Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Central Planning Area (CPA), Oil and Gas Lease Sale 206 (2008) Environmental Assessment (EA), 61368-61369 [E7-21275]
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61368
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 209 / Tuesday, October 30, 2007 / Notices
other characteristics is difficult and
uneconomic to manage as part of the
public lands and is not suitable for
management by another Federal
department or agency.’’
This 1.25-acre parcel is not required
for any Federal purposes. It has been
determined that this parcel is
impractical to manage as part of the
public lands. BLM has determined that
resource values will not be adversely
affected by title transfer of this 1.25-acre
parcel to non-Federal ownership. Sale of
the parcel conforms to criteria of the
BLM Medicine Lodge Resource
Management Plan (RMP) approved in
April 1985. The patent, when issued,
will contain the following reservations,
covenants, terms and conditions:
1. The parcel will be conveyed with
a reservation of a right-of-way to the
United States for ditches and canals
constructed by the authority of the
United States under the Act of August
30, 1890 (43 U.S.C. 945).
2. The patentee, by accepting the
patent, agrees to indemnify, defend, and
hold the United States harmless from
any costs, damages, claims, causes of
action, penalties, fines, liabilities, and
judgments of any kind arising from the
past, present, or future acts or omissions
of the grantor, its employees, agents,
contractor, or lessees, or a third party
arising out of, or in connection with, the
grantor’s use and/or occupancy of the
deeded real property resulting in:
Violations of Federal, State and local
laws and regulations that are now, or in
the future become, applicable to the real
property: (1) Judgments, claims, or
demands of any kind assessed against
the United States; (2) costs, expenses, or
damages of any kind incurred by the
United States; (3) releases or threatened
releases of solid or hazardous waste(s)
and/or hazardous substance(s) as
defined by Federal or State
environmental laws, off, on, into, or
under land, property, and other interests
of the United States; (4) other activities
by which solids or hazardous
substances or wastes, as defined by
Federal and State environmental laws
are generated, released, stored, used, or
otherwise disposed of on the deeded
real property, and any cleanup
response, remedial action, or other
actions related in any manner to said
solid or hazardous substances or wastes;
or (5) natural resource damages as
defined by Federal and State law. This
covenant shall be construed as running
with the deeded real property and may
be enforced by the United States in a
court of competent jurisdiction.
Pursuant to the requirements
established by Section 120(h) of the
Comprehensive Environmental
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Response, Compensation and Liability
Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. 9620(h), as
amended by the Superfund
Amendments and Reauthorization Act
of 1988, 100 Stat. 1670, notice is hereby
given that the above-described parcel
has been examined and no evidence was
found to indicate that any hazardous
substances have been stored for one year
or more, nor had any hazardous
substances been disposed of or released
on the subject property.
3. The patent shall reserve a
conservation easement in perpetuity on
the entire 1.25 acre parcel.
Upon publication of this notice in the
Federal Register, the land described
above will be segregated from
appropriation under the public land
laws, including the general mining laws.
The segregation will end upon issuance
of patent or other documents of
conveyance for such lands, upon
publication in the Federal Register of a
termination of the segregation, or 270
days from the date of this publication,
whichever occurs first, unless extended
by the BLM State Director in accordance
with 43 CFR 2711.2(a), prior to the
termination date.
No warranty of any kind, expressed or
implied, is given by the United States as
to the title, the parcel’s physical
condition or potential uses. The
conveyance will not be on a
contingency basis. It is the buyer’s
responsibility to be aware of all
applicable Federal, State, or local
government laws, regulations, or
policies that may affect the subject
parcel or its future uses. It is also the
buyer’s responsibility to be aware of
existing or prospective uses of nearby
properties.
The land will not be offered for sale
until at least 60 days after the date of
publication of this notice in the Federal
Register. In the event of a sale, the
unreserved mineral interests will be
conveyed simultaneously with the sale
of the land. These unreserved mineral
interests have been determined to have
no known mineral value pursuant to 43
CFR 2720.2(a). Acceptance of the sale
offer will constitute an application for
conveyance of those unreserved mineral
interests. The purchaser will be required
to pay a $50.00 non-refundable filing fee
for conveyance of the available mineral
interests. The purchaser will have 30
days from date of receiving the sale offer
to accept the offer and to submit a
deposit of 20 percent of the purchase
price, the $50.00 filing fee for
conveyance of mineral interests, and for
payment of publication costs. The
purchaser must remit the remainder of
the purchase price within 180 days from
the date the sale offer is received.
