Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Oil and Gas Lease Sale 254, 8017-8018 [2020-02717]
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 29 / Wednesday, February 12, 2020 / Notices
construed as, acceptance of any bid on
behalf of the United States.
refund of the balance of the bonus bid
amount or first year’s rental payment.
Withdrawal of Blocks
XI. Delay of Sale
The BOEM GOM RD has the
discretion to change any date, time,
and/or location specified in the Final
NOS package in the case of an event that
the BOEM GOM RD deems could
interfere with a fair and orderly lease
sale process. Such events could include,
but are not limited to, natural disasters
(e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes, floods),
wars, riots, acts of terrorism, fires,
strikes, civil disorder, or other events of
a similar nature. In case of such events,
bidders should call (504) 736–0557, or
access the BOEM website at https://
www.boem.gov, for information
regarding any changes.
The United States reserves the right to
withdraw any block from this lease sale
prior to issuance of a written acceptance
of a bid for the block.
Acceptance, Rejection, or Return of Bids
The United States reserves the right to
reject any and all bids. No bid will be
accepted, and no lease for any block
will be awarded to any bidder, unless:
(1) The bidder has complied with all
applicable regulations and requirements
of the Final NOS, including those set
forth in the documents contained in the
Final NOS package;
(2) The bid is the highest valid bid;
and
(3) The amount of the bid has been
determined to be adequate by the
authorized officer.
Any bid submitted that does not
conform to the requirements of the Final
NOS and Final NOS package, OCSLA,
or other applicable statute or regulation
will be rejected and returned to the
bidder. The United States Department of
Justice and the Federal Trade
Commission will review the results of
the lease sale for antitrust issues prior
to the acceptance of bids and issuance
of leases.
To ensure that the U.S. Government
receives a fair return for the conveyance
of leases from this sale, BOEM will
evaluate high bids in accordance with
its bid adequacy procedures, which are
available on BOEM’s website at https://
www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-EnergyProgram/Leasing/Regional-Leasing/
Gulf-of-Mexico-Region/Bid-AdequacyProcedures.aspx.
lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with NOTICES
Lease Award
BOEM requires each bidder awarded
a lease to complete the following:
(1) Execute all copies of the lease
(Form BOEM–2005 [February 2017], as
amended);
(2) Pay by EFT the balance of the
bonus bid amount and the first year’s
rental for each lease issued in
accordance with the requirements of 30
CFR 218.155 and 556.520(a); and
(3) Satisfy the bonding requirements
of 30 CFR part 556, subpart I, as
amended.
ONRR requests that only one
transaction be used for payment of the
balance of the bonus bid amount and
the first year’s rental. Once ONRR
receives such payment, the bidder
awarded the lease may not request a
17:03 Feb 11, 2020
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[FR Doc. 2020–02716 Filed 2–11–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM–2020–0001]
Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf
(OCS), Oil and Gas Lease Sale 254
Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a
Record of Decision.
AGENCY:
Bid Adequacy Review Procedures for
GOM Region-Wide Sale 254
VerDate Sep<11>2014
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management (BOEM) is announcing the
availability of a Record of Decision for
proposed Gulf of Mexico (GOM)
regionwide oil and gas Lease Sale 254.
This Record of Decision identifies
BOEM’s selected alternative for
proposed Lease Sale 254, which is
analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS
Lease Sale: Final Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement 2018
(2018 GOM Supplemental EIS).
