[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 119 (Friday, June 20, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35378-35380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14104]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[MMAA 104000]
Central Planning Area Lease Sales 241 and 247, and Eastern
Planning Area Lease Sale 226
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to Prepare a Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS).
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SUMMARY: Consistent with the regulations implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) (NEPA),
BOEM is announcing its intent to prepare a Supplemental EIS for
proposed Central
[[Page 35379]]
Planning Area (CPA) Lease Sales 241 and 247, and Eastern Planning Area
(EPA) Lease Sale 226 in the Gulf of Mexico (CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226
Supplemental EIS). Proposed Lease Sale 241 is the next proposed lease
sale in the Gulf of Mexico's CPA off the States of Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama. Proposed Lease Sale 226 is the next proposed
lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico's EPA off the States of Alabama and
Florida. The CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS will update the
environmental and socioeconomic analyses in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil
and Gas Lease Sales: 2012-2017; Western Planning Area Lease Sales 229,
233, 238, 246, and 248; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 227, 231,
235, 241, and 247, Final Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA
BOEM 2012-019) (2012-2017 WPA/CPA Multisale EIS); Gulf of Mexico OCS
Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2013-2014; Western Planning Area Lease Sale
233; Central Planning Area Lease Sale 231, Final Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2013-0118) (WPA 233/CPA
231 Supplemental EIS); and Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales:
2015-2017; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 235, 241, and 247, Final
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2014-010)
(CPA 235, 241, and 247 Supplemental EIS). The 2012-2017 WPA/CPA
Multisale EIS was completed in July 2012. The WPA 233/CPA 231
Supplemental EIS was completed in April 2013. The CPA 235, 241, and 247
Final Supplemental EIS was completed in March 2014. The CPA 241 and
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS will also update the environmental and
socioeconomic analyses in the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas
Leasing Program: 2012-2017; Final Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2012-030) (Five-Year Program EIS) and Gulf
of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2014 and 2016; Eastern Planning
Area Lease Sales 225 and 226, Final Environmental Impact Statement (OCS
EIS/EA BOEM 2013-200) (EPA 225/226 EIS). The Five-Year Program EIS was
completed in July 2012. The EPA 225/226 EIS was completed in October
2013.
A Supplemental EIS is deemed appropriate to supplement the NEPA
documents cited above for the proposed lease sales in order to consider
new circumstances and information arising from, among other things, the
Deepwater Horizon explosion, oil spill, and response. The CPA 241 and
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS analysis will focus on updating the
baseline conditions.
The CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS analysis will focus on
any new information on the potential environmental effects of oil and
natural gas leasing, exploration, development, and production in the
CPA and EPA identified through the Area Identification procedure as the
proposed lease sale areas. In addition to the no action alternative
(i.e., canceling a proposed lease sale), other alternatives may be
considered for the proposed CPA and EPA lease sales, such as deferring
certain areas from the proposed lease sale areas.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 27, 2012, the Secretary of the
Interior approved as final the Proposed Final OCS Oil & Gas Leasing
Program: 2012-2017 (Five-Year Program). The Five-Year Program includes
the two remaining CPA lease sales (Lease Sales 241 and 247) and the
remaining EPA lease sale (Lease Sale 226) that will be considered in
the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS. Proposed CPA Lease Sale
241 and EPA Lease Sale 226 are tentatively scheduled to be held in
2016, and proposed CPA Lease Sale 247 is tentatively scheduled to be
held in 2017. The proposed CPA lease sale area encompasses about 63
million acres of the total CPA area of 66.45 million acres (excluding
whole and partial blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security
Act of 2006 and blocks that are adjacent to or beyond the United
States' Exclusive Economic Zone in the area known as the northern
portion of the Eastern Gap). The proposed EPA lease sale area covers
approximately 657,905 acres and includes those blocks previously
included in the EPA Lease Sales 224 and 225 Area and a triangular-
shaped area south of this area bordered by the CPA boundary on the west
and the Military Mission Line (86[deg]41' W. longitude) on the east.
The area is south of eastern Alabama and western Florida; the nearest
point of land is 125 miles (201 kilometers) northwest in Louisiana.
This Federal Register notice is not an announcement to hold a
proposed lease sale, but it is a continuation of information gathering
and is published early in the environmental review process in
furtherance of the goals of NEPA. The comments received during the
scoping comment period will help form the content of the CPA 241 and
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS and will be summarized in presale
documentation prepared during the decisionmaking process for CPA Lease
Sale 241 and EPA Lease Sale 226. If, after completion of the CPA 241
and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS, the Secretary of the Interior decides
to hold the lease sales, then the lease sale areas identified in the
final Notices of Sale may exclude or defer certain lease blocks from
the area offered. However, for purposes of the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226
Supplemental EIS and to adequately assess the potential impacts of an
areawide lease sale, BOEM is assuming that all unleased blocks may be
offered in proposed CPA Lease Sale 241 and EPA Lease Sale 226, and in
the remaining proposed CPA Lease Sale 247, which is tentatively
scheduled to be held in 2017.
In order to ensure a greater level of transparency during the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) stages and tiered NEPA processes of
the Five-Year Program, BOEM established an alternative and mitigation
tracking table, which is designed to track the receipt and treatment of
alternative and mitigation suggestions. Section 4.3.2 of the Five-Year
Program EIS presented a list of deferral and alternative requests that
were received during the development of the Five-Year Program EIS, but
they were determined to be more appropriately considered at subsequent
OCSLA and NEPA stages. These deferral and alternative requests were
previously addressed in the 2012-2017 WPA/CPA Multisale, EPA 225/226
EIS, and other supplemental EIS documents for these planning areas and
were deemed inappropriate for further analysis at the time. In this and
future NEPA analyses, BOEM will continue to evaluate whether these or
other deferral or alternative requests warrant additional consideration
as appropriate. A key principle at each stage in the NEPA process is to
identify how the recommendations for deferral and mitigation requests
are being addressed and whether new information or circumstances favor
new or different analytical approaches in response to these requests.
