[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 134 (Friday, July 14, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32583-32584]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14870]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2017-0012; MMAA104000]


Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Oil and Gas Lease 
Sale 249

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a Record of Decision.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is announcing the 
availability of a Record of Decision for proposed Gulf of Mexico (GOM) 
regionwide oil and gas Lease Sale 249. This Record of Decision 
identifies BOEM's selected alternative for proposed Lease Sale 249, 
which is analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 
2017-2022; Gulf of Mexico Lease Sales 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 
256, 257, 259, and 261; Final Multisale Environmental Impact Statement 
(2017-2022 GOM Multisale EIS).

ADDRESSES: The Record of Decision and associated information are 
available on BOEM's Web site at http://www.boem.gov/nepaprocess/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information on the Record of 
Decision, you may contact Mr. Greg Kozlowski, Deputy Regional 
Supervisor, Office of Environment, by telephone at 504-736-2512 or by 
email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the GOM Multisale EIS, BOEM evaluated 
five alternatives that are summarized below in regards to proposed 
Lease Sale 249:
    Alternative A--Regionwide OCS Lease Sale: This is BOEM's preferred 
alternative. This alternative would allow for a proposed GOM regionwide 
lease sale encompassing all three planning areas: The Western Planning 
Area (WPA); the Central Planning Area (CPA); and the Eastern Planning 
Area (EPA). Under this alternative, BOEM would offer for lease all 
available unleased blocks within the proposed regionwide lease sale 
area for oil and gas operations with the following exceptions: Whole 
and portions of blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security 
Act of 2006; blocks that are adjacent to or beyond the United States' 
Exclusive Economic Zone in the area known as the northern portion of 
the Eastern Gap; and whole and partial blocks within the current 
boundary of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. The 
unavailable blocks are listed in Section I of the Final Notice of Sale 
for Lease Sale 249. The proposed regionwide lease sale area encompasses 
about 91.93 million acres (ac). As of June 2017, approximately 75.7 
million ac of the proposed regionwide lease sale area are currently 
available for lease. The estimated amounts of resources projected to be 
leased, discovered, developed, and produced as a result of the proposed 
regionwide lease sale are 0.211-1.118 billion barrels of oil (BBO) and 
0.547-4.424 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas.
    Alternative B--Regionwide OCS Lease Sale Excluding Available 
Unleased Blocks in the WPA Portion of the Proposed Lease Sale Area: 
This alternative would offer for lease all available unleased blocks 
within the CPA and EPA portions of the proposed lease sale area for oil 
and gas operations, with the following exceptions: Whole and portions 
of blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006; 
and blocks that are adjacent to or beyond the United States' Exclusive 
Economic Zone in the area known as the northern portion of the Eastern 
Gap. The proposed CPA/EPA lease sale area encompasses about 63.35 
million ac. As of June 2017, approximately 49.8 million ac of the 
proposed CPA/EPA lease sale area are currently available for lease. The 
estimated amounts of resources projected to be leased, discovered, 
developed, and produced as a result of the proposed lease sale under 
Alternative B are 0.185-0.970 BBO and 0.44-3.672 Tcf of gas.
    Alternative C--Regionwide OCS Lease Sale Excluding Available 
Unleased Blocks in the CPA and EPA Portions of the Proposed Lease Sale 
Area: This alternative would offer for lease all available unleased 
blocks within the WPA portion of the proposed lease sale area for oil 
and gas operations, with the following exception: whole and partial 
blocks within the current boundary of the Flower Garden Banks National 
Marine Sanctuary. The proposed WPA lease sale area encompasses about 
28.58 million acres (ac). As of June 2017, approximately 25.9 million 
ac of the proposed WPA lease sale area are currently available for 
lease. The estimated amounts of resources projected to be leased, 
discovered, developed, and produced as a result of the proposed lease 
sale under Alternative C are 0.026-0.148 BBO and 0.106-0.752 Tcf of 
gas.
    Alternative D--Alternative A, B, or C, with the Option to Exclude 
Available Unleased Blocks Subject to the Topographic Features, Live 
Bottom (Pinnacle Trend), and/or Blocks South of Baldwin County, 
Alabama, Stipulations: This alternative could be combined with any of 
the Action alternatives above (i.e., Alternatives A, B, or C) and would 
allow the flexibility to offer leases under any alternative with 
additional exclusions. Under Alternative D, the decisionmaker could 
exclude from leasing any available unleased blocks subject to any one 
and/or a combination of the following stipulations: Topographic 
Features Stipulation; Live Bottom (Pinnacle Trend) Stipulation; and 
Blocks South of Baldwin County, Alabama, Stipulation (not applicable to 
Alternative C). This alternative considered blocks subject to these 
stipulations because these areas have been emphasized in scoping, can 
be geographically defined, and adequate information exists regarding 
their ecological importance and sensitivity to OCS oil- and gas-related 
activities.
    A total of 207 blocks within the CPA and 160 blocks in the WPA are 
affected