ADDRESSES: The Record of Decision is
available on BOEM’s website at https://
www.boem.gov/nepaprocess/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
more information on the Record of
Decision, you may contact Ms. Helen
Rucker, Chief, Environmental
Assessment Section, Office of
Environment, by telephone at 504–736–
2421, or by email at helen.rucker@
boem.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the
2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, BOEM
evaluated five alternatives for proposed
Lease Sale 254. We have summarized
these alternatives below, noting some
SUMMARY:
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
8017
additional blocks that may be excluded
due to their lease status at the time of
this decision:
Alternative A—Regionwide OCS Lease
Sale: This is BOEM’s preferred
alternative. This alternative would
allow for a proposed GOM regionwide
lease sale encompassing all three
planning areas: Western Planning Area
(WPA); Central Planning Area (CPA);
and a small portion of the Eastern
Planning Area (EPA) not under
Congressional moratorium. Under this
alternative, BOEM would offer for lease
all available unleased blocks within the
proposed regionwide lease sale area for
oil and gas operations with the
following exceptions: Whole and
portions of blocks deferred by the Gulf
of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006;
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; whole and
partial blocks within the current
boundary of the Flower Garden Banks
National Marine Sanctuary; depth
restricted, segregated portions of Block
299, Main Pass Area, South and East
Addition (Louisiana Leasing Map
LA10A); blocks where the lease status is
currently under appeal; and whole or
partial blocks that have received bids in
previous lease sales, where the bidder
has sought reconsideration of BOEM’s
rejection of their bid, unless the
reconsideration request is fully resolved
at least 30 days prior to the publication
of the Final Notice of Sale. We have
listed the unavailable blocks in Section
I of the Final Notice of Sale for proposed
Lease Sale 254 and at www.boem.gov/
Sale-254. The proposed regionwide
lease sale area encompasses about 91.93
million acres (ac). As of January 2020,
approximately 78.1 million ac of the
proposed regionwide lease sale area are
available for lease. As described in the
2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, the
estimated amounts of resources
projected to be leased, discovered,
developed, and produced as a result of
the proposed regionwide lease sale are
between 0.211 and 1.118 billion barrels
of oil (BBO) and 0.547 and 4.424 trillion
cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas.
Alternative B—Regionwide OCS Lease
Sale Excluding Available Unleased
Blocks in the WPA Portion of the
Proposed Lease Sale Area: This
alternative would offer for lease all
available unleased blocks within the
CPA and EPA portions of the proposed
lease sale area for oil and gas operations,
with the following exceptions: Whole
and portions of blocks deferred by the
Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of
2006; blocks that are adjacent to or
beyond the United States’ Exclusive
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lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with NOTICES
8018
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 29 / Wednesday, February 12, 2020 / Notices
Economic Zone in the area known as the
northern portion of the Eastern Gap;
depth restricted, segregated portions of
Block 299, Main Pass Area, South and
East Addition (Louisiana Leasing Map
LA10A); blocks where the lease status is
currently under appeal; and whole or
partial blocks that have received bids in
previous lease sales, where the bidder
has sought reconsideration of BOEM’s
rejection of their bid, unless the
reconsideration request is fully resolved
at least 30 days prior to publication of
the Final Notice of Sale. The proposed
CPA/EPA lease sale area encompasses
about 63.35 million ac. As of January
2020, approximately 51.5 million ac of
the proposed CPA/EPA lease sale area
are available for lease. The estimated
amounts of resources projected to be
leased, discovered, developed, and
produced as a result of the proposed
lease sale under Alternative B are
0.185–0.970 BBO and 0.441–3.672 Tcf
of gas.
Alternative C—Regionwide OCS Lease
Sale Excluding Available Unleased
Blocks in the CPA and EPA Portions of
the Proposed Lease Sale Area: This
alternative would offer for lease all
available unleased blocks within the
WPA portion of the proposed lease sale
area for oil and gas operations, with the
following exceptions: Whole and partial
blocks within the current boundary of
the Flower Garden Banks National
Marine Sanctuary; blocks where the
lease status is currently under appeal;
and whole or partial blocks that have
received bids in previous lease sales,
where the bidder has sought
reconsideration of BOEM’s rejection of
their bid, unless the reconsideration
request is fully resolved at least 30 days
prior to publication of the Final Notice
of Sale. The proposed WPA lease sale
area encompasses about 28.58 million
ac. As of January 2020, approximately
26.7 million ac of the proposed WPA
lease sale area are available for lease.
The estimated amounts of resources
projected to be leased, discovered,
developed, and produced as a result of
the proposed lease sale under
Alternative C are 0.026–0.148 BBO and
0.106–0.752 Tcf of gas.
Alternative D—Alternative A, B, or C,
with the Option to Exclude Available
Unleased Blocks Subject to the
Topographic Features, Live Bottom
(Pinnacle Trend), and/or Blocks South
of Baldwin County, Alabama,
Stipulations: This alternative could be
combined with any of the Action
alternatives above (i.e., Alternative A, B,
or C) and would allow the flexibility to
offer leases under any alternative with
additional exclusions. Under
Alternative D, the decisionmaker could
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:03 Feb 11, 2020
Jkt 250001
exclude from leasing any available
unleased blocks in Alternative A subject
to any one and/or a combination of the
following stipulations: Topographic
Features Stipulation, Live Bottom
Stipulation, and Blocks South of
Baldwin County, Alabama, Stipulation
(not applicable to Alternative C). This
alternative considered blocks subject to
these stipulations because these areas
have been emphasized in scoping, can
be geographically defined, and adequate
information exists regarding their
ecological importance and sensitivity to
OCS oil and gas-related activities.
