects are going for,” he said. “This is the first one (conditionally) approved on the West Coast.”

Omaha, Neb.-based Kiewit Corp. and Overland Park, Kan.-based Black & Veatch would be the contractors for the $7.5 billion project, which would include an LNG plant, a power plant and a 232-mile pipeline. At peak, the plants in Coos Bay would create 2,100 construction jobs and the pipeline would create 1,400 construction jobs, Hinrichs said.

Jordan Cove LP is still navigating the federal regulatory process; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is leading efforts to compile and analyze relevant information, he said.

A public comment period is due to follow – possibly in June or July, according to Hinrichs.

“If all that goes according to plan, we would hope to have our final (environmental impact statement) within the fourth quarter of 2014,” he said.

Additional permits would be required from state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Energy Facility Siting Council of Oregon. The latter group would be able to grant final approval for the start of construction and facility operations; it would be contingent upon other permits being approved, according to Hinrichs.

If approvals were granted on schedule, crews could break ground as early as the first quarter of 2015 and begin operations by 2019, he said.