[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 207 (Friday, October 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60068-60069]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-23505]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2020-0018]


Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Cook Inlet Lease Sale 
258

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability of a draft environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announces the 
availability of the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the 
proposed Cook Inlet Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas Lease 
Sale 258 (Lease Sale 258). This notice marks the start of the public 
review and comment period and announces three virtual public hearings 
on the DEIS. After the public hearings and written comments on the DEIS 
have been reviewed and considered, a final EIS will be prepared. The 
DEIS and associated information, including the exploration, development 
and production, and decommissioning scenario (E&D Scenario) are 
available for review on the agency's website at https://www.boem.gov/ak258.

DATES: Comments are due by December 13, 2021.
    BOEM will host three virtual public hearings on the DEIS as 
follows:

 November 16, 2021; 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (Alaska daylight time 
(AKDT))
 November 17, 2021; 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. (AKDT)
 November 18; 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (AKDT)

    Information regarding these hearings can be found at https://www.boem.gov/ak258.

ADDRESSES: You may submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. In the search box, enter ``BOEM-
2020-0018'' and then click ``Search.'' Select the document on which you 
want to comment and follow the instructions to submit comments and to 
view supporting and related materials available for this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tyler Moore, Section Chief, BOEM, 
Alaska Regional Office, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, Suite 500, Anchorage, 
Alaska 99503-5823, or at telephone number (907) 334-5200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 17, 2017, the Secretary of the 
Interior approved the ``Proposed Final 2017-2022 Outer Continental 
Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program'' (National OCS Program). The 
National OCS Program includes proposed Lease Sale 258.
    Cook Inlet stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in 
southcentral Alaska. The proposed action evaluated in the DEIS would 
offer for lease all available OCS blocks in the northern portion of the 
Cook Inlet OCS Planning Area. The proposed lease sale area comprises 
224 OCS blocks, which covers an area of approximately 1.09 million 
acres.
    On September 10, 2020, BOEM published in the Federal Register the 
notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an EIS in support of Lease Sale 258. 
Publication of the NOI opened a public scoping period that extended 
through October 13, 2020. In September 2020, BOEM held a series of 
public scoping meetings. The comments received during the public 
scoping period were used to inform the scope and content of the DEIS.
    BOEM published the notice of availability of the DEIS in the 
Federal Register on January 15, 2021, initiating a 45-day comment 
period on the DEIS. On February 1, 2021, Executive Order 14008 directed 
the Secretary of the Interior to pause new oil and gas leasing on 
public lands and offshore waters, to the extent allowed by applicable 
law, pending completion of a comprehensive review of Federal oil and 
gas activities, including a review of climate and other impacts. After 
issuance of the Executive order, BOEM canceled the comment period and 
virtual public hearings for the Lease Sale 258 DEIS on February 4, 
2021. Since then, BOEM updated its assessment of undiscovered oil and 
gas resources of the Nation's OCS (https://www.boem.gov/2021-assessment-undiscovered-oil-and-gas-resources-nations-outer) and is 
reviewing additional information made available since the January 2021 
publication of the DEIS.
    Proposed action: The proposed action addressed in the DEIS is to 
conduct an oil and gas lease sale on all available blocks in the 
northern portion of the Cook Inlet OCS Planning Area (Proposed Action). 
Proposed Lease Sale 258 would provide qualified bidders with the 
opportunity to bid on OCS lease blocks in Cook Inlet to gain 
conditional rights to explore for, develop, and produce oil and natural 
gas.
    The DEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of the 
proposed lease sale on the physical, biological, and human environments 
in the Cook Inlet area. See 40 CFR 1508.8 \1\ (2019 ed.). The DEIS 
describes a hypothetical scenario of exploration, development, 
production, and decommissioning activities that could result from the 
proposed lease sale and analyzes the potential impacts of those 
activities on the environment. The DEIS also analyzes reasonable 
alternatives to the Proposed Action. In addition to the Proposed Action 
and the no action alternative, BOEM analyzed three alternatives 
consistent with internal agency scoping, past public input received 
related to the current and prior National OCS Programs and previous 
lease sales, and comments received during the scoping period following 
the NOI that was published in September 2020. The three alternatives 
address potential impacts to the Cook Inlet distinct population segment 
(DPS) of beluga whale, the southwest Alaska DPS of northern sea otter, 
and the Cook Inlet drift gillnet fishery.
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    \1\ Revisions to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 
regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508) became 
effective on September 14, 2020 and apply to any NEPA process 
commenced after that date. See 40 CFR 1506.13. Because the NEPA 
process for this action began prior to September 14, 2020, the DEIS 
was prepared in conformance with the NEPA regulations in effect 
immediately prior to September 14, 2020.
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    The Proposed Action defers certain areas from leasing due to 
potential conflicts with resources of high ecological and subsistence 
value. These deferred areas include: (1) The majority of the designated 
critical habitat for beluga whale and northern sea otter and all 
critical habitat for Stellar seas lions and the North Pacific right 
whale located within the Cook Inlet OCS Planning Area; (2) a buffer 
between the area considered for leasing and the Katmai National Park 
and Preserve, the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, and the Alaska 
Maritime National Wildlife Refuge; and (3) many of the subsistence

[[Page 60069]]

use areas for the Native Villages of Nanwalek, Seldovia, and Port 
Graham identified during the Cook Inlet Lease Sale 191 process.
    In this DEIS, BOEM has examined the potential environmental effects 
of activities that could result from the Proposed Action, along with 
several alternatives. The DEIS is based on BOEM's estimate of 
production potential from the recently national assessment of potential 
oil and gas resources in the proposed lease sale area and an associated 
scenario that estimates a range of potential oil and gas activities, 
including exploration, seismic surveying, on-lease ancillary 
activities, exploration and delineation drilling, development, 
production, and decommissioning.
    Comment Submission: The public and all interested parties, 
including Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments or agencies, 
are invited to submit written comments on the DEIS and associated 
information, including the E&D scenario, through the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. In the search box, 
enter ``BOEM-2020-0018'' and then click ``Search.'' Select the document 
on which you want to comment and follow the instructions to submit 
comments and view supporting and related materials available for this 
notice.
    BOEM does not accept anonymous comments. Your name and contact 
information are required to submit comments on the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal. 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 BOEM in your comment to withhold your personally identifying 
information from public review, BOEM cannot guarantee that it will be 
able to do so.
    If you request BOEM to withhold from disclosure your personally 
identifiable information, you must identify any information contained 
in your comments that, if released, would constitute a clearly 
unwarranted invasion of your privacy. You also must briefly describe 
any possible harmful consequences of the disclosure of information, 
such as embarrassment, injury, or other harm. All submissions from 
organizations or businesses and from individuals identifying themselves 
as representatives or officials of organizations or businesses will be 
made available for public inspection in their entirety.
    Public Hearings: BOEM will host virtual public hearings on the DEIS 
in October 2021. Information regarding these hearings can be found at 
https://www.boem.gov/ak258. The purpose of these hearings is to receive 
public comments on the Draft EIS. These hearings are scheduled as 
follows:

 November 16, 2021; 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (Alaska daylight time 
(AKDT))
 November 17, 2021; 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. (AKDT)
 November 18, 2021; 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. (AKDT)

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 4231 et seq.; 43 CFR 46.415 (2019 ed.).

Amanda B. Lefton,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2021-23505 Filed 10-28-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P