[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 114 (Thursday, June 14, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32860-32862]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-11517]


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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, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact 
Statement (FEIS).

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SUMMARY: The proposed federal action addressed in this FEIS (OCS EIS/EA 
MMS 2007-026) is to offer for lease

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areas in the Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that might 
contain 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 FEIS is the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) analysis to enable the MMS to make informed decisions 
on the configuration of the lease sale and the applicable mitigation 
measures. In the FEIS, 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 FEIS also provides NEPA evaluation for exploration 
activities in the Chukchi Sea, including seismic survey geophysical 
permitting (30 CFR part 251), ancillary activities (30 CFR 250.207), 
and exploration plans (30 CFR 250.214). In addition, the FEIS provides 
information that the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 
may possibly use for 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 is a cooperating agency (as that term is 
defined in 40 CFR 1501.6).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Minerals Management Service, Alaska 
OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 500, Anchorage, Alaska 
99503-5823, Ms. Deborah Cranswick, telephone (907) 334-5267.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In this FEIS, 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 2008. The resource estimates and scenario 
information included in this FEIS 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 6,156 whole and partial blocks (about 34 
million acres) identified as the program area in the 2002-2007 5-Year 
Program. Although Sale 193 was scheduled under the 2002-2007 5-Year 
Program, it is being held under the 2007-2012 5-Year Program to 
accommodate the time required to complete the EIS analyses and process. 
The proposed Sale 193 area excludes up to a 50-mile-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 1,765 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 FEIS includes an analysis of 
two alternatives for exploration seismic surveys: Alternative A and 
Alternative B. All permitted seismic surveys would be subject to the 
standard stipulations for geological and geophysical (G&G) permit 
activities, additional measures to mitigate seismic-surveying effects, 
and the mitigation and monitoring requirements of the selected 
alternative (Alternative 6) from the Final Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment (PEA) Arctic Ocean Outer Continental Shelf Seismic Surveys--
2006, dated June 2006 (USDOI, MMS, 2006a). Alternative A would allow 
pre-Sale 193 seismic surveying in the entire proposed Sale 193 area 
(the area under Alternative I). Alternative B would prohibit pre-Sale 
193 exploration seismic surveys in the 795 whole or partial blocks in 
Corridor II Deferral area (Alternative IV) along the coastward edge of 
the proposed Sale 193 area. The Corridor II Deferral area was developed 
from the recommended conservation measures in the 1987 Biological 
Opinion from NMFS. The southern end of the corridor was expanded to 
encompass a portion of the Ledyard Bay Critical Habitat Area that lies 
within the proposed Sale 193 area.
    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded in its March 28, 2007, 
Biological Opinion for Chukchi Sea Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sale 
193 and Associated Seismic Surveys and Exploratory Drilling that, based 
on the information available at this time, the action would not 
jeopardize the continued existence of the spectacled or Steller's 
eider, or destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat. 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 its 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.
    FEIS Availability: To obtain a copy of the final FEIS, you may 
contact the Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, Attention: 
Resource Center, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 500, Anchorage, 
Alaska 99503-5823, telephone 1-800-764-2627, or by e-mail at 
[email protected]. You may also view the FEIS on the MMS Web site at 
http://www.mms.gov/alaska.
    Written Comments: Interested parties may submit their written 
comments on this FEIS until 30 days after the publication of this 
notice, to the Regional Director, Alaska OCS Region, Attention: Sale 
193 Coordinator, Minerals Management Service, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 
500, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-5823, or by e-mail to 
[email protected]. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail 
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, be 
advised that your entire comment-including your personal identifying 
information-may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold from public review your personal 
identifying information, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do 
so. We will not

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consider anonymous comments, and we will make available for inspection 
in their entirety all comments submitted by organizations or businesses 
or by individuals identifying themselves as representatives of 
organizations or businesses.

    Dated: June 4, 2007.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Minerals Management Service.
 [FR Doc. E7-11517 Filed 6-13-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P