[[Page 32584]]

by the Topographic Features Stipulation. There are currently no 
identified topographic features protected under this stipulation in the 
EPA. The Live Bottom Stipulation covers the pinnacle trend area of the 
CPA, affecting a total of 74 blocks. Under Alternative D, the number of 
blocks that would become unavailable for lease represents only a small 
percentage of the total number of blocks to be offered under 
Alternative A, B, or C (<4%, even if blocks subject to all three 
stipulations were excluded). Therefore, Alternative D could reduce 
offshore infrastructure and activities, but Alternative D may (and BOEM 
believes it is more reasonable to expect) only shift the location of 
offshore infrastructure and activities farther from these sensitive 
zones and not lead to a reduction in overall offshore infrastructure 
and activities.
    Alternative E--No Action: This alternative is not holding the 
proposed regionwide Lease Sale 249 and is identified as the 
environmentally preferred alternative.
    Lease Stipulations--The GOM Multisale EIS describes all lease 
stipulations, which are included in the Final Notice of Sale Package. 
In the Record of Decision for the Five Year Program, the Secretary 
required the protection of Biologically Sensitive Underwater Features 
in all Gulf oil and gas lease sales as programmatic mitigation; 
therefore, the application of the Topographic Features Stipulation and 
Live Bottom (Pinnacle Trend) Stipulation are being adopted and applied 
for applicable designated lease blocks in Lease Sale 249.
    The additional eight lease stipulations for proposed regionwide 
Lease Sale 249 are the Military Areas Stipulation; the Evacuation 
Stipulation; the Coordination Stipulation; the Blocks South of Baldwin 
County, Alabama, Stipulation; the Protected Species Stipulation; the 
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Royalty Payment 
Stipulation; the Below Seabed Operations Stipulation; and the 
Stipulation on the Agreement between the United States of America and 
the United Mexican States Concerning Transboundary Hydrocarbon 
Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico. These 10 stipulations will be added 
as lease terms where applicable and will be enforceable as part of the 
lease. Appendix B of the GOM Multisale EIS provides a list and 
description of standard postlease conditions of approval that may be 
required by BOEM or the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement 
as a result of plan and permit review processes for the Gulf of Mexico 
OCS Region.
    After careful consideration, BOEM has selected the preferred 
alternative (Alternative A) in the 2017-2022 GOM Multisale EIS for 
proposed Lease Sale 249. BOEM's selection of the preferred alternative 
meets the purpose and need for the proposed action, as identified in 
the GOM Multisale EIS, and reflects an orderly resource development 
with protection of the human, marine, and coastal environments while 
also ensuring that the public receives an equitable return for these 
resources and that free-market competition is maintained.

    Authority:  This notice of availability of a Record of Decision 
is published pursuant to the regulations (40 CFR part 1505) 
implementing the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).

    Dated: July 11, 2017.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2017-14870 Filed 7-13-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P