[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 139 (Friday, July 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34935-34937]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-15334]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2019-0046]


Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Oil and Gas Lease 
Sale 253

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 253. This Record of Decision 
identifies BOEM's selected alternative for proposed Lease Sale 253, 
which is analyzed in the Gulf of Mexico OCS 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 Ms. Helen Rucker, Chief, Environmental 
Assessment Section, Office of Environment, by telephone at 504-736-2421 
or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, BOEM 
evaluated five alternatives for proposed Lease Sale 253. We have 
summarized these alternatives below, with some additional blocks 
excluded due to their lease status at the time of this decision:
    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

[[Page 34936]]

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; depth restricted, segregated portions of Block 299, Main 
Pass Area, South and East Addition (Louisiana Leasing Map LA10A); 
blocks where the lease status is currently under appeal; and whole or 
partial blocks that have received bids in previous sales, where the 
bidder has sought reconsideration of BOEM's rejection of their bid, 
unless the reconsideration request is fully resolved at least 30 days 
prior to publication of the Final Notice of Sale. We have listed the 
unavailable blocks in Section I of the Final Notice of Sale for 
proposed Lease Sale 253 and at www.boem.gov/Sale-253. The proposed 
regionwide lease sale area encompasses about 91.93 million acres (ac). 
As of July 2019, approximately 78.7 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; 
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; depth restricted, segregated portions of Block 299, Main Pass 
Area, South and East Addition (Louisiana Leasing Map LA10A); blocks 
where the lease status is currently under appeal; and whole or partial 
blocks that have received bids in previous sales, where the bidder has 
sought reconsideration of BOEM's rejection of their bid, unless the 
reconsideration request is fully resolved at least 30 days prior to 
publication of the Final Notice of Sale. The proposed CPA/EPA lease 
sale area encompasses about 63.35 million ac. As of June 2019, 
approximately 55.8 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; blocks where the lease status is currently under 
appeal; and whole or partial blocks that have received bids in previous 
sales, where the bidder has sought reconsideration of BOEM's rejection 
of their bid, unless the reconsideration request is fully resolved at 
least 30 days prior to publication of the Final Notice of Sale. The 
proposed WPA lease sale area encompasses about 28.58 million ac. As of 
July 2019, approximately 26.8 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 decision maker could exclude from 
leasing any available unleased blocks subject in Alternative A 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 
because Alternative D would simply shift the location of offshore 
infrastructure and activities farther from these sensitive zones, it 
would not lead to a reduction in overall impacts. Moreover, the 
incremental negative impacts of the other alternatives compared with 
Alternative D would be largely mitigated by the application of lease 
stipulations in Alternative A, discussed below.
    Alternative E--No Action: This alternative is not holding proposed 
regionwide Lease Sale 253 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, we are adopting the 
Topographic Features Stipulation and Live Bottom Stipulation and 
applying them to designated lease blocks in proposed Lease Sale 253.
    The additional eight lease stipulations considered for proposed 
regionwide Lease Sale 253 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 Restrictions due to Rights-of-Use and 
Easement for Floating Production Facilities 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. As noted, BOEM is adopting these 
eight stipulations as lease terms where applicable and they will be 
enforceable as part of the lease. Appendix B of the Gulf of Mexico OCS

[[Page 34937]]

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 BOEM or the Bureau of 
Safety and Environmental Enforcement may require as a result of their 
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, with 
certain additional blocks excluded due to their status, for proposed 
Lease Sale 253. BOEM is also adopting ten lease stipulations and all 
practicable means of mitigation at the lease sale stage. The preferred 
alternative meets the purpose of 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 a fair market 
value 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.).

Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2019-15334 Filed 7-18-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P