[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 20, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16258-16259]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6724]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
Notice of Public Scoping Meetings on an Environmental Impact
Statement for Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Gulf of Mexico Eastern
Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sales 225 and 226
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of public scoping meetings and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing
Program for 2012-2017 (Proposed Program) schedules two potential lease
sales, Proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226, to accommodate anticipated
industry interest in the portion of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Eastern
Planning Area (EPA) that is not currently subject to the
Congressionally-mandated leasing moratorium. This notice describes the
public scoping process that BOEM is initiating in preparation for
completing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) relating to these two proposed sales.
While it is necessary to commence the presale information gathering
process before finalizing the Five-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program
for 2012-2017 in order to conform to the schedule in the Proposed
Program, this scoping and EIS process will be terminated in the event
that Lease Sales 225 and 226 are not included in the Final Program.
Pursuant to the regulations implementing the procedural provisions
of the NEPA of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. [1988]), BOEM
will hold public scoping meetings to solicit information to assist in a
determination of the significant issues to be addressed and their
scope, and to identify mitigating measures and alternatives. This
information will be used in the preparation of an EIS to evaluate the
potential environmental effects of proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226.
BOEM has planned five scoping meetings in April 2012 to provide
opportunities for public participation and comment as part of the
process for evaluating proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226. BOEM also will
use and coordinate the NEPA public comment process to satisfy the
requirement for public involvement under Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), as provided for in 36 CFR
800.2(d)(3).
Throughout the scoping process, Federal, State, Tribal, and local
governments and the general public have the opportunity to aid BOEM in
determining the significant issues, reasonable alternatives, and
potential mitigating measures to be analyzed in the EIS, as well as to
provide additional information. Possible alternatives for analysis may
represent a range of levels of activities, including: (1) The proposed
action (holding the Lease Sale); (2) taking no action (canceling or
postponing the sale); (3) defining appropriate restrictions on oil and
gas activities based on environmental resources that are present; and/
or (4) defining temporal or spatial work windows to accommodate the
existing use of OCS space important to other critical national
missions. Additional alternatives developed through scoping and NEPA
evaluation will be considered and may also be evaluated. BOEM will
receive statements, oral and written, at the venues listed below. All
persons wishing to speak will have the opportunity to do so. Time
limits may be set on speakers to allow time for all speakers to
participate. The following public scoping meetings are planned for
proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226:
Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Tallahassee, Florida: Tallahassee
Community College, 444 Appleyard Drive, Tallahassee, Florida; at 1 p.m.
EDT;
Wednesday, April 4, 2012, Panama City Beach, Florida:
Wyndham Bay Point Resort, 4114 Jan Cooley Drive, Panama City Beach,
Florida; two meetings, the first beginning at 1 p.m. CDT and the second
beginning at 6 p.m. CDT;
Thursday, April 5, 2012, Mobile, Alabama: Five Rivers--
Alabama's Delta Resource Center, 30945 Five Rivers Boulevard, Spanish
Fort, Alabama; at 1 p.m. CDT; and
Monday, April 9, 2012, New Orleans, Louisiana: BOEM, GOM
OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana; at 1
p.m. CDT.
Procedures for submitting written comments via mail and
electronically are also detailed below.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226 are
tentatively scheduled for 2014 and 2016 under the Proposed Program. The
previous lease sale in the EPA, Lease Sale 224, was held on March 19,
2008. The EIS that will be prepared subsequent to this scoping process
will analyze an area in the EPA that was addressed in Gulf of Mexico
OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sale 224: Eastern Planning Area, Final
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA MMS 2007-060),
plus a 109,977-acre triangular area located immediately south of the
Lease Sale 224 area. The area for proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226
covers approximately 657,905 acres in the EPA and is south of eastern
Alabama and western Florida; the nearest point of land to the lease
sale area is 125 miles north to Florida. The Call for Information and
Nominations/Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS was published in the
Federal Register on November 18, 2011. This Federal Register notice is
not an announcement to hold the proposed lease sales, but it is a
continuation of information gathering and an early step in the
environmental review process required by NEPA. The comments received
during the scoping meetings and public comment period will help form
the content of the EIS and will be summarized in the presale
documentation prepared prior to holding a lease sale.
Comments: In addition to, or in lieu of participation in the
scoping meetings listed above, all interested parties, including
Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments and the general public,
may submit written comments on the scope of the EIS, significant issues
that should be addressed, alternatives that should be considered,
potential mitigating measures and the types of oil and gas activities
of interest in the proposed lease sale area.
Written scoping comments may be submitted in one of the following
two ways:
1. In written form enclosed in an envelope labeled ``Scoping for
Proposed EPA Lease Sales 225 and 226'' and mailed (or hand delivered)
to Mr. Gary
[[Page 16259]]
D. Goeke, Chief, Regional Assessment Section, Office of Environment (MS
5410), BOEM, GOM OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans,
Louisiana 70123-2394; or
2. Electronically to the BOEM email address: [email protected].
Petitions, although accepted, do not generally provide more weight
or useful information than a single comment to assist in scoping.
Please include your name and address as part of your submittal; BOEM
does not consider anonymous comments. BOEM makes all comments,
including the names and addresses of respondents, available for public
review during regular business hours. Individual respondents may
request that BOEM withhold their name and/or address from the public
record; this request will be honored to the extent allowable by law. If
you wish your name and/or address to be withheld, you must state your
preference prominently at the beginning of your comment. All
submissions from organizations or businesses and from individuals
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations
or businesses will be made available for public inspection in their
entirety.
DATES: Comments should be submitted no later than May 4, 2012 to the
address or email address specified above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the EIS, public
scoping meetings, the submission of comments, or BOEM's policies
associated with this notice, please contact Mr. Gary D. Goeke, Chief,
Regional Assessment Section, Office of Environment (MS 5410), BOEM, GOM
OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123-2394,
telephone (504) 736-3233.
Dated: March 14, 2012.
Tommy P. Beaudreau,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2012-6724 Filed 3-19-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-VH-P