Department of the Interior May 18, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

BOEM has prepared a ROD following the completion of the Final SEIS for CPA Consolidated Lease Sale 216/222, the final lease sale in the 2007-2012 OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program (Five-Year Program), which is scheduled for June 20, 2012. In preparing the ROD, BOEM considered alternatives to the proposed action and the impacts as presented in the Final SEIS and all comments received throughout the NEPA process. The Final SEIS updates two previous environmental and socioeconomic analyses for CPA Lease Sale 216/222. The GOM OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2007-2012; Western Planning Area Lease Sales 204, 207, 210, 215, and 218; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 205, 206, 208, 213, 216, and 222, Final Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA MMS 2007-018) (Multisale EIS), completed in April 2007, originally analyzed CPA Lease Sale 216/222. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2009-2012; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 208, 213, 216, and 222; Western Planning Area Lease Sales 210, 215, and 218; Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA MMS 2008-041) (2009-2012 Supplemental EIS), completed in September 2008, updated the socioeconomic and environmental analyses for CPA Lease Sale 216/222. BOEM developed the Final SEIS for CPA Lease Sale 216/222 in order to consider new circumstances and information arising from, among other things, the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. After careful consideration, BOEM has determined that in light of significant safety and environmental reforms since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the economic and energy security benefits of exploring and developing the domestic energy resources available in the CPA, including job creation, it is appropriate to hold a sale in this area at this time. BOEM resource assessments for the CPA indicate that the area contains over 30 billion barrels of oil (BBO) and over 133 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas which are undiscovered and technically recoverable.