Minerals Management Service August 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule will establish updated procedures for businesses to use when supplying the Minerals Management Service (MMS) with their control information. Because the existing rule contains obsolete procedures, MMS is not receiving updated contact information that it needs to be able to send important correspondence to companies.

The Minerals Management Service requests comments on the Proposed 5-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2007-2012. This is the second draft of a new program to succeed the current program that expires on June 30, 2007. The first proposalthe draft proposed programwas issued in February for a 60-day comment period that closed on April 11, 2006. Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) specifies a multi- step process of consultation and analysis that must be completed before the Secretary of the Interior may approve a new 5-year program. The required steps following this notice include the development of a proposed final program and Secretarial approval. Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the MMS also will publish a Final EIS for the new 5-year program.

A public meeting is being held by the Bureau of Land Management and the Minerals Management Service to receive comments from the public and industry related to the two sets of draft rules that were written in response to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which mandated comprehensive changes to leasing and royalty policies to encourage geothermal energy use without imposing additional administrative burdens on industry or governmental agencies.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has prepared a final programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) for proposed seismic surveys in the Arctic Ocean Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in 2006. In this PEA, OCS EIS/EA MMS 2006-038, MMS examined the potential environmental effects of the proposed action and its alternatives. Based on MMS's examination in the draft PEA of the potential impacts associated with the Proposed Action and review of comments received from the public and agencies, Alternative 6 (Seismic Surveys for Geophysical Exploration Activities would be Permitted with Existing Alaska OCS Geological and Geophysical Exploration Stipulations and Guidelines and Additional Protective Measures for Marine Mammals, including a 180/190 dB Specified-Exclusion Zone) is MMS's Selected Alternative. The Selected Alternative and the incorporated mitigation measures fulfill MMS's statutory mission and responsibilities and the stated purpose and need for the Proposed Action (to issue geophysical exploration permits for seismic surveys that are technically safe and environmentally sound) while considering environmental, technical, and economic factors. By incorporating mitigation measures into the Selected Alternative and designating them as permit stipulations and/or conditions of approval, MMS has determined that no significant adverse effects (40 CFR 1508.27) on the quality of the human environment would occur from the Selected Alternative. Therefore, an environmental impact statement is not required and MMS has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The National Marine Fisheries Service was a cooperating agency on the PEA.