[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 242 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 78507]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-31964]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Environmental Assessment Preparation for Proposed Lease Sale 180 
in the Western 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 180 
(scheduled for August 2001) 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 180. The proposal and alternatives for Sale 
180 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 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 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 January 
19, 2001. 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 180 are listed below:

Comments due to MMS, January 19, 2001;
EA/FONNSI or Supplemental EIS, March 2001;
Proposed Notice of Sale sent to Governors, March 2001;
Consistency Determinations sent to States, March 2001;
Final Notice of Sale in Federal Register, July 2001;
Sale, August 2001.

    If you wish to comment, you may mail or hand-carry written comments 
to the Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, 
Regional Director (MS-5410), Minerals Management Service, Gulf of 
Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 
70123-2394. Our practice is to make comments, including names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours. Individual respondents may request that we withhold 
their home address from the rulemaking record, which we will honor to 
the extent allowable by law. There may be circumstances in which we 
would withhold from the rulemaking record a respondent's identity, as 
allowable by the law. If you wish us to withhold your name and/or 
address, you must state this prominently at the beginning of your 
comment. However, we will not consider anonymous comments. We will make 
all submissions from organizations or businesses, and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses, available for public inspection in their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Minerals Management Service, Gulf of 
Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 
70123-2394, Mr. Dennis Chew, telephone (504) 736-2793.

    Dated: December 11, 2000.
Chris C. Oynes,
Regional Director, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region.
[FR Doc. 00-31964 Filed 12-14-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P