Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Oil and Gas Lease Sales for 2020, 66302-66303 [2018-27877]
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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Notices
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the south by the maritime boundary
with Mexico as established by the
Treaty between the Government of the
United States of America and the
Government of the United Mexican
States on the Delimitation of the
Continental Shelf in the Western Gulf of
Mexico beyond 200 nautical miles,
which took effect in January 2001.
BOEM is seeking nominations and
comments at this time on the entire
WPA, which consists of approximately
28.58 million acres, of which
approximately 26.10 million acres are
currently unleased.
The GOM Region-wide sale area
includes a small section of the EPA that
is not subject to the GOMESA
moratorium, which currently runs until
June 30, 2022. See https://
www.boem.gov/Areas-Under-Moratoria/
for a map and description of the
GOMESA Moratorium Area. The portion
of the EPA not subject to Congressional
moratorium is bound on the east by the
Military Mission Line (86°41′ W
longitude), on the south by blocks that
are beyond the U.S. Exclusive Economic
Zone in the area known as the northern
portion of the Eastern Gap, and on the
west by the CPA. BOEM is seeking
nominations and comments at this time
on the portion of the EPA that is not
subject to the GOMESA moratorium.
The portion of the EPA not subject to
the moratorium consists of
approximately 657,905 acres, of which
approximately 606,995 acres are
currently unleased.
A map depicting the Call Area is
available for download on the BOEM
website at: https://www.boem.gov/MultiSale2020. Copies of Official Protraction
Diagrams (OPDs) also are available for
download on the BOEM website at:
https://www.boem.gov/Maps-and-GISData/.
3. Instructions on the Call
Parties interested in leasing one or
more whole or partial blocks within the
Call Area are requested to indicate their
interest in, and comment on, blocks
within the boundaries of the Call Area
that they wish to have included in the
proposed lease sale. Respondents
should explicitly outline the areas of
interest along block lines and rank the
areas or specific blocks in which they
are interested, according to their
priority, using the following indicators:
1 [high], 2 [medium], or 3 [low].
Respondents are encouraged to be as
specific as possible in prioritizing
blocks and supporting nominations of
specific blocks with detailed
information, such as relevant geologic,
geophysical, and economic data. Areas
where interest has been indicated, but
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20:07 Dec 21, 2018
Jkt 247001
on which respondents have not
indicated priorities, will be considered
low priority. Respondents may also
submit a list of blocks nominated by
OPD and Leasing Map designations to
ensure correct interpretation of their
nominations. OPDs and Leasing Maps
are available on BOEM’s website at
https://www.boem.gov/Maps-and-GISData/. See subsection 5, ‘‘Protection of
Privileged or Proprietary Information,’’
regarding protection and release of
information and how to mark and
submit proprietary information.
BOEM also seeks comments from all
interested parties regarding particular
geological, environmental, biological,
archaeological, and socioeconomic
conditions; potential use conflicts, or
other information about conditions that
could affect the potential leasing and
development of particular areas.
Comments may refer to broad areas or
may refer to particular OCS blocks.
4. Protection of Privileged or Proprietary
Information
BOEM will protect privileged or
proprietary information in accordance
with the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) and OCSLA requirements. To
avoid inadvertent release of such
information, you 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, you should clearly mark
the document to indicate which portion
of the document is proprietary and
which is not. Exemption 4 of FOIA
applies to trade secrets and commercial
or financial information that you submit
that is privileged or confidential. BOEM
considers nominations of specific blocks
to be proprietary, and therefore will not
release information that identifies any
particular nomination with any
particular party, so as not to
compromise the competitive position of
any participants in the process of
indicating interest.
However, please be aware that
BOEM’s practice is to make all
comments, including the names and
addresses of individuals, available for
public inspection. Before including your
address, phone number, email address,
or other personal identifying
information in your comment, please be
advised that your entire comment,
including your personal identifying
information, may be made publicly
available at any time. In order for BOEM
to withhold from disclosure your
personal identifying information, you
must identify any information contained
in the submission of your comments
PO 00000
Frm 00066
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
that, if released, would constitute a
clearly unwarranted invasion of your
personal privacy. You must also briefly
describe any possible harmful
consequences of the disclosure of
information, such as embarrassment,
injury or other harm. Although you can
ask us in your comment to withhold
from public review your personal
identifying information, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
BOEM will make available for public
inspection, in their entirety, all
comments submitted by organizations
and businesses, or by individuals
identifying themselves as
representatives of organizations or
businesses.
Authority: This Call is published pursuant
to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
(OCSLA), as amended (43 U.S.C. 1331–1356)
and the implementing regulations at 30 CFR
part 556.301.
Dated: December 19, 2018.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management.
[FR Doc. 2018–27876 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket ID: BOEM–2018–0060]
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Gulf of
Mexico (GOM), Oil and Gas Lease
Sales for 2020
Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a
supplemental environmental impact
statement.