A total of 207 blocks within the CPA
and 160 blocks in the WPA are affected
by the Topographic Features
Stipulation. There are currently no
identified topographic features
protected under this stipulation in the
EPA. The Live Bottom Stipulation
covers the pinnacle trend area of the
CPA, affecting a total of 74 blocks.
Under Alternative D, the number of
blocks that would become unavailable
for lease represents only a small
percentage of the total number of blocks
to be offered under Alternative A, B, or
C (less than 4%, even if blocks subject
to all three stipulations were excluded).
Therefore, Alternative D could reduce
offshore infrastructure and activities in
the pinnacle trend area, because
Alternative D would simply shift the
location of offshore infrastructure and
activities farther from these sensitive
zones, it would not lead to a reduction
in overall impacts. Moreover, the
incremental negative impacts of the
other alternatives compared with
Alternative D would be largely
mitigated by the application of the lease
stipulations in Alternative A, as
discussed below.
Alternative E—No Action: This
alternative is not holding proposed
regionwide Lease Sale 254 and is
identified as the environmentally
preferred alternative.
Lease Stipulations—The 2018 GOM
Supplemental EIS describes all lease
stipulations, which are included in the
Final Notice of Sale Package. In the
Record of Decision for the 2017–2022
Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas
Leasing: Proposed Final Program, the
Secretary of the Interior required the
protection of biologically sensitive
underwater features in all Gulf of
Mexico oil and gas lease sales as
programmatic mitigation; therefore, we
are adopting the Topographic Features
Stipulation and Live Bottom Stipulation
and applying them to designated lease
blocks in proposed Lease Sale 254.
The additional eight lease stipulations
considered for proposed regionwide
Lease Sale 254 are the Military Areas
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 9990
Stipulation, the Evacuation Stipulation;
the Coordination Stipulation; the Blocks
South of Baldwin County, Alabama,
Stipulation; the Protected Species
Stipulation; the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea
Royalty Payment Stipulation; the Below
Seabed Operations Stipulation; and the
Stipulation on the Agreement between
the United States of America and the
United Mexican States Concerning
Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs
in the Gulf of Mexico. As noted, BOEM
is adopting these eight stipulations as
lease terms where applicable and they
will be enforceable as part of the lease.
Further, Appendix B of the Gulf of
Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales:
2017–2022; Gulf of Mexico Lease Sales
249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 256, 257,
259, and 261—Final Multisale
Environmental Impact Statement
provides a list and description of
standard post-lease conditions of
approval that BOEM or the Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement
may require as a result of their plan and
permit review processes for the Gulf of
Mexico OCS Region.
After careful consideration, BOEM
selected the preferred alternative
(Alternative A) in the 2018 GOM
Supplemental EIS, with certain
additional blocks excluded due to their
status, for proposed Lease Sale 254.
BOEM is also adopting 10 lease
stipulations and all practicable means of
mitigation at the lease sale stage. The
preferred alternative meets the purpose
of and need for the proposed action, as
identified in the 2018 GOM
Supplemental EIS, and provides for
orderly resource development with
protection of human, marine, and
coastal environments while also
ensuring that the public receives a fair
market value for these resources and
that free-market competition is
maintained.
Authority: This Notice of Availability
of a Record of Decision is published
pursuant to the regulations (40 CFR part
1505) implementing the provisions of
the National Environmental Policy Act
of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et
seq.).
Michael A. Celata,
Regional Director, New Orleans Office,
Department of the Interior Regions 1, 2, 4,
and 6, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2020–02717 Filed 2–11–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8017-8018]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02717]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2020-0001]
Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Oil and Gas Lease
Sale 254
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a Record of Decision.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is announcing the
availability of a Record of Decision for proposed Gulf of Mexico (GOM)
regionwide oil and gas Lease Sale 254. This Record of Decision
identifies BOEM's selected alternative for proposed Lease Sale 254,
which is analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Lease Sale: Final
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement 2018 (2018 GOM Supplemental
EIS).