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Payments must be by certified check,
postal money order, bank draft, or
cashier’s check payable to the U.S.
Department of the Interior—BLM.
Failure to meet conditions established
for this sale will void the sale and any
monies received will be forfeited.
Failure or refusal by Dale E. McDowell,
Louise J. Prudhomme, and George
McDowell to submit the required fair
market appraisal amount within 180
days of the sale of the parcel will
constitute a waiver of this preference
consideration and this parcel may be
offered for sale on a competitive or
modified competitive basis.
(Authority: 43 CFR 2711.1–2)
Dated: September 24, 2007.
Wendy Reynolds,
Upper Snake Field Manager.
[FR Doc. E7–21312 Filed 10–29–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–GG–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Outer
Continental Shelf (OCS), Central
Planning Area (CPA), Oil and Gas
Lease Sale 206 (2008) Environmental
Assessment (EA)
Minerals Management Service
(MMS), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of an
Environmental Assessment.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The MMS is issuing this
notice to advise the public, pursuant to
the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, 42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq., that the MMS has prepared
an EA for proposed OCS oil and gas
Lease Sale 206 in the Central GOM
Planning Area (Lease Sale 206)
scheduled for March 2008. The
preparation of this EA is an important
step in the decision process for Lease
Sale 206. The proposal for Lease Sale
206 was identified by the Call for
Information and Nominations published
in the Federal Register on April 28,
2006, and was analyzed in the Gulf of
Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales:
2007–2012; Western Planning Area
Sales 204, 207, 210, 215, and 218;
Central Planning Area Sales 205, 206,
208, 213, 216, and 222—Final
Environmental Impact Statement(EIS);
Volumes I and II (Multisale EIS, OCS
EIS/EA MMS 2007–018).
The proposal does not include
approximately 5.8 million acres located
in the southeastern part of the Central
Planning Area which the Gulf of Mexico
Energy Security Act of 2006 opened to
leasing after many years of
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appropriations Acts containing leasing
moratoria. Because of the limited
geological and geophysical data
available to industry and the limited
environmental review for this area, the
MMS has decided that it would be
premature to offer this area in proposed
Lease Sale 206. Before the area is offered
for lease, the MMS will conduct a
separate NEPA review to reevaluate the
expanded CPA sale area.
This EA for proposed Lease Sale 206
reexamined the potential environmental
effects of the proposed lease sale and its
alternatives excluding the unleased
blocks near biologically sensitive
topographic features; excluding the
unleased blocks within 15 miles of the
Baldwin County, Alabama Coast; and no
action based on any new information
regarding potential impacts and issues
that were not available at the time the
Multisale EIS was prepared. No new
significant impacts were identified for
proposed Lease Sale 206 that were not
already assessed in the Multisale EIS.
As a result, the MMS determined that a
Supplemental EIS is not required and
prepared a Finding of No New
Significant Impact (FONNSI).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.
Dennis Chew, Minerals Management
Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region,
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Mail
Stop 5410, New Orleans, Louisiana
70123–2394. You may also contact Mr.
Chew by telephone at (504) 736–2793.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In April
2007, the MMS published a Multisale
EIS that addressed 11 proposed Federal
actions that would offer for lease areas
on the GOM OCS that may contain
economically recoverable oil and gas
resources. Federal regulations allow for
several related or similar proposals to be
analyzed in one EIS (40 CFR 1502.4).
Since each proposed lease sale and its
projected activities are very similar each
year for each planning area, a single EIS
was prepared for the 11 Western
Planning Area (WPA) and CPA lease
sales scheduled in the proposed OCS
Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2007–
2012 (5-Year Program). The Multisale
EIS addressed WPA Lease Sale 204 in
2007, Sale 207 in 2008, Sale 210 in
2009, Sale 215 in 2010, and Sale 218 in
2011; and CPA Lease Sale 205 in 2007,
Sale 206 in 2008, Sale 208 in 2009, Sale
213 in 2010, Sale 216 in 2011, and Sale
222 in 2012. Although the Multisale EIS
addresses 11 proposed lease sales, at the
completion of the EIS process, Records
of Decision were published in July and
August 2007 for only proposed WPA
Lease Sale 204 and proposed CPA Lease
Sale 205, respectively. An additional
NEPA review (an EA) was conducted for
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proposed Lease Sale 206 to address any
new information relevant to the
proposed lease sale. Additional NEPA
reviews will also be conducted prior to
decisions on each of the eight
subsequent proposed lease sales. The
purpose of these EA’s is to determine
whether to prepare a FONNSI or a
Supplemental EIS. For each proposed
lease sale, MMS prepares a Consistency
Determination (CD) to determine
whether the lease sale is consistent with
each affected State’s federally-approved
coastal zone management program.
