[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 141 (Monday, July 23, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38314-38319]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-18118]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Request for Comments on the Draft Proposed 5-Year Outer 
Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2002-2007

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Minerals Management Service (MMS) requests comments on the 
Draft Proposed 5-year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2002-2007. 
This is the first proposal for a new program to succeed the current 
program that expires on June 30, 2002.
    Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1344) specifies a multi-
step process of consultation and analysis that must be completed before 
the Secretary of the Interior may approve a new 5-year program. The 
required steps following this notice include the development of a 
proposed program, a proposed final program, and Secretarial approval. 
Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, MMS also will 
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the new 5-year 
program.

DATES: Please submit comments and information to the MMS on or before 
September 21, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Respondents should mail comments and information to: Ralph 
V. Ainger, Minerals Management Service (MS-4010), Room 2324, 381 Elden 
Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170. MMS will accept hand deliveries at 
1849 C Street, NW., Room 4230, Washington, DC. Envelopes or packages 
should be marked ``Comments on the Draft Proposed 5-Year OCS Oil and 
Gas Leasing Program for 2002-2007.'' When submitting any privileged or 
proprietary information, respondents should mark the envelope, 
``Contains Proprietary Information.''
    MMS will accept comments submitted by electronic mail. Send e-mail 
comments to [email protected]. The draft proposed program 
decision document may be downloaded from the MMS internet website at 
www.mms.gov, and copies of all comments received will be posted at that 
website after the comment period closes.

Public Comment Procedures

    Our practice is to make comments, including the names and home 
addresses of respondents, available for public review. An individual 
commenter may ask that we withhold

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name, home address, or both from the public record, and we will honor 
such a request to the extent allowable by law. If you submit comments 
and wish us to withhold such information, you must state so prominently 
at the beginning of your submission.
    We will not consider anonymous comments, and we will make available 
for inspection in their entirety all comments submitted by 
organizations and businesses or by individuals identifying themselves 
as representatives of organizations and businesses.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ralph V. Ainger at (703) 787-1215.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: MMS requests comments from States, local 
governments, Native groups, tribes, the oil and gas industry, Federal 
Agencies, environmental and other interest organizations, and all other 
interested parties to assist in the preparation of a 5-year OCS oil and 
gas leasing program for 2002-2007 and applicable EIS.

Background

    Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act requires the Secretary of the 
Interior to prepare and maintain a schedule of proposed OCS oil and gas 
lease sales determined to ``best meet national energy needs for the 5-
year period following its approval or reapproval.'' This draft proposed 
program is the first proposed schedule of OCS lease sales for the 2002-
2007 timeframe. Before the new 5-year program may be approved and 
implemented, MMS must accept and consider comments on the draft program 
and then issue for public review a proposed program and draft EIS, as 
well as a proposed final program and final EIS.

Summary of the Draft Proposed Program

    In developing the draft proposed program for 2002-2007, MMS 
considered leasing only in the areas of the OCS that have not been 
withdrawn from disposition by leasing through June 30, 2012, under 
section 12 of the OCS Lands Act. The program proposes sales in the 
available offshore areas that have the highest oil and gas resource 
values and highest industry interest while recognizing concerns 
relating to potential environmental impacts and competing uses of ocean 
and coastal areas. The proposed schedule also is consistent with the 
recommendations of affected state and local governments.
    The draft program proposes a total of 20 OCS lease sales in 8 areas 
(5 off Alaska and 3 in the Gulf of Mexico). Maps A and B show the areas 
proposed for leasing, and Table A lists the location and timing of the 
proposed lease sales.

Alaska Region

    In the Alaska Region, the draft proposed program schedules multiple 
lease sales in the Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet/Shelikof Strait Planning 
Areas, which are the two areas of most interest to the oil and gas 
industry. Multiple offerings are consistent with the Governor of 
Alaska's recommendations and the state's administration of its offshore 
oil and gas program. Portions of these areas that have been excluded 
from previous OCS programs and sales are excluded as recommended by the 
Governor. In addition, the Chukchi Sea and Hope Basin Planning Areas 
are combined for leasing as they have been in previous programs. Two 
lease sales are proposed to pursue the high resource potential of the 
Chukchi Sea area in conjunction with potential natural gas resources 
extending into the adjacent Hope Basin area.
    The Norton Basin Planning Area is included on the schedule as a 
potential source of natural gas for local residents and businesses, and 
it would be offered under a new approach to OCS leasing. The Norton 
Basin sale is proposed for 2003, but before MMS proceeds, it will issue 
a request for nominations and comments and will move forward only if 
environmentally acceptable blocks are nominated by industry. If this 
does not occur, the sale will be postponed and a request for 
nominations and comments will be issued again the following year (and 
so on through the 5-year schedule until the sale is held or the 
schedule expires).

