Minerals Management Service June 27, 2007 – 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 206 in the Central Gulf of Mexico (GOM) scheduled for March 2008. The MMS is issuing this notice to facilitate public involvement. The preparation of this EA is an important step in the decision process for Lease Sale 206. The proposal for Lease Sale 206 was identified by the Call for Information and Nominations published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2006, and was analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2007- 2012; Western Planning Area Sales 204, 207, 210, 215, and 218; Central Planning Area Sales 205, 206, 208, 213, 216, and 222Final Environmental Impact Statement; Volumes I and II (Multisale EIS, OCS EIS/EA MMS 2007-018). The proposal does not include approximately 5.8 million acres located in the southeastern part of the Central Planning Area (CPA) which the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 opened to leasing after many years of appropriations Acts containing leasing moratoria. Because of the limited geological and geophysical data available to industry and the limited environmental review for this area, the MMS has decided that it would be premature to offer this area in proposed Lease Sale 206. Before this area is offered for lease, the MMS will conduct a separate NEPA review to reevaluate the expanded CPA sale area. This EA for proposed Lease Sale 206 will reexamine the potential environmental effects of the proposed lease sale and its alternatives (excluding the unleased blocks near biologically sensitive topographic features; excluding the unleased blocks within 15 miles of the Baldwin County, Alabama, coast; use of a nomination and tract selection leasing system; 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.