[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 145 (Tuesday, July 29, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44060-44064]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17842]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2014-0017]
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Alaska OCS Region, Beaufort Sea
Planning Area, Proposed Oil and Gas Lease Sale 242 (Sale 242)
MMAA104000
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Call for Information and Nominations.
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SUMMARY: This Call for Information and Nominations (hereinafter
referred to as ``Call'') is the initial step in the prelease process
for Sale 242 in the Beaufort Sea Planning Area. The lease sale
presently is scheduled to be held in 2017, as included in the Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017
(hereinafter referred to as ``Five Year Program''). The purpose of this
Call is to obtain nominations for leasing in the Beaufort Sea Planning
Area and information on oil and gas leasing, exploration, and
development that might result from an OCS oil and gas lease sale for
the Beaufort Sea Planning Area. The area addressed in this Call
(hereinafter referred to as ``Program Area'') is located offshore the
State of Alaska in the Beaufort Sea Planning Area (see map included
with this Call). As identified in the Five Year Program, the Program
Area is a sub-area of the larger Beaufort Sea Planning Area.
DATES: All responses to the Call must be received no later than
September 12, 2014.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael S. Rolland, Chief, Leasing
Section, BOEM, Alaska OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, Suite 500,
Anchorage, Alaska 99503-5823, or at (907) 334-5200.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: BOEM will not consider areawide leasing for
this sale; this sale (if held) will be conducted under the targeted
leasing model for Alaska, as described in the Five Year Program. This
Call differs from the Call for Information and Nominations for the
Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 237, issued on September 27, 2013, and found in
the Federal Register at 78 FR 59715. Industry should note that for this
Call, if nominations are within the BOEM-defined areas of high
petroleum potential, the nominating party is not required to provide
supporting geological, geophysical, or economic information. However,
if industry nominates an area outside of the BOEM defined high
petroleum potential area, then the company making such a nomination may
be asked by BOEM to support its nomination with geological,
geophysical, or economic information.
In addition to seeking nominations, this Call requests information
concerning:
Geological conditions, including bottom hazards;
archaeological sites on the seabed or nearshore;
multiple uses of the Program Area, including navigation,
recreation, and fisheries; and
other socioeconomic, biological, and environmental
information, including but not limited to, information regarding oil
and gas resource potential, sensitive habitats, subsistence use, unique
conditions, and important other uses of the Program Area.
After BOEM identifies the area for the proposed lease sale based
upon the information and nominations received from this Call, BOEM will
initiate an environmental analysis process in accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) through publication of a
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (NOI/
EIS). BOEM will use the information obtained through this Call and the
Area Identification in developing the proposed action and possible
alternatives to be identified and scoped in the NOI/EIS.
Call for Information and Nominations
1. Authority
This Call is published pursuant to the Outer Continental Shelf
Lands Act (OCSLA), as amended (43 U.S.C. 1331-1356), and the
regulations issued thereunder (30 CFR part 556).
2. Purpose of This Call
The purpose of this Call is to gather information to determine the
Area Identification for Sale 242 under 30 CFR 556.26. BOEM seeks
information and nominations on oil and gas leasing, exploration, and
development and production in the Program Area from all interested
parties. This early planning and consultation step is important to
ensure that all interests and concerns are communicated to the U.S.
Department of the Interior for consideration in future decisions in the
leasing process, pursuant to OCSLA and the regulations at 30 CFR part
556.
3. Description of Program Area
The Program Area is located offshore the State of Alaska in the
Beaufort Sea Planning Area. The Beaufort Sea Planning Area extends from
the 3-nautical mile (4.8 kilometers [km]) limit of State of Alaska
waters northward to latitude 75[deg] N. on the west (west of longitude
148[deg] W.) or to latitude 74[deg] N on the east (east of longitude
148[deg] W.) (see map included with this notice). The planning area
extends from longitude 156[deg] W. (roughly north of the village of
Barrow) on the west to the Canadian maritime boundary. As depicted on
the page-size map accompanying this Call, the Program Area, which is a
subset of the planning area, extends offshore from about 3 nautical
miles to approximately 280 nautical miles, in water depths from
approximately 25 feet to more than 14,000 feet. This area consists of
approximately 11,800 whole and partial blocks (about 64.8 million
acres, or 26.2 million hectares). A large-scale Call map showing the
boundaries and blocks of the Beaufort Sea Program Area is available
without charge on the BOEM Web site at http://www.boem.gov/ak242.
