[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 215 (Friday, November 6, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60019-60020]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29734]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Preparation of an Environmental Assessment for Proposed Lease 
Sale 174 in the Western Gulf of Mexico (1999)

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service.

ACTION: Preparation of an Environmental Assessment.

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SUMMARY: The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is beginning preparation 
of an environmental assessment (EA) for proposed lease Sale 174 
(scheduled for August 1999) in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning 
Area. In January 1997, MMS issued a Call for Information and 
Nominations/Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS (Call/NOI) for the four 
proposed Western Gulf of Mexico sales in the current 5-year leasing 
program. In 1998, MMS prepared a single environmental impact statement 
(EIS) for all four sales. The multisale Final EIS, filed in May 1998, 
included an analysis of a single, ``typical'' sale, and a cumulative 
analysis that included the effects of holding all four 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 171).
    The preparation of this EA is the first step in the prelease 
decision process for Sale 174. The proposal and alternatives for Sale 
174 were identified by the Director of MMS in January 1997 following 
the Call/NOI and were analyzed in the Western Gulf multisale EIS, which 
is available from the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region's Public Information 
Office at 1-800-200-GULF. The proposed action analyzed in the multisale 
EIS was the offering of all available unleased acreage in the Western 
Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, with the following exceptions: Blocks A-
375 (East Flower Garden Bank) and A-398 (West Flower Garden Bank) in 
the High Island Area, East Addition, South Extension, designated as a 
national marine sanctuary; and Blocks 793, 799, and 816 in the Mustang 
Island Area, identified by the Navy as needed for testing equipment and 
for training mine warfare personnel. The proposal to be addressed in 
this EA has been revised to the following extent: two additional blocks 
or portions of these blocks (High Island Area, East Addition, South 
Extension, Block A-401 and High Island, South Addition, Block A-513), 
which lie partially within the Flower Gardens National Marine 
Sanctuary, are deferred from the proposed action in

[[Page 60020]]

light of the President's June 1998 withdrawal of all Marine Sanctuaries 
from oil and gas leasing. The proposed action includes existing 
regulations and proposed lease stipulations designed to reduce 
environmental risks. The EA will also analyze alternatives to exclude 
blocks near biologically sensitive topographic features, as well as the 
no action alternative. The MMS may also consider deferring blocks 
beyond the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone, in the area referred to as the 
northern portion of the Western Gap, as talks between the U.S. and 
Mexico are currently underway regarding the establishment of a 
continental shelf boundary in this area. The analysis in the EA will 
reexamine the potential environmental effects of the proposal 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 Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Office of 
Leasing and Environment, Attention: Regional Supervisor (MS 5400), 1201 
Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394 by December 
7, 1998. After completion of the EA, MMS will determine whether to 
prepare a Finding of No New Significant Impact (FONNSI) or a 
supplemental EIS. The MMS will then prepare and send consistency 
determinations to the affected States to determine whether the proposed 
sale is consistent with federally-approved State coastal zone 
management programs, and will 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 174 are listed below:

Comments due to MMS, December 7, 1998;
EA/FONNSI or Supplemental EIS, March 1999;
Proposed Notice of Sale sent to Governors, March 1999;
Consistency Determinations sent to States, March 1999;
Final Notice of Sale in Federal Register, July 1999;
Sale, August 1999.

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

    Dated: November 2, 1998.
Chris C. Oynes,
Regional Director, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region.
[FR Doc. 98-29734 Filed 11-5-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-M