Finally, MMS solicits comments via the
Proposed Notice of Sale (PNOS) from
the governors of the affected States on
the size, timing, and location of the
lease sale. The tentative schedule for the
prelease decision process for Lease Sale
206 is as follows: CD’s sent to affected
States, October 2007; PNOS sent to
governors of the affected States, October
2007; Final Notice of Sale published in
the Federal Register, February 2008;
and Lease Sale 206, March 2008.
Public Comments: Interested parties
are requested to send comments on this
EA/FONNSI by November 29, 2007.
Comments may be submitted in one of
the following two ways:
1. In written form enclosed in an
envelope labeled ‘‘Comments on CPA
Lease Sale 206 EA’’ and mailed (or hand
carried) to the Regional Supervisor,
Leasing and Environment (MS5410),
Minerals Management Service, Gulf of
Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood
Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana
70123–2394.
2. Electronically to the MMS e-mail
address: environment@mms.gov.
All comments received will be
considered in the decisionmaking
process for proposed Lease Sale 206.
EA Availablity: To obtain a copy of
this EA, you may contact the MMS,
GOM OCS Region, Attention: Public
Information Office (MS 5034), 1201
Elmwood Park Boulevard, Room 114,
New Orleans, Louisiana 70123–2394 (1–
800–200–GULF). You may also view
this EA on the MMS Web site at
https://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/
regulate/environ/nepa/
nepaprocess.html.
Dated: October 1, 2007.
Chris C. Oynes,
Associate Director for Offshore Minerals
Management.
[FR Doc. E7–21275 Filed 10–29–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P
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61369
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Eastern
Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Planning Area,
Proposed Oil and Gas Lease Sale 224,
March 2008
Minerals Management Service
(MMS), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability (NOA) of
the Final Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement (SEIS).
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: The MMS has prepared a
Final SEIS on a tentatively scheduled
2008 oil and gas leasing proposal (Sale
224) in the Eastern GOM Planning Area,
off the States of Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Florida. As mandated in
the recently enacted Gulf of Mexico
Energy Security Act (GOMESA) of 2006
(Pub. L. 109–432, December 20, 2006),
MMS shall offer a portion of the ‘‘181
Area,’’ located in the Eastern Planning
Area, more than 125 miles from Florida
for oil and gas leasing.
Authority: The NOA is published pursuant
to the regulations (40 CFR 1503) under the
authority of the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA); the Environmental
Quality Improvement Act of 1970, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.).
The
recently enacted GOMESA of 2006 (Pub.
L. 109–432, December 20, 2006)
mandated MMS to offer a portion of the
‘‘181 Area’’ located in the newly defined
Eastern Planning Area, more than 125
miles from Florida and west of the
Military Mission Line (86 degrees, 41
minutes 30 seconds West longitude) for
oil and gas leasing ‘‘as soon as
practicable, but not later than 1 year,
after the date of enactment of this Act.’’
The Act mandates offering this area
‘‘notwithstanding the omission of the
181 Area * * * from any Outer
Continental Shelf leasing program under
section 18 of the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344).’’
However, this action is not exempted
from other legal requirements, such as
NEPA or the Coastal Zone Management
Act (CZMA). The MMS has prepared a
SEIS to the original Sale 181 EIS (2001)
in order to address these requirements.
The earliest MMS would be able to meet
these requirements and offer this area
for leasing would be approximately
March 2008. To meet the 1-year
requirement of GOMESA, this sale
should be held no later than December
2007; however, MMS feels that it is in
the best interests of all parties,
including the American public as
owners of these resources, that MMS
take the time necessary to fully comply
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61368-61369]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21275]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Central
Planning Area (CPA), Oil and Gas Lease Sale 206 (2008) Environmental
Assessment (EA)
AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The MMS is issuing this notice to advise the public, pursuant
to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, 42
U.S.C. 4321 et seq., that the MMS has prepared an EA for proposed OCS
oil and gas Lease Sale 206 in the Central GOM Planning Area (Lease Sale
206) scheduled for March 2008. The preparation of this EA is an
important step in the decision process for Lease Sale 206. The proposal
for Lease Sale 206 was identified by the Call for Information and
Nominations published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2006, and
was analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2007-
2012; Western Planning Area Sales 204, 207, 210, 215, and 218; Central
Planning Area Sales 205, 206, 208, 213, 216, and 222--Final
Environmental Impact Statement(EIS); Volumes I and II (Multisale EIS,
OCS EIS/EA MMS 2007-018).
