Bureau of Ocean Energy Management April 4, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 Western Planning Area (WPA) Lease Sales 246 and 248 in the Gulf of Mexico (WPA 246/248 Supplemental EIS). The WPA 246/248 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: 2014-2016; Western Planning Area Lease Sales 238, 246, and 248, Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2014-009) (WPA 238/246/248 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 WPA 238/246/248 Supplemental EIS was completed in March 2014. The WPA 246/248 Supplemental EIS will supplement the NEPA documents cited above for WPA lease sales in order to consider new circumstances and information arising from, among other things, the Deepwater Horizon explosion, oil spill, and response. The WPA 246/248 Supplemental EIS analysis will focus on updating the baseline conditions and potential environmental effects of oil and natural gas leasing, exploration, development, and production in the WPA. The WPA 246/248 Supplemental EIS analysis will also focus on the potential environmental effects of oil and natural gas leasing, exploration, development, and production in the WPA identified through the Area Identification procedure as the proposed lease sale area. In addition to the no action alternative (i.e., canceling a proposed lease sale), other alternatives may be considered for the proposed WPA lease sales, such as deferring certain areas from the proposed lease sale area.