Minerals Management Service January 19, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is issuing this notice to advise the public, pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., that MMS intends to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) for proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas Lease Sale 196 in the Western Gulf of Mexico (GOM) (Lease Sale 196) scheduled for August 2005. The MMS is issuing this notice to facilitate public involvement. The preparation of this EA is the first step in the decision process for Lease Sale 196. The proposal and alternatives for Lease Sale 196 were identified by the MMS Director in January 2002 following the Call for Information and Nominations/Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and were analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2003-2007; Central Planning Area Sales 185, 190, 194, 198, and 201; Western Planning Area Sales 187, 192, 196, and 200Final Environmental Impact Statement; Volumes I and II (Multisale EIS, OCS EIS/EA MMS 2002-052). This EA will reexamine the potential environmental effects of the proposed action (the offering of all available unleased acreage in the Western Planning Area (WPA)) and its alternatives (the proposed action excluding the unleased blocks near biologically sensitive topographic features, and no action) based on any new information regarding potential impacts and issues that were not available at the time the Multisale EIS was prepared.