AGENCY:
Consistent with the
regulations implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),
BOEM is announcing its intent to
prepare a Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS), which is
expected to be used to inform the
decisions for each of the two proposed
lease sales scheduled in 2020 and the
subsequent lease sales through 2022
(2020 GOM Supplemental EIS) that are
comprised of the Western and Central
Planning Areas, and a small portion of
the Eastern Planning Area not subject to
Congressional moratorium. These
planning areas are located off the States
of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Florida.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
information on the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS or BOEM’s policies
associated with this notice, please
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\26DEN1.SGM
26DEN1
amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 246 / Wednesday, December 26, 2018 / Notices
contact Ms. Helen Rucker, 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–
736–2421, or email at helen.rucker@
boem.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Council on Environmental Quality’s
NEPA implementing regulations
encourage agencies to analyze similar or
related proposals in one EIS (40 CFR
1508.25). Since the proposed lease sale
area and the reasonably foreseeable OCS
oil and gas activities are similar among
GOM lease sales, BOEM plans to use the
2020 GOM Supplemental EIS, and the
EISs it tiers from, to support decisions
on lease sales proposed to be held in the
GOM from 2020 through 2022. The 2020
GOM Supplemental EIS will tier from
the 2017–2022 GOM Multisale EIS and
the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, and
will focus on any changes in the
proposed action or the new information
released since their publication. The
resource estimates and scenario
information for the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS will include a range
that encompasses the estimated
resources and reasonably foreseeable
post-lease activities that may result from
a single proposed lease sale. At the
completion of this Supplemental EIS
process, a decision will be made only
for the first proposed 2020 GOM lease
sale. A separate decision will be made
for the subsequent proposed GOM lease
sales through 2022.
The proposed lease sales are within
the same geographic scope, range of
predicted activities, and dates as those
analyzed in the 2017–2022 GOM
Multisale EIS and 2018 GOM
Supplemental EIS. Therefore, BOEM
will continue to tier from the 2017–2022
GOM Multisale EIS and 2018 GOM
Supplemental EIS, and will begin
preparation of the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS before the 2019–2024
National Program is finalized. Should
the GOM lease sales ultimately included
in the 2019–2024 National Program
differ substantially from those
scheduled previously, BOEM will refine
the analyses in the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS or prepare an
additional supplemental EIS, as
appropriate, to support an individual
lease sale decision. Under 40 CFR
1502.9 scoping is not required for a
Supplemental EIS. Given the recent
publication of the 2017–2022 GOM
Multisale EIS and 2018 GOM
Supplemental EIS, BOEM is not
conducting formal scoping for the 2020
VerDate Sep<11>2014
20:07 Dec 21, 2018
Jkt 247001
GOM Supplemental EIS. This Notice of
Intent (NOI) serves to announce the
preparation of the Gulf of Mexico Outer
Continental Shelf Lease Sales: 2020,
Draft Supplemental Environmental
Impact Statement (Draft 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS).
The 2020 GOM Supplemental EIS
analysis will focus on the potential
environmental effects from an oil and
gas lease sale offering all available
unleased acreage in the GOM, including
the Western and Central Planning Areas,
and the portion of the Eastern Planning
Area not subject to Congressional
moratorium (i.e., the proposed action),
including the effects of all reasonably
foreseeable exploration, development,
and production activities that may
result from the lease sale. In addition to
the no action alternative (i.e., cancel the
lease sale), other alternatives will be
considered for each proposed lease sale,
such as offering individual or multiple
planning areas for lease (rather than a
regionwide sale) or potentially deferring
certain areas from the proposed lease
sales. Practicable means of mitigating
potential impacts from the proposed
action will also be analyzed in the 2020
GOM Supplemental EIS.
Cooperating Agencies: BOEM invites
other Federal agencies, and State,
Tribal, and local governments to
consider becoming cooperating agencies
in the preparation of the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS. BOEM invites
qualified government entities to inquire
about cooperating agency status for this
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’’ (40 CFR 1508.5). Potential
cooperating agencies should consider
their authority and capacity to assume
the responsibilities of a cooperating
agency and should 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 expectations
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,
PO 00000
Frm 00067
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
66303
Memorandum for the Heads of Federal
Agencies: Cooperating Agencies in
Implementing the Procedural
Requirements of the National
Environmental Policy Act. This
document is available on the internet at
https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/
nepapub/nepa_documents/RedDont/GCEQ-CoopAgenciesImplem.pdf.
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 process.
Authority: This NOI is published pursuant
to the regulations (40 CFR 1501.7)
implementing the provisions of NEPA.
Dated: December 19, 2018.
Michael A. Celata,
Regional Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region.
[FR Doc. 2018–27877 Filed 12–21–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
COMMISSION
[Investigation No. 337–TA–1050]
Certain Dental Ceramics, Products
Thereof, and Methods of Making the
Same Termination of Investigation with
a Finding of No Violation of Section
337
U.S. International Trade
Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Notice is hereby given that
the U.S. International Trade
Commission has found no violation of
section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in
the above-captioned investigation. The
investigation is terminated.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sidney A. Rosenzweig, Office of the
General Counsel, U.S. International
Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20436, telephone (202)
708–2532. Copies of non-confidential
documents filed in connection with this
investigation are or will be available for
inspection during official business
hours (8:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.) in the
Office of the Secretary, U.S.