Gulf of Mexico Region

    In the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Areas, which are 
the two areas of highest resource potential and interest, the draft 
proposed program would continue the long-running policy of scheduling 
annual areawide lease sales to which the industry has become 
accustomed. In the Eastern Planning Area, the program proposes two 
lease sales in a portion of the area that was identified for Sale 181 
in the 5-year program for 1997-2002. That original Sale 181 area is the 
only part of the Eastern Planning Area not withdrawn under section 12. 
The portion of that area proposed for leasing in this draft proposed 
program consists of 256 blocks in deeper waters adjacent to the Central 
Gulf Planning Area. Selection of this area reflects the Secretary's 
decision in the proposed Notice of Sale for Sale 181 to exclude areas 
in the original Sale 181 area to address concerns expressed by the 
State of Florida and to minimize potential conflicts with military 
operations.
    Maps A and B show the areas proposed for leasing consideration in 
the new program. Table A is a summary of the proposed schedule of lease 
sales for the new program. Individual planning area maps are included 
in the draft proposed program decision document.

   Table A.--Draft Proposed Program for 2002-2007--Lease Sale Schedule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Sale No.                       Area                Year
------------------------------------------------------------------------
184............................  Western Gulf of Mexico.            2002
185............................  Central Gulf of Mexico.            2003
186............................  Beaufort Sea...........            2003
187............................  Western Gulf of Mexico.            2003
188............................  Norton Basin...........            2003
189............................  Eastern Gulf of Mexico.            2003
190............................  Central Gulf of Mexico.            2004
191............................  Cook Inlet/Shelikof                2004
                                  Strait.
192............................  Western Gulf of Mexico.            2004
193............................  Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin.            2004
194............................  Central Gulf of Mexico.            2005
195............................  Beaufort Sea...........            2005
196............................  Western Gulf of Mexico.            2005
197............................  Eastern Gulf of Mexico.            2005
198............................  Central Gulf of Mexico.            2006

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199............................  Cook Inlet/Shelikof                2006
                                  Strait.
200............................  Western Gulf of Mexico.            2006
201............................  Central Gulf of Mexico.            2007
202............................  Beaufort Sea...........            2007
203............................  Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin.            2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Assurance of Fair Market Value

    Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act requires receipt of fair market 
value for OCS oil and gas leases and the rights they convey. The draft 
proposed program provides for setting minimum bid levels by individual 
lease sale based on market conditions and for continuing to use a two-
phase bid evaluation process.

Information Requested

    We request all interested and affected parties to comment on the 
size, timing, and location of leasing and the procedures for assuring 
fair market value that are proposed in the Draft Proposed 5-Year OCS 
Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2002-2007. Respondents who submitted 
information in response to the December 12, 2000, Federal Register 
notice requesting comments on preparing the 5-year program for 2002-
2007 may wish to reference that information, as appropriate, rather 
than repeating it in their comments on the draft proposed program. We 
also invite comments and suggestions on how to proceed with the section 
18 analysis for the next draft of the new program, the proposed 
program.
    Section 18(g) authorizes confidential treatment of privileged or 
proprietary information that is submitted. In order to protect the 
confidentiality of such information respondents should include it as an 
attachment to other comments submitted and mark it appropriately. On 
request MMS will treat such information as confidential from the time 
of its receipt until 5 years after approval of the new leasing program, 
subject to the standards of the Freedom of Information Act. MMS will 
not treat as confidential any aggregate summaries of such information, 
the names of respondents, and comments not containing such information.

Next Steps in the Process

    MMS plans to issue the proposed program and draft EIS in autumn 
2001 for a 90-day comment period. We plan to issue the proposed final 
program and final EIS in spring 2002. The Secretary may approve the new 
5-year program 60 days later to go into effect as of July 1, 2002.

    Dated: July 16, 2001.
Thomas R. Kitsos,
Acting Director, Minerals Management Service.

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[FR Doc. 01-18118 Filed 7-20-01; 8:45 am]
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