[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 222 (Friday, November 16, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57749-57751]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-24739]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2018-0054]


Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Alaska Region (AK), Beaufort Sea 
Program Area, Proposed 2019 Beaufort Sea Oil and Gas Lease Sale

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, 
announce the area identified for leasing, and hold public scoping 
meetings.

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

SUMMARY: Consistent with the regulations implementing the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 
(BOEM) is announcing its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact 
Statement (EIS) for the proposed 2019 Beaufort Sea Lease Sale in the 
Beaufort Sea Planning Area. The EIS will focus on the potential effects 
of leasing, exploration, development, and production of oil and natural 
gas in the proposed lease sale area. In addition to the no action 
alternative (i.e., not holding the lease sale), other alternatives will 
be considered. Consistent with the regulations implementing the Outer 
Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), BOEM is also announcing the area 
recommended for leasing.

DATES: Comments: All interested parties, including Federal, State, 
Tribal, and local governments, and the general public, may submit 
written comments by December 17, 2018 on the scope of

[[Page 57750]]

the 2019 Beaufort Sea Lease Sale EIS, significant issues, reasonable 
alternatives, potential mitigation measures, and the types of oil and 
gas activities of interest in the proposed lease sale area.
    Comments may be made on-line. Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket BOEM-2018-0054, or ``Oil and 
Gas Lease Sales: Alaska Outer Continental Shelf; 2019 Beaufort Sea 
Lease Sale'', and click on the ``Comment Now!'' button. Enter your 
information and comment, and then click ``Submit.'' Before including 
your address, phone number, email address, or other personal 
identifying information in your comment, you should be aware 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 your personal identifying information from public 
review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

ADDRESSES: Scoping Meetings: Pursuant to the regulations implementing 
the procedural provisions of NEPA, BOEM will hold public scoping 
meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to solicit comments on the 
scope of the 2019 Beaufort Sea Lease Sale EIS. All meetings will start 
at 7:00 p.m. and conclude at 9:00 p.m., and are scheduled as follows:
     December 3, 2018, Barrow High School, Utqia[gdot]vik, 
Alaska;
     December 4, 2018, Kisik Community Center, Nuiqsut, Alaska;
     December 5, 2018, Community Center, Kaktovik, Alaska; and
     December 6, 2018, Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center, 
Anchorage, Alaska.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the 2019 Beaufort 
Sea Lease Sale EIS, the submission of comments, or BOEM's policies 
associated with this notice, please contact Sharon Randall, Chief of 
Environmental Analysis Section, BOEM, Alaska OCS Region, 3801 
Centerpoint Drive, Suite 500, Anchorage, AK 99503, (907) 334-5200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 4, 2018, the Secretary of the 
Interior released the 2019-2024 National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Draft 
Proposed Program. The Draft Proposed Program includes the proposed 2019 
Beaufort Sea Lease Sale.
    The proposed lease sale area includes all available OCS blocks in 
the Beaufort Sea Planning Area. The Beaufort Sea Planning Area is 
located offshore of the State of Alaska and consists of 11,876 whole 
and partial lease blocks covering roughly 26.2 million hectares 
(approximately 65 million acres) of the Beaufort Sea. To view the 
specifics of the area recommended for leasing, go to: https://www.boem.gov/beaufort2019.
    This Notice of Intent is not an announcement to hold a lease sale, 
but is a continuation of the information gathering process and is 
published early in the environmental review process in furtherance of 
the goals of NEPA. The comments received during scoping will help 
inform the content of the 2019 Beaufort Sea Lease Sale EIS. If, after 
completion of the EIS, the Department of the Interior's Assistant 
Secretary for Land and Minerals Management chooses to hold the proposed 
lease sale, that decision and the details related to the lease sale 
(including the lease sale area and any mitigation) will be announced in 
a Record of Decision and Final Notice of Sale.
    Scoping Process: This Notice of Intent also serves to announce the 
scoping process for identifying key issues to be addressed in the 2019 
Beaufort Sea Lease Sale EIS. Throughout the scoping process, Federal, 
State, Tribal and local governments, and the general public have the 
opportunity to provide input to BOEM in determining significant 
resources, issues, impacting factors, reasonable alternatives, and 
potential mitigation measures to be analyzed in the EIS.
    BOEM has developed and also seeks public input on the following 
draft alternatives:
     Offshore Whaling Areas Alternative: This alternative is 
proposed to minimize conflicts between subsistence whaling practices 
and oil and gas activities.
     Environmentally Important Areas Alternative: This 
alternative is proposed to reduce impacts to several known 
environmentally important areas (Barrow Canyon, Harrison Bay/Colville 
River Delta, the Bolder Patch, and Kaktovik).
     Deepwater Exclusion Alternative: This alternative is 
proposed to focus the environmental analyses while offering leases in 
areas with the highest known resource potential.
    Maps and more details on each of these draft alternatives can be 
found at: https://www.boem.gov/beaufort2019.
    These draft alternatives are based on previous OCS Oil and Gas 
Leasing Program and response to stakeholder comments made during the 
development of the 2019-2024 Draft Proposed Program (published January 
8, 2018 (83 FR 829)). BOEM is proceeding in a manner that allows for 
maximum flexibility in adapting these preliminary alternatives to 
future Program decisions.
    BOEM will consider additional alternatives, exclusion and/or 
mitigation suggestions identified during scoping meetings and the 
comment period initiated by this notice of intent in the preparation of 
the EIS.
    BOEM will use the NEPA commenting process to satisfy the public 
comment requirements of section 106 of the National Historic 
Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), as provided for in 36 CFR 
800.2(d)(3).
    Cooperating Agencies: BOEM invites qualified government entities 
such as other Federal agencies, State, Tribal, and local governments, 
to consider becoming cooperating agencies for the preparation of the 
2019 Beaufort Sea Lease Sale EIS. Following the guidelines at 40 CFR 
1501.6 and 1508.5 from the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), 
qualified agencies and governments are those with ``jurisdiction by law 
or special expertise.'' Potential cooperating agencies should consider 
their authority and capacity to assume the responsibilities of a 
cooperating agency and remember that an agency's role in the 
environmental analysis neither enlarges nor diminishes the final 
decision-making authority of any other agency involved in the NEPA 
process. Upon request, BOEM will provide potential cooperating agencies 
with a written summary of guidelines for cooperating agencies, 
including time schedules and critical action dates, milestones, 
responsibilities, scope and detail of cooperating agencies' 
contributions, and availability of predecisional information. BOEM 
anticipates this summary will form the basis for a Memorandum of 
Understanding between BOEM and any cooperating agency. BOEM, as the 
lead agency, will not provide financial assistance to cooperating 
agencies. In addition to becoming a cooperating agency, other 
opportunities will exist to provide information and comments to BOEM 
during the public comment period for the EIS. For additional 
information about cooperating agencies, please contact Sharon Randall, 
Chief of Environmental Analysis Section, BOEM (907-334-5200).

    Authority: This notice of intent is published pursuant to the 
regulations at 40 CFR 1501.7 implementing the provisions of NEPA.


[[Page 57751]]


    Dated: November 7, 2018.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2018-24739 Filed 11-15-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P