Scoping Process: This NOI also serves to announce the scoping
process for identifying issues for the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226
Supplemental EIS. Throughout the scoping process, Federal, State,
Tribal, and local governments and the general public have the
opportunity to help BOEM determine significant resources and issues,
impacting factors, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigation
measures to be analyzed in the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental
EIS. BOEM will also use the NEPA commenting process to initiate the
Section 106 consultation process of the National Historic Preservation
Act (16
[[Page 35380]]
U.S.C. 470f), as provided for in 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3).
Pursuant to the regulations implementing the procedural provisions
of NEPA, BOEM will hold public scoping meetings in Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida on the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226
Supplemental EIS. The purpose of these meetings is to solicit comments
on the scope of the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS. BOEM's
scoping meetings will be held at the following places and times:
Panama City, Florida: Tuesday, July 8, 2014, Hilton Garden Inn
Panama City, 1101 U.S. Highway 231, Panama City, Florida, 32405, two
meetings, the first beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT and the second beginning
at 6:00 p.m. CDT;
Mobile, Alabama: Wednesday, July 9, 2014, Hilton Garden Inn
Mobile West, 828 West I-65 Service Road South, Mobile, Alabama 36609,
two meetings, the first beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT and the second
beginning at 6:00 p.m. CDT;
Gulfport, Mississippi: Thursday, July 10, 2014, Courtyard
Marriott, Gulfport Beachfront, 1600 East Beach Boulevard, Gulfport,
Mississippi 39501, two meetings, the first beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT
and the second beginning at 6:00 p.m. CDT;
New Orleans, Louisiana: Monday, July 14, 2014, Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park
Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123, one meeting beginning at 1:00
p.m. CDT; and
Larose, Louisiana: Monday, July 14, 2014, Larose Regional Park
and Civic Center, 307 E 5th Street, Larose, Louisiana 70373, one
meeting beginning at 6:00 p.m. CDT.
Cooperating Agency: BOEM invites other Federal, State, Tribal, and
local governments to consider becoming cooperating agencies in the
preparation of the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS. We invite
qualified government entities to inquire about cooperating agency
status for the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS. Following the
guidelines from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), qualified
agencies and governments are those with ``jurisdiction by law or
special expertise.'' Potential cooperating agencies should consider
their authority and capacity to assume the responsibilities of a
cooperating agency, and remember that an agency's role in the
environmental analysis neither enlarges nor diminishes the final
decisionmaking authority of any other agency involved in the NEPA
process. Upon request, BOEM will provide potential cooperating agencies
with a written summary of ground rules for cooperating agencies,
including time schedules and critical action dates, milestones,
responsibilities, scope and detail of cooperating agencies'
contributions, and availability of predecisional information. BOEM
anticipates this summary will form the basis for a Memorandum of
Agreement between BOEM and any cooperating agency. Agencies should also
consider the ``Factors for Determining Cooperating Agency Status'' in
Attachment 1 to CEQ's January 30, 2002, Memorandum for the Heads of
Federal Agencies: Cooperating Agencies in Implementing the Procedural
Requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. These documents
are available at the following locations on the Internet: http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/cooperating/cooperatingagenciesmemorandum.html; and http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/cooperating/cooperatingagencymemofactors.html.
BOEM, as the lead agency, will not provide financial assistance to
cooperating agencies. Even if an organization is not a cooperating
agency, opportunities will exist to provide information and comments to
BOEM during the normal public input stages of the NEPA/EIS process. For
further information about cooperating agencies, please contact Mr. Gary
D. Goeke at 504-736-3233.
Comments: All interested parties, including Federal, State, Tribal,
and local governments, and other interested parties, may submit written
comments on the scope of the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS,
significant issues that should be addressed, alternatives that should
be considered, potential mitigation measures, and the types of oil and
gas activities of interest in the proposed CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226
lease sale areas.
Written scoping comments may be submitted in one of the following
ways:
1. In an envelope labeled ``Scoping Comments for the CPA 241 and
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS'' and mailed (or hand delivered) to Mr.
Gary D. Goeke, Chief, Environmental Assessment Section, Office of
Environment (GM 623E), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of
Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana
70123-2394;
2. Through the regulations.gov web portal: Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and search for ``Oil and Gas Lease Sales: Gulf of
Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 241
and 247/Eastern Planning Area Lease Sale 226''. (Note: It is important
to include the quotation marks in your search terms.) Click on the
``Comment Now!'' button to the right of the document link. Enter your
information and comment, then click ``Submit''; or
3. BOEM's email address: [email protected].
Petitions, although accepted, do not generally provide useful
information to assist in the development of alternatives, resources,
and issues to be analyzed, or impacting factors. BOEM does not consider
anonymous comments; please include your name and address as part of
your submittal. 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 names and/or addresses from the public record; however, BOEM
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. 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 by July 21, 2014 to the address
specified above.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the CPA 241 and
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS, the submission of comments, or BOEM's
policies associated with this notice, please contact Mr. Gary D. Goeke,
Chief, Environmental Assessment Section, Office of Environment (GM
623E), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region,
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394,
telephone 504-736-3233.
Authority: This NOI is published pursuant to the regulations
(40 CFR 1501.7) implementing the provisions of NEPA.
Dated: May 30, 2014.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2014-14104 Filed 6-19-14; 8:45 am]
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