[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6281-6282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-2376]



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DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service


Request for Comments Concerning the Effects of Removing Oil and 
Gas Platforms and Structures in the Outer Continental shelf (OCS)

agency: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

action: Notice.

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summary: The MMS is assessing oil and gas platform and structure 
removal techniques. The assessment will focus on safety and 
environmental issues. This document requests comments regarding the 
effects of using various removal techniques.

dates: The MMS must receive comments to this notice on or before March 
3, 1995.

addresses: Mail or hand-carry comments to the Department of the 
Interior; Minerals Management Service; MS-4700; 381 Elden Street; 
Herndon, Virginia 22070-4817; Attention: Acting Chief, Technology 
Assessment and Research Branch.

for further information contact: Charles E. Smith, Acting Chief, 
Technology Assessment and Research Branch, telephone (703) 787-1559.

supplementary information: At the request of MMS, the Marine Board of 
[[Page 6282]] the National Research Council (NRC) is assessing 
techniques for removing fixed offshore structures. The assessment will 
determine the occupational hazards and environmental effects of removal 
processes, determine techniques to mitigate undesirable effects, and 
appraise current regulations governing the removal of platforms and 
structures located in the OCS. The study will evaluate both explosive 
and nonexplosive removal techniques. The MMS is seeking comments 
concerning methods for removing offshore structures, their hazards and 
effects, and mitigating strategies. The MMS offers the following 
information and questions to assist you in your response to this 
notice.

Requirements for Removal

    1. Current regulations require that lessees remove all structures 
to a depth of 15 feet below the mud line. The MMS is inviting the 
public, including other users of ocean space (boaters, fishers, 
conservationists, etc.) to comment on the need for this requirement and 
to bring to the attention of the NRC committee any information that MMS 
should consider in assessing and updating this requirement.

Status of Technology

    2. What are the alternatives to the removal of offshore structures?
    3. What new approaches or improvements to existing techniques for 
removing offshore structures are in development?
    4. What are the requirements and/or limitations of the existing or 
new techniques relative to different water depths or soil types?

Economic Costs

    5. What are the comparative costs of explosive versus nonexplosive 
techniques for removing offshore structures?
    6. Are new technologies in development likely to alter the 
comparative economics of alternative approaches?

Hazards

    7. What are the environmental hazards of explosive and nonexplosive 
removal techniques?
    8. What are the occupational hazards of explosive and nonexplosive 
removal techniques?

Impacts

    9. What are the direct and indirect impacts on living marine 
resources (fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, etc.) from explosive 
removal of offshore structures (for example: direct=mortality, injury, 
indirect=damage to habitats, damage to overall health and 
survivability, etc.)?
    10. What are the direct and indirect impacts of living marine 
resources from nonexplosive removal of offshore structures?
    11. How do alternative removal techniques affect other users of the 
marine environment (fishers, recreational boaters, ship operators, 
others)?

Regulations

    12, Do other users of the marine environment have needs that MMS 
should take into account in regulations for full or partial platform 
removal and for site clearance?
    13. Are existing MMS regulations and operating rules governing the 
removal of offshore structures adequate?

    Dated: January 25, 1995.
Thomas M. Gernhofer,
Associate Director for Offshore Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 95-2376 Filed 1-31-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-M