[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