[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 208 (Friday, October 28, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65247-65248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-23496]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[Docket No. BOEM-2020-0018]


Final Environmental Impact Statement on the Cook Inlet Lease Sale 
258

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability (NOA) of a final environmental impact 
statement.

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SUMMARY: BOEM announces the availability of a final environmental 
impact statement (Final EIS) for the Cook Inlet Outer Continental Shelf 
Oil and Gas Lease Sale 258 (Lease Sale 258). The Final EIS provides an 
analysis of potential environmental impacts of the Proposed Action and 
identifies BOEM's Preferred Alternative.

DATES: BOEM will issue a final record of decision no sooner than 
November 28, 2022.

ADDRESSES: The Final EIS with appendices are available for review on 
BOEM's website at https://www.boem.gov/ak258.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information on the Cook Inlet 
Lease Sale 258 Final EIS, you may contact Casey Rowe, Bureau of Ocean 
Energy Management, Alaska Regional Office, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 
Suite 500, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-5823, or at telephone number (907) 
334-5200.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Final EIS will inform the lease sale 
process for Lease Sale 258, which BOEM is required to hold by the end 
of December 2022, as directed in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 
(Pub. L. 117-169, enacted Aug. 16, 2022). While BOEM has no discretion 
on whether to hold the sale, BOEM has prepared this final EIS to follow 
its normal leasing process to the fullest extent possible.
    On October 29, 2021, the Notice of Availability of the Draft EIS 
was published in the Federal Register (86 FR 60068), beginning a 45-day 
public comment period that ended December 13, 2021. During that time, 
BOEM also held three public hearings. BOEM received a total of 92,907 
public comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal (http://

[[Page 65248]]

www.regulations.gov, docket BOEM-2020-0018). Following the close of the 
public comment period, BOEM assessed and considered all comments 
received and responded by making revisions to the EIS as appropriate. 
Detailed responses to comments received are provided in Appendix B to 
the Final EIS.
    This Final EIS contains analyses of the potential environmental 
impacts that could result from a Cook Inlet lease sale. Additionally, 
BOEM's Preferred Alternative is identified. The Preferred Alternative 
would offer for lease 193 unleased blocks in the lease sale area, and 
combines the two critical habitat exclusion alternatives and three 
mitigation alternatives: Alternative 3A (Beluga Whale Critical Habitat 
Exclusion), Alternative 3C (Beluga Whale Nearshore Feeding Areas 
Mitigation), Alternative 4A (Northern Sea Otter Critical Habitat 
Exclusion), Alternative 4B (Northern Sea Otter Critical Habitat 
Mitigation), and Alternative 5 (Gillnet Fishery Mitigation). BOEM's 
announcement of Cook Inlet Lease Sale 258 will be made in a final 
notice of sale and record of decision.
    Authority: The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as 
amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 43 CFR 46.415.

Amanda Lefton,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2022-23496 Filed 10-27-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4340-98-P