International Trade Commission, 500 E
Street SW, Washington, DC 20436,
telephone (202) 205–2000. General
information concerning the Commission
may also be obtained by accessing its
internet server at https://www.usitc.gov.
The public record for this investigation
may be viewed on the Commission’s
electronic docket (EDIS) at https://
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\26DEN1.SGM
26DEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66302-66303]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27877]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket ID: BOEM-2018-0060]
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Gulf of Mexico (GOM), Oil and Gas
Lease Sales for 2020
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a supplemental environmental impact
statement.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Consistent with the regulations implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), BOEM is announcing its intent to
prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which is
expected to be used to inform the decisions for each of the two
proposed lease sales scheduled in 2020 and the subsequent lease sales
through 2022 (2020 GOM Supplemental EIS) that are comprised of the
Western and Central Planning Areas, and a small portion of the Eastern
Planning Area not subject to Congressional moratorium. These planning
areas are located off the States of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, and Florida.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS or BOEM's policies associated with this notice, please
[[Page 66303]]
contact Ms. Helen Rucker, 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 504-736-2421, or email at
helen.rucker@boem.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Council on Environmental Quality's NEPA
implementing regulations encourage agencies to analyze similar or
related proposals in one EIS (40 CFR 1508.25). Since the proposed lease
sale area and the reasonably foreseeable OCS oil and gas activities are
similar among GOM lease sales, BOEM plans to use the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS, and the EISs it tiers from, to support decisions on
lease sales proposed to be held in the GOM from 2020 through 2022. The
2020 GOM Supplemental EIS will tier from the 2017-2022 GOM Multisale
EIS and the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, and will focus on any changes in
the proposed action or the new information released since their
publication. The resource estimates and scenario information for the
2020 GOM Supplemental EIS will include a range that encompasses the
estimated resources and reasonably foreseeable post-lease activities
that may result from a single proposed lease sale. At the completion of
this Supplemental EIS process, a decision will be made only for the
first proposed 2020 GOM lease sale. A separate decision will be made
for the subsequent proposed GOM lease sales through 2022.
The proposed lease sales are within the same geographic scope,
range of predicted activities, and dates as those analyzed in the 2017-
2022 GOM Multisale EIS and 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS. Therefore, BOEM
will continue to tier from the 2017-2022 GOM Multisale EIS and 2018 GOM
Supplemental EIS, and will begin preparation of the 2020 GOM
Supplemental EIS before the 2019-2024 National Program is finalized.
Should the GOM lease sales ultimately included in the 2019-2024
National Program differ substantially from those scheduled previously,
BOEM will refine the analyses in the 2020 GOM Supplemental EIS or
prepare an additional supplemental EIS, as appropriate, to support an
individual lease sale decision. Under 40 CFR 1502.9 scoping is not
required for a Supplemental EIS. Given the recent publication of the
2017-2022 GOM Multisale EIS and 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, BOEM is not
conducting formal scoping for the 2020 GOM Supplemental EIS. This
Notice of Intent (NOI) serves to announce the preparation of the Gulf
of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sales: 2020, Draft Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (Draft 2020 GOM Supplemental EIS).
The 2020 GOM Supplemental EIS analysis will focus on the potential
environmental effects from an oil and gas lease sale offering all
available unleased acreage in the GOM, including the Western and
Central Planning Areas, and the portion of the Eastern Planning Area
not subject to Congressional moratorium (i.e., the proposed action),
including the effects of all reasonably foreseeable exploration,
development, and production activities that may result from the lease
sale. In addition to the no action alternative (i.e., cancel the lease
sale), other alternatives will be considered for each proposed lease
sale, such as offering individual or multiple planning areas for lease
(rather than a regionwide sale) or potentially deferring certain areas
from the proposed lease sales. Practicable means of mitigating
potential impacts from the proposed action will also be analyzed in the
2020 GOM Supplemental EIS.
Cooperating Agencies: BOEM invites other Federal agencies, and
State, Tribal, and local governments to consider becoming cooperating
agencies in the preparation of the 2020 GOM Supplemental EIS. BOEM
invites qualified government entities to inquire about cooperating
agency status for this 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''
(40 CFR 1508.5). Potential cooperating agencies should consider their
authority and capacity to assume the responsibilities of a cooperating
agency and should 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 expectations 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. This document is available on the
internet at https://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/nepapub/nepa_documents/RedDont/G-CEQ-CoopAgenciesImplem.pdf.
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 process.
Authority: This NOI is published pursuant to the regulations (40
CFR 1501.7) implementing the provisions of NEPA.
Dated: December 19, 2018.
Michael A. Celata,
Regional Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico
OCS Region.
[FR Doc. 2018-27877 Filed 12-21-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