Copies of Official Protraction Diagrams also are available without
charge on the Web site at http://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy-Program/Mapping-and-Data/Alaska.aspx.
4. Nominations on This Call
Written nominations must be received no later than September 12,
2014. Submittals should indicate ``Nominations for Beaufort Sea Lease
Sale 242.''
Persons or corporations, or other entities in the oil and gas
industry (hereinafter referred to as ``industry'') submitting
nominations, should describe explicitly their interest by ranking the
areas nominated according to priority using five interest
classifications: (1) Critical interest, (2) high interest, (3) general
interest, (4) low interest, or (5) no interest. The area(s) nominated
must be described accurately and shown on the large-scale Call map
available at http://www.boem.gov/ak242. Industry nominations within the
BOEM-defined areas of high petroleum potential, as identified on Map D
in the document Final Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing
Program for 2012-2017 (available at http://www.boem.gov/ak242), need
not justify the nomination further. However, if the nomination is
outside of the BOEM-defined area of high resource potential, the
nominating party should be as specific as possible in prioritizing
blocks and should be prepared, if called upon, to supply geological,
geophysical, or economic information on why such blocks should be
included in Sale 242. Industry nominators are requested to provide the
telephone number and name of the individual to contact regarding the
nominations. A representative from BOEM's Alaska OCS Regional office
may contact this individual to set up a mutually agreeable meeting date
and time to review more fully the nomination.
To avoid inadvertent release of proprietary information, industry
should mark all documents and every page containing such information
with ``Confidential--Contains Proprietary Information.'' To the extent
a document contains a mix of proprietary and nonproprietary
information, industry should mark clearly which portion of the document
is proprietary and which is not. The OCSLA states that the ``Secretary
shall maintain the confidentiality of all privileged or proprietary
data or information for such period of time as is provided for in this
subchapter, established by regulation, or agreed to by the parties''
(43 U.S.C. 1344(g)). BOEM considers written nominations of specific
blocks to be proprietary, and it will not release those nominations to
the public.
5. Exclusion Areas and Other Comments
BOEM is seeking recommendations on whether to exclude specific
blocks or areas from oil and gas leasing (hereinafter referred to as
``proposed exclusion areas''), or to lease them under special
conditions due to conflicting values and environmental concerns.
Persons, Federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes, and
other interested parties (hereinafter referred to as ``commenters'')
should indicate proposed exclusion areas or areas of special concern on
the large-scale Call map available at http://www.boem.gov/ak242.
Commenters also may use the interactive map tool for the
[[Page 44062]]
Arctic at http://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy-Program/Leasing/Five-Year-Program/Lease-Sale-Schedule/Interactive-Maps.aspx. Commenters are
encouraged to be as specific as possible in explaining why the area
should be excluded or leased under special conditions, provide
supporting information, and be prepared to discuss the proposed
exclusion areas with BOEM. Commenters are requested to provide the
telephone number and name of the individual to contact regarding
comments. A representative from BOEM's Alaska OCS Regional office may
contact this individual to set up a mutually agreeable meeting date and
time to review more fully the proposed exclusion areas.
BOEM also is seeking comments and information from all interested
persons regarding:
Areas that should receive more detailed consideration and
analysis;
geological conditions, including bottom hazards;
archaeological sites on the seabed or nearshore;
other uses of the Program Area, including navigation and
subsistence; and
other socioeconomic, biological, or environmental
information.
BOEM received comments on the Program Area as part of the Five Year
Program approval process. Those comments included information on the
importance of the Boulder Patch, Camden Bay, and the Nuiqsut bowhead
whale hunt area near Cross Island. BOEM will consider information
submitted previously on the Five Year Program (see section 7. below),
but BOEM encourages persons who submitted comments on the Five Year
Program to refine their earlier comments and provide greater detail or
new information, where appropriate, concerning the importance of these
areas or associated activities.
6. Submissions of Nominations, Requests for Exclusion Areas, and Other
Comments
Industry representatives who are nominating area(s) for inclusion
in the sale should send their nominations to: Chief, Leasing Section,
BOEM, Alaska OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, Suite 500, Anchorage,
Alaska 99503-5823.
