[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 208 (Friday, October 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54279-54282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-27031]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


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

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service, Interior.

ACTION: Request for comments on the Proposed 5-Year OCS Oil and Gas 
Leasing Program for 2002-2007.

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SUMMARY: The Minerals Management Service requests comments on the 
Proposed 5-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2002-2007. This is 
the second draft of a new program to succeed the current program that 
expires on June 30, 2002. The first proposal--the draft proposed 
program--was issued in July for a 60-day comment that closed on 
September 21, 2001.

DATES: Please submit comments and information to the MMS no later than 
January 24, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Respondents should mail comments and information to: Ralph 
V. Ainger, Minerals Management Service (MS-4010), Room 2324, 381 Elden 
Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170. The MMS will accept hand deliveries at 
1849 C Street, NW., Room 4230, Washington, DC. Envelopes or packages 
should be marked ``Comments on the 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.''
    The MMS will accept comments submitted by electronic mail. Send 
email comments to [email protected]. The 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.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 final program to be submitted to the 
Congress and the President, with Secretarial approval of a new program 
no sooner than 60 days afterward. Pursuant to the National 
Environmental Policy Act, the MMS also is preparing an Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) for the new 5-year program. The draft EIS is 
being issued with this proposed program, and a final EIS will be issued 
with the proposed final program.
    The 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.'' The proposed 
program carries forward the same schedule of proposed OCS lease sales 
that was published in the draft proposed program (July 2001).

Summary of the Proposed Program

    The proposed program schedules 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 proposed program schedules multiple lease 
sales in the Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet 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. The 
proposed program makes a technical correction to the Beaufort Sea area 
that was proposed for leasing in the draft program, removing 23 blocks 
in the vicinity of Point Barrow that had been recommended for exclusion 
but were inadvertently included. 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 the 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

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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 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. The portion of that area proposed for leasing in 
this 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.

      Table A.--Proposed Program for 2002-2007--Lease Sale Schedule
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           Sale No.                           Area                 Year
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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 Strait.....     2004
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
199...........................  Cook Inlet/Shelikof Strait.....     2006
200...........................  Western Gulf of Mexico.........     2006
201...........................  Central Gulf of Mexico.........     2007
202...........................  Beaufort Sea...................     2007
203...........................  Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin.........     2007
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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 
proposed program carries forward the provisions published in the draft 
proposed program: setting minimum bid levels by individual lease sale 
based on market conditions and continuing use of 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 included in the Proposed 5-Year OCS Oil and 
Gas Leasing Program for 2002-2007. Respondents who submitted 
information in response to previous requests for comments on the 
preparation of this 5-year program may wish to reference that 
information, as appropriate, rather than repeating it in their comments 
on the proposed program. We also invite comments and suggestions on how 
to proceed with the section 18 analysis for the proposed final 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, the 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 final program and final EIS in the 
spring of 2002. Sixty days later, the Secretary may approve the new 5-
year program to go into effect as of July 1, 2002.

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 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.

    Dated: October 19, 2001.
Thomas R. Kitsos,
Acting Director, Minerals Management Service.

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[FR Doc. 01-27031 Filed 10-25-01; 8:45 am]
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