Bureau of Ocean Energy Management April 22, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

BOEM is announcing the availability of a Draft EIS for Gulf of Mexico OCS oil and gas lease sales tentatively scheduled from 2017-2022 (2017-2022 Gulf of Mexico Multisale Draft EIS or Draft Environmental Impact Statement). BOEM proposes to conduct 10 region-wide Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales during this five-year period that are tentatively scheduled in the Proposed 2017-2022 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program (Five-Year Program). The lease sales proposed in the Gulf of Mexico in the Five-Year Program are region-wide lease sales comprised of the Western and Central Planning Areas, and a small portion of the Eastern Planning Area this is not subject to Congressional moratorium. As Federal regulations allow for several related or similar proposals to be analyzed in one EIS (40 CFR 1502.4), the 2017-2022 Gulf of Mexico Multisale Draft EIS provides the environmental analyses necessary for all 10 region-wide Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease sales tentatively scheduled in the Five-Year Program. As a decision on whether and how to proceed with each proposed lease sale in the Five-Year Program is made individually, the proposed action considered in the 2017-2022 Gulf of Mexico Multisale Draft EIS is comprised of a single region-wide sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The Draft EIS provides a discussion of the potential significant impacts of a proposed action and an analysis of reasonable alternatives to the proposed action. This NOA also serves to announce the beginning of the public comment period for the Draft EIS. The Draft EIS and associated information are available on BOEM's Web site at https://www.boem.gov/nepaprocess/. BOEM will primarily distribute digital copies of the Draft EIS on compact discs. You may request a paper copy or the location of a library with a digital copy of the Draft EIS from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Public Information Office (GM 250C), 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Room 250, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394 (1-800-200- GULF).