[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 199 (Monday, October 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60751-60753]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-17242]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Chukchi Sea Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193 and Seismic 
Surveying Activities in the Chukchi Sea

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact 
Statement (DEIS) and associated Public Hearings.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of the proposed Federal action addressed in this 
DEIS (OCS EIS/EA MMS 2006-060) is to offer for lease areas in the 
Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that might

[[Page 60752]]

contain economically recoverable oil and gas resources. This lease sale 
would provide qualified bidders the opportunity to bid on certain 
blocks in the Chukchi Sea OCS to gain conditional rights to explore, 
develop, and produce oil and natural gas. This DEIS is the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis to enable the Minerals 
Management Service (MMS) to make informed decisions on the 
configuration of the lease sale and the applicable mitigation measures. 
In the DEIS, the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative 
environmental impacts of the sale, including estimated exploration and 
development and production activities related to the sale, on the 
physical, biological, and human environments in the Chukchi Sea area 
are analyzed. The DEIS also provides NEPA evaluation for exploration 
activities in the Chukchi Sea, including seismic survey geophysical 
permitting (30 CFR 251), ancillary activities (30 CFR 250.207), and 
exploration plans (30 CFR 250.214). In addition, the DEIS will provide 
NEPA documentation for the U.S. Department of Commerce, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries 
Service's (NMFS) possible issuance of Incidental Harassment 
Authorizations to the seismic-survey industry to take marine mammals by 
harassment, incidental to conducting prelease and ancillary on-lease 
oil and gas seismic surveys in the Chukchi Sea. To address its NEPA 
responsibilities, the NMFS agreed to become a cooperating agency (as 
that term is defined in 40 CFR 1501.6) and proposes to adopt the DEIS 
as authorized by 40 CFR 1506.3 as its own NEPA statement.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In this DEIS, the MMS has examined the 
potential environmental effects of the Proposed Action and its 
alternatives. The Proposed Action (Alternative I) is to conduct Chukchi 
Sea OCS Lease Sale 193 in 2007. The resource estimates and scenario 
information included in this DEIS analysis are presented as a range of 
activities that could be associated with the sale, including 
exploration seismic surveying, on-lease ancillary activities, 
exploration and delineation drilling, development and production of OCS 
oil and gas resources, and lease abandonment. The Proposed Action would 
offer for lease approximately 6,155 whole and partial blocks (about 34 
million acres) identified as the program area in the 2002-2007 5-Year 
Program. The proposed Sale 193 area excludes a 15- to 50-mile (mi)-wide 
corridor along the coast, the polynya or spring lead system. Water 
depths in the sale area vary from about 95 feet (ft) to approximately 
262 ft. A small portion of the northeast corner of the area deepens to 
approximately 9,800 ft.
    Alternative II (No Lease Sale) is equivalent to cancellation of the 
Proposed Action as scheduled in the approved 5-Year Program. The 
opportunity for development of the estimated oil and gas resources that 
could have resulted from the Proposed Action would be precluded or 
postponed, and any potential environmental impacts resulting from the 
Proposed Action would not occur or would be postponed.
    Alternative III (Corridor I Deferral) is the Proposed Action 
excluding an area comprising approximately 1,649 whole or partial 
blocks along the coastward edge of the sale area. This alternative 
would attempt to reduce potential impacts to subsistence hunting as 
well as various wildlife species and associated habitats.
    Alternative IV (Corridor II Deferral) is the Proposed Action 
excluding an area comprising approximately 795 whole or partial blocks 
along the coastward edge of the sale area. This alternative was 
developed as a result of the 1987 Biological Opinion for the Chukchi 
Sea as recommended by the NMFS.
    The MMS also examines potential environmental effects of prelease 
seismic survey geophysical permitting. The DEIS includes an analysis of 
a range of mitigation alternatives for seismic surveys which were 
previously considered in the Programmatic Environmental Assessment 
Arctic Ocean Outer Continental Shelf Seismic Surveys--2006. Commenters 
are invited to identify additional alternatives for MMS's 
consideration. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultation with the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concerning Spectacled and Steller's 
eiders is ongoing. The NMFS concluded in its Arctic Region Biological 
Opinion, dated June 2006, that leasing and exploration activities are 
not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the threatened, 
endangered, or candidate species under their jurisdiction; however, the 
potential additive effects of oil and gas activities associated with 
exploration, production, and transportation throughout the Chukchi Sea 
and neighboring Beaufort Sea is of concern. The NMFS concluded further 
that activities associated with seismic surveys in the Chukchi Sea may 
adversely affect but not jeopardize the continued existence of any 
species listed under the ESA that are under the jurisdiction of the 
NMFS.
    DEIS Availability: To obtain a copy of the DEIS, you may contact 
the Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint 
Drive, Suite 500, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-5820, telephone (907) 334-
5200. You may also view the DEIS on the MMS Web site at http://www.mms.gov/alaska or at the following locations:

