[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 136 (Monday, July 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32903-32905]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-15181]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2018-0035]


Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Oil and Gas Lease 
Sale 251

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a Record of Decision.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 32904]]

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 251. This Record of Decision 
identifies BOEM's selected alternative for proposed Lease Sale 251, 
which is analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Lease 
Sale: Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement 2018 (2018 GOM 
Supplemental EIS).

ADDRESSES: The Record of Decision is available on BOEM's website 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 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, BOEM 
evaluated five alternatives in regard to proposed Lease Sale 251. These 
alternatives are summarized below:
    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 a small portion of the 
Eastern Planning Area (EPA) not under Congressional moratorium. 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; whole and 
partial blocks within the current boundary of the Flower Garden Banks 
National Marine Sanctuary; and blocks where the lease status is 
currently under appeal. The unavailable blocks are listed in Section I 
of the Final Notice of Sale for proposed Lease Sale 251 and at 
www.boem.gov/Sale-251. The proposed regionwide lease sale area 
encompasses about 91.93 million acres (ac). As of June 2018, 
approximately 78.2 million ac of the proposed regionwide lease sale 
area are available for lease. As described in the Final 2018 GOM 
Supplemental EIS, the estimated amounts of resources projected to be 
leased, discovered, developed, and produced as a result of the proposed 
regionwide lease sale are between 0.211 and 1.118 billion barrels of 
oil (BBO) and 0.547 and 4.424 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural 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 February 2018, approximately 51.2 million ac of the 
proposed CPA/EPA lease sale area are 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 0.441-3.672 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 ac. As of February 2018, approximately 26.2 million ac of 
the proposed WPA lease sale area are 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., Alternative 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 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 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 in the pinnacle trend area, but 
Alternative D also shifts the location of offshore infrastructure and 
activities farther from these sensitive zones and would not lead to a 
reduction in overall offshore infrastructure and activities.
    Alternative E--No Action: This alternative is not holding proposed 
regionwide Lease Sale 251 and is identified as the environmentally 
preferred alternative.
    Lease Stipulations--The 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS describes all 
lease stipulations, which are included in the Final Notice of Sale 
Package. In the Record of Decision for the 2017-2022 Five-Year Program, 
the Secretary of the Interior required the protection of biologically 
sensitive underwater features in all Gulf of Mexico oil and gas lease 
sales as programmatic mitigation; therefore, the application of the 
Topographic Features Stipulation and Live Bottom Stipulation are being 
adopted and applied for applicable designated lease blocks in Lease 
Sale 251.
    The additional eight lease stipulations for proposed regionwide 
Lease Sale 251 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

[[Page 32905]]

Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico. These eight 
stipulations will be added as lease terms where applicable and will be 
enforceable as part of the lease. Appendix B of 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 provides a list and description of 
standard post-lease 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 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS for 
proposed Lease Sale 251. BOEM's selection of the preferred alternative 
meets the purpose and need for the proposed action, as identified in 
the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, and provides for 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, 2018.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2018-15181 Filed 7-13-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P