[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 245 (Friday, December 19, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77835-77836]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-30246]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea Planning Areas Oil and Gas Lease 
Sales 209, 212, 217, and 221

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

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

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SUMMARY: The purpose of the proposed Federal actions addressed in this 
DEIS (OCS EIS/EA MMS 2008-055) is to offer for lease areas in the 
Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that may 
contain economically recoverable oil and natural gas resources. These 
lease sales would provide qualified bidders the opportunity to bid on 
certain blocks in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea OCS to gain 
conditional rights to explore, develop, and produce oil and natural 
gas.
    This DEIS is a draft of the National Environmental Policy Act 
(NEPA) analysis that will enable the Minerals Management Service (MMS) 
to make informed decisions on the configuration of the lease sales and 
the applicable mitigation measures. In the DEIS, the potential direct, 
indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of the proposed sales 
and alternatives, including projected exploration and development and 
production activities on the physical, biological, and human 
environments in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea areas, are analyzed.
    The DEIS integrates the biological assessment elements required 
under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (per Section 402.06 of 
the Act) for species under jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 
Service. The DEIS reflects the information in the MMS Biological 
Assessment and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Biological 
Opinion (dated July 17, 2008) for the bowhead, fin, and humpback 
whales.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the DEIS, the MMS has examined the 
potential environmental effects of the Proposed Actions and 
alternatives. The Proposed Actions (Alternative 2 for each planning 
area) are to conduct Beaufort and Chukchi Sea OCS Lease Sales 209, 212, 
217, and 221 in the years 2010, 2010, 2011, and 2012, respectively. The 
resource estimates and scenario information included in the DEIS 
analysis are presented as a range of activities that could be 
associated with each sale, including exploration seismic surveying, on-
lease ancillary activities, exploration and delineation drilling, 
development and production of OCS oil and natural gas resources, 
decommissioning, and lease abandonment.
    The Proposed Actions combined would offer for lease approximately 
13,449 whole and partial blocks (about 73.4 million acres) identified 
as the program areas in the 2007-2012 5-Year Program. The proposed 
Chukchi Sea Sale area excludes a zone within 25 miles of the Chukchi 
Sea coast. Water depths in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea sale areas 
vary from approximately 10 meters (33 feet) to approximately 3,800 
meters (12,467 feet).
    Alternative 1 (No Lease Sale) for each sale area is equivalent to 
cancellation of a Proposed Action as scheduled in the approved 5-Year 
Program. The opportunity to discover and develop the estimated oil and 
gas resources that could have resulted from a Proposed Action would be 
precluded or postponed, and any potential environmental impacts 
resulting from a Proposed Action would not occur or would be postponed.
    Beaufort Sea Alternative 3 (Barrow Deferral) is the Proposed Action 
excluding an area comprising approximately 15 whole or partial blocks 
along the Beaufort coastline east of Barrow beginning at the three-mile 
limit. This alternative was developed to reduce potential impacts to 
bowhead whale subsistence hunters as well as various wildlife species 
and associated habitats. Beaufort Sea Alternative 4 (Cross Island 
Deferral) is the Proposed Action excluding an area comprising 
approximately 41 whole or partial blocks north and east of Cross 
Island. This alternative was developed to protect a portion of the 
Nuiqsut Bowhead whale subsistence hunting area. Beaufort Sea 
Alternative 5 (Eastern Deferral) is the Proposed Action excluding an 
area comprising approximately 80 whole or partial blocks along the 
coastline east of Kaktovik. This alternative was developed to provide 
protection for a portion of the Kaktovik's bowhead whale subsistence 
hunting area. Beaufort Sea Alternative 6 (Deepwater Deferral) is the 
Proposed Action excluding an area comprising approximately 4,357 whole 
or partial blocks in areas off the continental shelf. This alternative 
defers areas that are generally deeper than 100 meters.
    Chukchi Sea Alternative 3 (Coastal Deferral) is the Proposed Action 
excluding an area comprising approximately 882 whole or partial blocks 
near the eastern or shoreward edge of the program area. This 
alternative was developed as the Corridor II deferral for Sale 193 to 
reduce potential impacts to subsistence hunting. Chukchi Sea 
Alternative 4 (Ledyard Bay Deferral) is the Proposed Action excluding 
the area comprising approximately 191 whole or partial blocks of the 
proposed sale area that is within the Ledyard Bay Critical Habitat. 
This alternative was developed to protect the designated critical 
habitat area for the federally listed threatened spectacled eider. 
Chukchi Sea Alternative 5 (Hanna Shoal Deferral) is the Proposed Action 
excluding an area comprising approximately 241 whole or partial blocks 
at Hanna Shoal. This

[[Page 77836]]

alternative was developed to reduce potential impacts to an 
ecologically important area for Pacific walruses and gray whales. 
Chukchi Sea Alternative 6 (Deepwater Deferral) is the Proposed Action 
excluding an area comprising approximately 1,020 whole or partial 
blocks in areas off the continental shelf. This alternative defers 
areas that are generally in waters deeper than 100 meters (328 feet).
    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, Academic Support Center 
Library, 4101 University Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508.

    Alaska Resources Library and Information Service (ARLIS), 3211 
Providence Drive, Suite 111, Anchorage, Alaska 99508.

    Alaska State Library, Government Publications, State Office 
Building, 333 Willoughby, Juneau, Alaska 99801.

    City of Point Hope, P.O. Box 169, Point Hope, Alaska 99766.

    City of Wainwright, P.O. Box 9, Wainwright, Alaska 99782.
    Fairbanks North Star Borough, Noel Wien Library, 1215 Cowles 
Street, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701.

    Point Lay Tribal Council, P.O. Box 59031, Point Lay, Alaska 99759.
    Tuzzy Consortium Library, P.O. Box 749, Barrow, Alaska 99723.

    Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10 Library, 1200 6th 
Avenue, OMP-104, Seattle, Washington 98101.

    University of Alaska Anchorage, Consortium Library, 3211 Providence 
Drive, Anchorage, Alaska 99508.

    University of Alaska Fairbanks, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, 
Government Documents, 310 Tanana Drive, Fairbanks, Alaska 99709.

    University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, Government 
Documents, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775.

    Z. J. Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99503.

    Written Comments: Interested parties may submit their written 
comment on this DEIS until March 16, 2009, 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 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 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 Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The public hearing in 
Anchorage is scheduled as follows:

Anchorage, Alaska

    January 15, 2009, 7 p.m., Centerpoint Building, 3801 Centerpoint 
Drive, 1st Floor Conference Room, Contact: Mr. Albert Barros, (907) 
334-5209.
    Public hearings will be scheduled in the following communities 
between January 16 and March 15, 2009. The dates, time, and locations 
for these hearings will be announced to the public on the MMS Web site, 
through the media, and by letters to the communities.
    Kaktovik, Alaska; Wainwright, Alaska; Point Lay, Alaska; Point 
Hope, Alaska; Barrow, Alaska; and Nuiqsut, Alaska.

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: November 21, 2008.
Chris C. Oynes,
Associate Director for Offshore Energy and Minerals Management.
 [FR Doc. E8-30246 Filed 12-18-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P