[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 20, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16258-16259]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6724]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management


Notice of Public Scoping Meetings on an Environmental Impact 
Statement for Proposed Outer Continental Shelf Gulf of Mexico Eastern 
Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sales 225 and 226

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of public scoping meetings and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Proposed Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing 
Program for 2012-2017 (Proposed Program) schedules two potential lease 
sales, Proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226, to accommodate anticipated 
industry interest in the portion of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Eastern 
Planning Area (EPA) that is not currently subject to the 
Congressionally-mandated leasing moratorium. This notice describes the 
public scoping process that BOEM is initiating in preparation for 
completing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) relating to these two proposed sales. 
While it is necessary to commence the presale information gathering 
process before finalizing the Five-Year OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program 
for 2012-2017 in order to conform to the schedule in the Proposed 
Program, this scoping and EIS process will be terminated in the event 
that Lease Sales 225 and 226 are not included in the Final Program.
    Pursuant to the regulations implementing the procedural provisions 
of the NEPA of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq. [1988]), BOEM 
will hold public scoping meetings to solicit information to assist in a 
determination of the significant issues to be addressed and their 
scope, and to identify mitigating measures and alternatives. This 
information will be used in the preparation of an EIS to evaluate the 
potential environmental effects of proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226. 
BOEM has planned five scoping meetings in April 2012 to provide 
opportunities for public participation and comment as part of the 
process for evaluating proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226. BOEM also will 
use and coordinate the NEPA public comment process to satisfy the 
requirement for public involvement under Section 106 of the National 
Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), as provided for in 36 CFR 
800.2(d)(3).
    Throughout the scoping process, Federal, State, Tribal, and local 
governments and the general public have the opportunity to aid BOEM in 
determining the significant issues, reasonable alternatives, and 
potential mitigating measures to be analyzed in the EIS, as well as to 
provide additional information. Possible alternatives for analysis may 
represent a range of levels of activities, including: (1) The proposed 
action (holding the Lease Sale); (2) taking no action (canceling or 
postponing the sale); (3) defining appropriate restrictions on oil and 
gas activities based on environmental resources that are present; and/
or (4) defining temporal or spatial work windows to accommodate the 
existing use of OCS space important to other critical national 
missions. Additional alternatives developed through scoping and NEPA 
evaluation will be considered and may also be evaluated. BOEM will 
receive statements, oral and written, at the venues listed below. All 
persons wishing to speak will have the opportunity to do so. Time 
limits may be set on speakers to allow time for all speakers to 
participate. The following public scoping meetings are planned for 
proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226:
     Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Tallahassee, Florida: Tallahassee 
Community College, 444 Appleyard Drive, Tallahassee, Florida; at 1 p.m. 
EDT;
     Wednesday, April 4, 2012, Panama City Beach, Florida: 
Wyndham Bay Point Resort, 4114 Jan Cooley Drive, Panama City Beach, 
Florida; two meetings, the first beginning at 1 p.m. CDT and the second 
beginning at 6 p.m. CDT;
     Thursday, April 5, 2012, Mobile, Alabama: Five Rivers--
Alabama's Delta Resource Center, 30945 Five Rivers Boulevard, Spanish 
Fort, Alabama; at 1 p.m. CDT; and
     Monday, April 9, 2012, New Orleans, Louisiana: BOEM, GOM 
OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana; at 1 
p.m. CDT.
    Procedures for submitting written comments via mail and 
electronically are also detailed below.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226 are 
tentatively scheduled for 2014 and 2016 under the Proposed Program. The 
previous lease sale in the EPA, Lease Sale 224, was held on March 19, 
2008. The EIS that will be prepared subsequent to this scoping process 
will analyze an area in the EPA that was addressed in Gulf of Mexico 
OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sale 224: Eastern Planning Area, Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA MMS 2007-060), 
plus a 109,977-acre triangular area located immediately south of the 
Lease Sale 224 area. The area for proposed Lease Sales 225 and 226 
covers approximately 657,905 acres in the EPA and is south of eastern 
Alabama and western Florida; the nearest point of land to the lease 
sale area is 125 miles north to Florida. The Call for Information and 
Nominations/Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS was published in the 
Federal Register on November 18, 2011. This Federal Register notice is 
not an announcement to hold the proposed lease sales, but it is a 
continuation of information gathering and an early step in the 
environmental review process required by NEPA. The comments received 
during the scoping meetings and public comment period will help form 
the content of the EIS and will be summarized in the presale 
documentation prepared prior to holding a lease sale.
    Comments: In addition to, or in lieu of participation in the 
scoping meetings listed above, all interested parties, including 
Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments and the general public, 
may submit written comments on the scope of the EIS, significant issues 
that should be addressed, alternatives that should be considered, 
potential mitigating measures and the types of oil and gas activities 
of interest in the proposed lease sale area.
    Written scoping comments may be submitted in one of the following 
two ways:
    1. In written form enclosed in an envelope labeled ``Scoping for 
Proposed EPA Lease Sales 225 and 226'' and mailed (or hand delivered) 
to Mr. Gary

[[Page 16259]]

D. Goeke, Chief, Regional Assessment Section, Office of Environment (MS 
5410), BOEM, GOM OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, 
Louisiana 70123-2394; or
    2. Electronically to the BOEM email address: [email protected].
    Petitions, although accepted, do not generally provide more weight 
or useful information than a single comment to assist in scoping. 
Please include your name and address as part of your submittal; BOEM 
does not consider anonymous comments. BOEM makes all comments, 
including the names and addresses of respondents, available for public 
review during regular business hours. Individual respondents may 
request that BOEM withhold their name and/or address from the public 
record; this request will be honored to the extent allowable by law. If 
you wish your name and/or address to be withheld, you must state your 
preference prominently at the beginning of your comment. All 
submissions from organizations or businesses and from individuals 
identifying themselves as representatives or officials of organizations 
or businesses will be made available for public inspection in their 
entirety.

DATES: Comments should be submitted no later than May 4, 2012 to the 
address or email address specified above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the EIS, public 
scoping meetings, the submission of comments, or BOEM's policies 
associated with this notice, please contact Mr. Gary D. Goeke, Chief, 
Regional Assessment Section, Office of Environment (MS 5410), BOEM, GOM 
OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70123-2394, 
telephone (504) 736-3233.

    Dated: March 14, 2012.
Tommy P. Beaudreau,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2012-6724 Filed 3-19-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-VH-P