[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 88 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25232-25233]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-12184]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Preparation of an Environmental Assessment for Proposed Outer 
Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Lease Sale 172 in the Central Gulf of 
Mexico (March 1999)

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service.

ACTION: Preparation of an environmental assessment (EA).

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SUMMARY: The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is beginning preparation 
of an environmental assessment (EA) for proposed Outer Continental 
Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Lease Sale 172 (scheduled for March 1999) in 
the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area (CPA). In August 1996, the MMS 
issued a Call for Information and Nominations/Notice of Intent to 
Prepare an EIS (Call/NOI) for all five proposed Central Gulf of Mexico 
oil and gas sales in the current 5-year leasing program. In 1997, MMS 
prepared a single EIS for all five sales. The multisale final EIS, 
filed in November 1997, included an analysis of a single, ``typical'' 
oil and gas sale and a cumulative analysis that included the effects of 
holding all five sales, as well as the cumulative effects of the long-
term development of the planning area. The MMS stated in the EIS that 
an EA would be prepared for each lease sale after the first sale 
covered in the EIS (Sale 169).
    The preparation of this EA is the first step in the prelease 
decision process for Sale 172. The proposed action and alternatives for 
Sale 172 were identified by the Director of MMS in November 1996 
following the Call/NOI and were analyzed in the Central Gulf multisale

[[Page 25233]]

EIS, which is available from the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region's Public 
Information Office at 1-800-200-GULF. The proposed action to be 
analyzed in this EA is the offering of all available unleased acreage 
in the CPA. The EA will also analyze alternatives to defer blocks south 
and within 15 miles of Baldwin County, Alabama, and to defer blocks 
containing topographic features with sensitive biological resources, as 
well as analyzing the no action alternative. The analysis in the EA 
will reexamine the potential environmental effects of the proposed 
action and alternatives based on any new information regarding 
potential impacts and issues that was not available at the time the 
final EIS was prepared.
    The MMS requests interested parties to submit comments regarding 
any such new information or issues that should be addressed in the EA 
to the Minerals Management Service (MS 5410), Gulf of Mexico OCS 
Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394 
by June 5, 1998. After completion of the EA, MMS will determine whether 
to prepare a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or a supplemental 
EIS. The MMS will then prepare and send to the affected States 
consistency determinations, which the States will review to determine 
whether the proposed sale is consistent with federally-approved State 
coastal zone management programs. The MMS will also send a proposed 
Notice of Sale to the Governors for their comments on the size timing, 
and location of the proposed sale. The tentative schedule for the steps 
in the prelease decision process for Sale 172 is listed below:
    Comments due to MMS, June 5, 1998;
    EA/FONSI or Supplemental EIS, October 1998;
    Proposed Notice of Sale sent to Governors, October 1998;
    Consistency Determinations sent to States, October 1998;
    Final Notice of Sale, February 1999; and
    Sale, March, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Minerals Management 
Service, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-
2394, Mr. George Hampton, Telephone (504) 736-2465.

    Dated: May 1, 1998.
Carolita U. Kallaur,
Associate Director for Offshore Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 98-12184 Filed 5-6-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-U