Bureau of Ocean Energy Management January 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has prepared a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for proposed oil and gas Central Planning Area (CPA) Lease Sales 241 and 247 and Eastern Planning Area (EPA) Lease Sale 226 in the Gulf of Mexico (CPA 241/247/EPA 226 Draft Supplemental EIS). Proposed CPA Lease Sale 241 and EPA Lease Sale 226 are tentatively scheduled to be held in March 2016, and proposed CPA Lease Sale 247 is tentatively scheduled to be held in March 2017. The CPA 241/247/EPA 226 Draft Supplemental EIS updates 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 (2012-2017 WPA/CPA Multisale EIS) (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2012-019); Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2014 and 2016; Eastern Planning Area Lease Sales 225 and 226, Final Environmental Impact Statement (EPA 225/226 EIS) (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2013-200); 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 (WPA 233/CPA 231 Supplemental EIS) (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2013- 0118); Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2014-2016; and Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2015-2017; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 235, 241, and 247, Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (CPA 235/241/247 Supplemental EIS) (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2014- 655).

Consistent with the regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), BOEM is announcing its intent to prepare an EIS to inform the decisions that will be taken during the preparation and implementation of the 2017-2022 Oil and Gas Leasing Program (2017-2022 Program). Section 18 of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) requires the development of an OCS oil and gas leasing program every five years. The 2017-2022 Program must address the size, timing and location of the lease sales to be held under it. Section 18 also requires a multi-step process of consultation and analysis that must be completed before the Secretary of the Interior may approve a new Program. BOEM initiated the 2017-2022 Program process by issuing a request for information and comments (RFI) in June 2014. The remaining process required by section 18 of the OCS Lands Act includes development of a Draft Proposed Program (DPP), a Proposed Program, a Proposed Final Program (PFP), and Secretarial approval of the 2017-2022 Program. The EIS is developed in concert with the 2017-2022 Program documents. The EIS will analyze the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts of possible OCS oil and gas activities that could result from lease sales contemplated under the 2017-2022 Program. The scope of the EIS will be based on the DPP after consideration of public input received during the scoping period for the EIS. The DPP includes potential lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico (Western, Central, and a small portion of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Areas not subject to Congressional moratorium), Atlantic (Mid and South Atlantic Planning Areas), and Alaska (Cook Inlet, Chukchi, and Beaufort Planning Areas) (for details, see the DPP at https://www.boem.gov/Five-Year-Program/). This notice starts the formal scoping process for the EIS under 40 CFR 1501.7 of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations and solicits input from the public regarding alternatives to the proposed action, impacting factors, environmental resources and issues of concern in the DPP area, and possible mitigating measures that should be evaluated in the EIS. The purpose of scoping is to determine the appropriate content for a focused and balanced programmatic environmental analysis by (a) ensuring significant issues are identified early and properly studied during development of the Programmatic EIS; (b) identifying alternatives, mitigation measures, and analytic tools; and (c) identifying insignificant issues and narrowing the scope of the EIS.

Notice is hereby given that effective with this publication, certain NAD 27-based Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Official Protraction Diagrams (OPDs) and two Lease Maps depicting geographic areas located in the Gulf of Mexico with revision dates as indicated are now available. BOEM, in accordance with its authority and responsibility under the OCS Lands Act, is updating the maps used for the description of renewable energy, mineral, and oil and gas lease sales in the geographic areas they represent. BOEM produces and maintains the official marine cadastre for the OCS areas of the United States. The marine cadastre is a comprehensive spatial data infrastructure whereby rights, restrictions and responsibilities in the marine environment can be assessed, administered and managed. The marine cadastre includes the block grids and official boundaries, which provide the base for nearly all of the BOEM offshore maps and leasing processes. It also gives BOEM the means to define, describe, analyze, and account for every acre/hectare of federal offshore submerged lands. Pursuant to the ``Agreement between the United Mexican States and the United States of America Concerning Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico,'' which went into effect on July 18, 2014, certain activities carried out within three (3) statute miles of the U.S.-Mexico maritime boundary in the Gulf of Mexico trigger obligations for the United States related to such activities within its jurisdiction. The following OPDs and Lease Maps (dated October 1, 2014) have been revised to reflect this ``Transboundary Three Statute Mile Line.''