[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 176 (Thursday, September 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55861-55862]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20029]


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

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2020-0018]


Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Alaska Region (AK), Cook Inlet 
Planning Area, Proposed Oil and Gas Lease Sale 258

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement 
and provide public scoping opportunities.

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

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 2021 Cook Inlet Lease Sale 258 in the 
Cook Inlet 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.

DATES: All interested parties, including Federal, State, Tribal, and 
local governments, and the general public, may submit written comments 
by October 13, 2020 on the scope of the Lease Sale 258 EIS, significant 
issues, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigation measures.
    Comments may be made online at https://www.regulations.gov/. Search 
for Docket BOEM-2020-0018, or ``Oil and Gas Lease Sales: Alaska Outer 
Continental Shelf; Lease Sale 258,'' 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 
personally identifying information in your comment, you should be aware 
that your entire comment--including your personally identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personally identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so. Pursuant to the regulations implementing the procedural 
provisions of NEPA, BOEM will provide the public the opportunity to 
provide comments on the scope of the Lease Sale 258 EIS. To protect the 
health of local communities and minimize in-person contact during the 
Covid-19 pandemic, public scoping will be conducted online. To 
participate in the scoping process, interested parties can visit BOEM's 
virtual ``meeting room'' at https://www.boem.gov/ak258-scoping any time 
through October 13, 2020. This ``meeting room'' page will include:
     An overview of the lease sale.
     Links to pages with more information on the NEPA process, 
the BOEM National Program, and the natural and human environment in 
Cook Inlet.
     A field for readers to submit questions to BOEM 
electronically. Responses to questions will be posted on www.boem.gov/ak258-scoping.
     Directions for providing written comments on https://www.regulations.gov.

In addition, BOEM will hold two live virtual meetings during the 30-day 
scoping period. Details of these meetings will be posted on 
www.boem.gov/ak258-scoping with the publication of this Notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the Lease Sale 258 
EIS, the submission of comments, or BOEM's policies associated with 
this notice, please contact Amee Howard, Project Manager, BOEM Office 
of Environment, Alaska Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, Suite 500, 
Anchorage, AK 99503, (907) 334-5200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 28, 2016, the Secretary of the 
Interior (Secretary) released the 2017-2022 National OCS Oil and Gas 
Leasing Proposed Final Program (Proposed Final Program). The Proposed 
Final Program includes the proposed 2021 Cook Inlet Lease Sale. On 
January 17, 2017, the Secretary issued a memorandum with a decision to 
proceed with the OCS leasing program as described in the Proposed Final 
Program.
    The proposed lease sale area consists of 224 lease blocks and 
covers approximately 442,875 hectares (or 1.09 million acres) located 
offshore of the State of Alaska in Federal waters in the northern 
portion of Cook Inlet. For more information, go to: https://www.boem.gov/ak258.
    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 Lease Sale 258 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 proposed 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 Lease 
Sale 258 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, 
impacts, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigation measures to 
be analyzed in the EIS. BOEM has developed and seeks public input on 
the following draft alternatives:
     Beluga Whale Mitigation Alternative. This alternative is 
proposed to minimize potential impacts to the ESA-listed, Cook Inlet 
Distinct Population Segment (DPS) beluga whale.
     Northern Sea Otter Mitigation Alternative. This 
alternative is proposed to minimize potential impacts to ESA-listed, 
Southwest Alaska DPS of the northern sea otter.
     Gillnet Fishery Mitigation Alternative. This alternative 
is proposed to reduce the potential for conflicts with the Cook Inlet 
drift gillnet fishery.

Maps and more details on each of these draft alternatives can be found 
at: https://www.boem.gov/ak258.
    These draft alternatives are based on and in response to 
stakeholder comments made during the development of the 2017-2022 Draft 
Proposed Program, the 2017-2022 Proposed Program and Draft Programmatic 
EIS and the Cook Inlet Lease Sale 244 (held in 2017) NEPA process. BOEM 
is proceeding in a manner that allows for maximum flexibility in use of 
the components of these preliminary alternatives in future decision 
making.
    BOEM will consider additional alternatives, exclusions, and/or 
mitigation suggestions identified during

[[Page 55862]]

the scoping process 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 the National Historic Preservation Act (54 
U.S.C. 306108), 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 
Cook Inlet Lease Sale 258 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, and scope and detail of cooperating agencies' 
contributions. 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 Cook Inlet Lease Sale 258 
EIS. For additional information about cooperating agencies, please 
contact Amee Howard, Project Manager, BOEM Office of Environment (907-
334-5200).

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

Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2020-20029 Filed 9-9-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P