Proposals for exclusion areas and areas of special concern,
including general information from persons, Federal agencies, state and
local governments, tribes, and other interested parties, will be
accepted only through http://www.regulations.gov, using docket
designation BOEM-2014-0017. All comments received via this Web site,
including names and addresses of the commenter, are public and will be
posted for public review. BOEM will not consider anonymous comments.
BOEM will make available all nonproprietary submissions in their
entirety on http://www.regulations.gov. However, BOEM will remove
inappropriate content (i.e., contains vulgar language, personal attacks
of any kind, threats, accusations, obscenity, or offensive terms that
target specific ethnic or racial groups), or comments that are off-
topic (i.e., not pertinent to the information requested in the Call).
Groups bundling comments from multiple individuals are encouraged to
screen comments for inappropriate content.
7. Tracking Table and Interactive Map
In the Five Year Program, BOEM established a mitigation/program
tracking table (hereinafter referred to as ``Table''), which is
designed to track the history and treatment of suggestions for
inclusion or exclusion of acreage, temporal deferrals, and/or
mitigation from the Five Year Program stage through the lease sale
stage to the plan stage. The Table will allow commenters to see how and
where their concerns are considered. The Table also will ensure that a
reasonable concern not suitable for consideration during one stage will
be considered at an appropriate subsequent stage. The Table may be
viewed at http://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy-Program/Leasing/Five-Year-Program/Lease-Sale-Schedule/Tracking-Table.aspx. Appropriate
suggestions collected during the comment period on this Call will be
added to the Table and tracked throughout the process.
Additionally, BOEM has created an interactive map through the
MarineCadastre.gov Web site for Alaska at http://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy-Program/Leasing/Five-Year-Program/Lease-Sale-Schedule/Interactive-Maps.aspx. MarineCadastre.gov is an integrated marine
information system that provides a more comprehensive look at
geospatial data and ongoing activities and studies occurring in the
area being considered. If persons believe that a data layer should be
added for consideration, they should provide this information by
following the commenting instructions above. Questions about the
interactive map may be addressed to: Chief, Leasing Section, BOEM,
Alaska OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, Suite 500, Anchorage, Alaska
99503-5823, or by calling (907) 334-5200.
8. Use of Information From This Call
BOEM is undertaking a strategy of targeted leasing, whereby the
BOEM Director will use the information provided in response to this
Call to make an Area Identification decision under 30 CFR 556.26. BOEM
will consider nominations, proposed exclusion areas, and areas proposed
to receive special consideration and analysis, in light of resource
estimates, information regarding exploratory drilling, environmental
reviews, and other relevant information. Using this information, BOEM
plans to target leasing by proactively determining which specific
portions of the Program Area offer greater resource potential, while
minimizing potential conflicts with environmental and subsistence
considerations.
Information submitted in response to this Call also will be used
to:
Develop potential lease terms and conditions;
identify potential use conflicts; and
assist in the NEPA scoping process.
9. Existing Information
An extensive Environmental Studies Program, including
environmental, social, and economic studies in the Beaufort Sea
Planning Area, has been underway in the BOEM Alaska OCS Region since
1976. The emphasis has been on environmental characterization of
biologically sensitive habitats, marine mammals, physical oceanography,
ocean-circulation modeling, subsistence uses, and ecological and
sociocultural effects of oil and gas activities. Information on the
BOEM Environmental Studies Program, completed studies, and a program
status report for continuing studies in this area is available on the
BOEM Web site at http://www.boem.gov/akstudies, or it may be obtained
from the Chief, Environmental Sciences Management Section, Alaska OCS
Region, by telephone request at (907) 334-5200.
NEPA analyses were prepared for previous OCS lease sales held in
the Beaufort Sea Planning Area. Previous NEPA analyses for Beaufort Sea
lease sales and other actions are available at http://www.boem.gov/
About-BOEM/BOEM-Regions/Alaska-Region/Environment/Environmental-
Analysis/Environmental-Impact-Statements-and_Major-Environmental-
Assessments.aspx. Currently, 147 active OCS oil and gas leases exist in
the Beaufort Sea Planning Area, encompassing an area of approximately
760,000 acres (308,000 hectares). Information on the leases and other
lease-related activities is available at
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http://www.boem.gov/About-BOEM/BOEM-Regions/Alaska-Region/Leasing-and-Plans/Index.aspx.
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TN29JY14.000
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[FR Doc. 2014-17842 Filed 7-28-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-C