ADDRESSES: The Record of Decision is available on BOEM's website at
https://www.boem.gov/nepaprocess/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information on the Record of
Decision, you may contact Ms. Helen Rucker, Chief, Environmental
Assessment Section, Office of Environment, by telephone at 504-736-
2421, or by email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, BOEM
evaluated five alternatives for proposed Lease Sale 254. We have
summarized these alternatives below, noting some additional blocks that
may be excluded due to their lease status at the time of this decision:
Alternative A--Regionwide OCS Lease Sale: This is BOEM's preferred
alternative. This alternative would allow for a proposed GOM regionwide
lease sale encompassing all three planning areas: Western Planning Area
(WPA); Central Planning Area (CPA); and a small portion of the Eastern
Planning Area (EPA) not under Congressional moratorium. Under this
alternative, BOEM would offer for lease all available unleased blocks
within the proposed regionwide lease sale area for oil and gas
operations with the following exceptions: Whole and portions of blocks
deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006; 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; whole and
partial blocks within the current boundary of the Flower Garden Banks
National Marine Sanctuary; depth restricted, segregated portions of
Block 299, Main Pass Area, South and East Addition (Louisiana Leasing
Map LA10A); blocks where the lease status is currently under appeal;
and whole or partial blocks that have received bids in previous lease
sales, where the bidder has sought reconsideration of BOEM's rejection
of their bid, unless the reconsideration request is fully resolved at
least 30 days prior to the publication of the Final Notice of Sale. We
have listed the unavailable blocks in Section I of the Final Notice of
Sale for proposed Lease Sale 254 and at www.boem.gov/Sale-254. The
proposed regionwide lease sale area encompasses about 91.93 million
acres (ac). As of January 2020, approximately 78.1 million ac of the
proposed regionwide lease sale area are available for lease. As
described in the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, the estimated amounts of
resources projected to be leased, discovered, developed, and produced
as a result of the proposed regionwide lease sale are between 0.211 and
1.118 billion barrels of oil (BBO) and 0.547 and 4.424 trillion cubic
feet (Tcf) of natural gas.
Alternative B--Regionwide OCS Lease Sale Excluding Available
Unleased Blocks in the WPA Portion of the Proposed Lease Sale Area:
This alternative would offer for lease all available unleased blocks
within the CPA and EPA portions of the proposed lease sale area for oil
and gas operations, with the following exceptions: Whole and portions
of blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006;
blocks that are adjacent to or beyond the United States' Exclusive
[[Page 8018]]