Alaska Pacific University, Academic Support Center Library, 4101 
University Drive, Anchorage, Alaska;
Alaska Resources Library and Information Service (ARLIS), 3211 
Providence Drive, Suite 111, Anchorage, Alaska;
Alaska State Library, Government Publications, State Office Building, 
333 Willoughby, Juneau, Alaska;
City of Point Hope, P.O. Box 169, Point Hope, Alaska;
City of Wainwright, P.O. Box 9, Wainwright, Alaska;
Fairbanks North Star Borough, Noel Wien Library, 1215 Cowles Street, 
Fairbanks, Alaska;
Northern Alaska Environmental Center Library, 218 Driveway, Fairbanks, 
Alaska;
Point Lay Tribal Council, P.O. Box 59031 Point Lay, Alaska;
Tuzzy Consortium Library, P.O. Box 749, Barrow, Alaska;
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10 Library, 1200 6th 
Avenue, OMP-104, Seattle, Washington;
University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, 3211 Providence 
Drive, Anchorage, Alaska;
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, Government 
Documents, 310 Tanana Drive, Fairbanks, Alaska;
University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, Government 
Documents, Fairbanks, Alaska;
Z. J. Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, Alaska.

    Written Comments: Interested parties may submit their written 
comments on this DEIS until December 15, 2006 to the Regional Director, 
Alaska OCS Region, Minerals Management Service, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 
Suite 500, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-5820, or online at http://ocsconnect.mms.gov. Our practice is to make comments, including names 
and home addresses of respondents available for public review. 
Individual commenters may ask that we withhold their 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

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entirety all comments submitted by organizations or businesses or by 
individuals identifying themselves as representatives of organizations 
or businesses.
    Public Hearings: Public hearings will be held to receive comments 
on the DEIS. The hearings will provide the MMS with additional 
information that will help in evaluating potential effects of the 
leasing program in the Chukchi Sea. The locations and dates of the 
public hearings are as follows:
     Wainwright, Alaska. November 13, 2006, at the Robert James 
Community Center, 7 p.m., contact: Mr. Albert Barros, (907) 334-5209.
     Point Lay, Alaska. November 14, 2006, at the Point Lay 
Community Center, 7 p.m., contact: Mr. Albert Barros, (907) 334-5209.
     Point Hope, Alaska. November 15, 2006, at the Kalgi 
Center, 7 p.m., contact: Mr. Albert Barros, (907) 334-5209.
     Barrow, Alaska. November 16, 2006, at the Inupiat Heritage 
Center, 7 p.m., contact: Mr. Albert Barros, (907) 334-5209.
     Anchorage, Alaska. December 6, 2006, at the Centerpoint 
Building, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 1st Floor Conference Room, 7 p.m., 
contact: Mr. Albert Barros, (907) 334-5209.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Minerals Management Service, Alaska 
OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, Suite 500, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-
5820, Ms. Deborah Cranswick, telephone (907) 334-5267.

    Dated: September 29, 2006.
Robert P. LaBelle,
Acting Associate Director for Offshore Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. E6-17242 Filed 10-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P