[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 94 (Monday, May 15, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 31014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-12108]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Preparation of an Environmental Assessment for Proposed Lease 
Sale 178 in the Central Gulf of Mexico (2001)

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 178 
(scheduled for March 2001) in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 
In August 1996, MMS issued a Call for Information and Nominations/
Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS (Call/NOI) for the five proposed 
Central Gulf of Mexico sales in the current 5-year leasing program. In 
1997, MMS prepared a single environmental impact statement (EIS) for 
all five sales. The multisale Final EIS, filed in November 1997, 
included an analysis of a single, ``typical'' 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 178. The proposal and alternatives for Sale 
178 were identified by the Director of MMS in November 1996 following 
the Call/NOI and were analyzed in the Central 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 Central 
Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 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 the no action alternative. 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 5410), 1201 
Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394 by June 15, 
2000. 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 178 is 
listed below:

Comments due to MMS, June 15, 2000;
EA/FONNSI or Supplemental EIS, October 2000;
Consistency Determinations sent to States, October 2000;
Proposed Notice of Sale sent to Governors, November 2000;
Final Notice of Sale in Federal Register, January 2001;
Sale, March 2001.

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: May 9, 2000.
Charles J. Schoennagel,
Acting Regional Director, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region.
[FR Doc. 00-12108 Filed 5-12-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P