The proposal does not include approximately 5.8 million acres
located in the southeastern part of the Central Planning Area which the
Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 opened to leasing after many
years of
[[Page 61369]]
appropriations Acts containing leasing moratoria. Because of the
limited geological and geophysical data available to industry and the
limited environmental review for this area, the MMS has decided that it
would be premature to offer this area in proposed Lease Sale 206.
Before the area is offered for lease, the MMS will conduct a separate
NEPA review to reevaluate the expanded CPA sale area.
This EA for proposed Lease Sale 206 reexamined the potential
environmental effects of the proposed lease sale and its alternatives
excluding the unleased blocks near biologically sensitive topographic
features; excluding the unleased blocks within 15 miles of the Baldwin
County, Alabama Coast; and no action based on any new information
regarding potential impacts and issues that were not available at the
time the Multisale EIS was prepared. No new significant impacts were
identified for proposed Lease Sale 206 that were not already assessed
in the Multisale EIS. As a result, the MMS determined that a
Supplemental EIS is not required and prepared a Finding of No New
Significant Impact (FONNSI).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Dennis Chew, Minerals Management
Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Mail
Stop 5410, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394. You may also contact Mr.
Chew by telephone at (504) 736-2793.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In April 2007, the MMS published a Multisale
EIS that addressed 11 proposed Federal actions that would offer for
lease areas on the GOM OCS that may contain economically recoverable
oil and gas resources. Federal regulations allow for several related or
similar proposals to be analyzed in one EIS (40 CFR 1502.4). Since each
proposed lease sale and its projected activities are very similar each
year for each planning area, a single EIS was prepared for the 11
Western Planning Area (WPA) and CPA lease sales scheduled in the
proposed OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2007-2012 (5-Year Program).
The Multisale EIS addressed WPA Lease Sale 204 in 2007, Sale 207 in
2008, Sale 210 in 2009, Sale 215 in 2010, and Sale 218 in 2011; and CPA
Lease Sale 205 in 2007, Sale 206 in 2008, Sale 208 in 2009, Sale 213 in
2010, Sale 216 in 2011, and Sale 222 in 2012. Although the Multisale
EIS addresses 11 proposed lease sales, at the completion of the EIS
process, Records of Decision were published in July and August 2007 for
only proposed WPA Lease Sale 204 and proposed CPA Lease Sale 205,
respectively. An additional NEPA review (an EA) was conducted for
proposed Lease Sale 206 to address any new information relevant to the
proposed lease sale. Additional NEPA reviews will also be conducted
prior to decisions on each of the eight subsequent proposed lease
sales. The purpose of these EA's is to determine whether to prepare a
FONNSI or a Supplemental EIS. For each proposed lease sale, MMS
prepares a Consistency Determination (CD) to determine whether the
lease sale is consistent with each affected State's federally-approved
coastal zone management program. Finally, MMS solicits comments via the
Proposed Notice of Sale (PNOS) from the governors of the affected
States on the size, timing, and location of the lease sale. The
tentative schedule for the prelease decision process for Lease Sale 206
is as follows: CD's sent to affected States, October 2007; PNOS sent to
governors of the affected States, October 2007; Final Notice of Sale
published in the Federal Register, February 2008; and Lease Sale 206,
March 2008.
Public Comments: Interested parties are requested to send comments
on this EA/FONNSI by November 29, 2007. Comments may be submitted in
one of the following two ways:
1. In written form enclosed in an envelope labeled ``Comments on
CPA Lease Sale 206 EA'' and mailed (or hand carried) to the Regional
Supervisor, Leasing and Environment (MS5410), Minerals Management
Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New
Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394.
2. Electronically to the MMS e-mail address: environment@mms.gov.
All comments received will be considered in the decisionmaking
process for proposed Lease Sale 206.
EA Availablity: To obtain a copy of this EA, you may contact the
MMS, GOM OCS Region, Attention: Public Information Office (MS 5034),
1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Room 114, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-
2394 (1-800-200-GULF). You may also view this EA on the MMS Web site at
https://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/regulate/environ/nepa/nepaprocess.html.
Dated: October 1, 2007.
Chris C. Oynes,
Associate Director for Offshore Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. E7-21275 Filed 10-29-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