Economic Zone in the area known as the northern portion of the Eastern
Gap; depth restricted, segregated portions of Block 299, Main Pass
Area, South and East Addition (Louisiana Leasing Map LA10A); blocks
where the lease status is currently under appeal; and whole or partial
blocks that have received bids in previous lease sales, where the
bidder has sought reconsideration of BOEM's rejection of their bid,
unless the reconsideration request is fully resolved at least 30 days
prior to publication of the Final Notice of Sale. The proposed CPA/EPA
lease sale area encompasses about 63.35 million ac. As of January 2020,
approximately 51.5 million ac of the proposed CPA/EPA lease sale area
are available for lease. The estimated amounts of resources projected
to be leased, discovered, developed, and produced as a result of the
proposed lease sale under Alternative B are 0.185-0.970 BBO and 0.441-
3.672 Tcf of gas.
Alternative C--Regionwide OCS Lease Sale Excluding Available
Unleased Blocks in the CPA and EPA Portions of the Proposed Lease Sale
Area: This alternative would offer for lease all available unleased
blocks within the WPA portion of the proposed lease sale area for oil
and gas operations, with the following exceptions: Whole and partial
blocks within the current boundary of the Flower Garden Banks National
Marine Sanctuary; blocks where the lease status is currently under
appeal; and whole or partial blocks that have received bids in previous
lease sales, where the bidder has sought reconsideration of BOEM's
rejection of their bid, unless the reconsideration request is fully
resolved at least 30 days prior to publication of the Final Notice of
Sale. The proposed WPA lease sale area encompasses about 28.58 million
ac. As of January 2020, approximately 26.7 million ac of the proposed
WPA lease sale area are available for lease. The estimated amounts of
resources projected to be leased, discovered, developed, and produced
as a result of the proposed lease sale under Alternative C are 0.026-
0.148 BBO and 0.106-0.752 Tcf of gas.
Alternative D--Alternative A, B, or C, with the Option to Exclude
Available Unleased Blocks Subject to the Topographic Features, Live
Bottom (Pinnacle Trend), and/or Blocks South of Baldwin County,
Alabama, Stipulations: This alternative could be combined with any of
the Action alternatives above (i.e., Alternative A, B, or C) and would
allow the flexibility to offer leases under any alternative with
additional exclusions. Under Alternative D, the decisionmaker could
exclude from leasing any available unleased blocks in Alternative A
subject to any one and/or a combination of the following stipulations:
Topographic Features Stipulation, Live Bottom Stipulation, and Blocks
South of Baldwin County, Alabama, Stipulation (not applicable to
Alternative C). This alternative considered blocks subject to these
stipulations because these areas have been emphasized in scoping, can
be geographically defined, and adequate information exists regarding
their ecological importance and sensitivity to OCS oil and gas-related
activities.
A total of 207 blocks within the CPA and 160 blocks in the WPA are
affected by the Topographic Features Stipulation. There are currently
no identified topographic features protected under this stipulation in
the EPA. The Live Bottom Stipulation covers the pinnacle trend area of
the CPA, affecting a total of 74 blocks. Under Alternative D, the
number of blocks that would become unavailable for lease represents
only a small percentage of the total number of blocks to be offered
under Alternative A, B, or C (less than 4%, even if blocks subject to
all three stipulations were excluded). Therefore, Alternative D could
reduce offshore infrastructure and activities in the pinnacle trend
area, because Alternative D would simply shift the location of offshore
infrastructure and activities farther from these sensitive zones, it
would not lead to a reduction in overall impacts. Moreover, the
incremental negative impacts of the other alternatives compared with
Alternative D would be largely mitigated by the application of the
lease stipulations in Alternative A, as discussed below.
Alternative E--No Action: This alternative is not holding proposed
regionwide Lease Sale 254 and is identified as the environmentally
preferred alternative.
Lease Stipulations--The 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS describes all
lease stipulations, which are included in the Final Notice of Sale
Package. In the Record of Decision for the 2017-2022 Outer Continental
Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing: Proposed Final Program, the Secretary of the
Interior required the protection of biologically sensitive underwater
features in all Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales as programmatic
mitigation; therefore, we are adopting the Topographic Features
Stipulation and Live Bottom Stipulation and applying them to designated
lease blocks in proposed Lease Sale 254.
The additional eight lease stipulations considered for proposed
regionwide Lease Sale 254 are the Military Areas Stipulation, the
Evacuation Stipulation; the Coordination Stipulation; the Blocks South
of Baldwin County, Alabama, Stipulation; the Protected Species
Stipulation; the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
Royalty Payment Stipulation; the Below Seabed Operations Stipulation;
and the Stipulation on the Agreement between the United States of
America and the United Mexican States Concerning Transboundary
Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico. As noted, BOEM is
adopting these eight stipulations as lease terms where applicable and
they will be enforceable as part of the lease. Further, Appendix B of
the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2017-2022; Gulf of
Mexico Lease Sales 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 256, 257, 259, and
261--Final Multisale Environmental Impact Statement provides a list and
description of standard post-lease conditions of approval that BOEM or
the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement may require as a
result of their plan and permit review processes for the Gulf of Mexico
OCS Region.
After careful consideration, BOEM selected the preferred
alternative (Alternative A) in the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, with
certain additional blocks excluded due to their status, for proposed
Lease Sale 254. BOEM is also adopting 10 lease stipulations and all
practicable means of mitigation at the lease sale stage. The preferred
alternative meets the purpose of and need for the proposed action, as
identified in the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, and provides for orderly
resource development with protection of human, marine, and coastal
environments while also ensuring that the public receives a fair market
value for these resources and that free-market competition is
maintained.
Authority: This Notice of Availability of a Record of Decision is
published pursuant to the regulations (40 CFR part 1505) implementing
the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Michael A. Celata,
Regional Director, New Orleans Office, Department of the Interior
Regions 1, 2, 4, and 6, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2020-02717 Filed 2-11-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
