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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 60 (Monday, March 30, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16693-16694]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07325]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Outer Continental Shelf, Gulf of Mexico, Oil and Gas Lease Sales, 
Western Planning Area Lease Sale 248 MMAA 104000

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

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement and Announcement of Scoping Meetings and Comment Period for 
Proposed Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Western 
Planning Area Lease Sale 248.

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SUMMARY: Consistent with the regulations implementing the National 
Environmental Policy Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) (NEPA), 
BOEM is announcing its intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS) for proposed Western Planning Area (WPA) Lease 
Sale 248 in the Gulf of Mexico (WPA 248 Supplemental EIS). The WPA 248 
Supplemental EIS will update the environmental and socioeconomic 
analyses in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2012-2017; 
Western Planning Area Lease Sales 229, 233, 238, 246, and 248; Central 
Planning Area Lease Sales 227, 231, 235, 241, and 247, Final 
Environmental Impact Statement (2012-2017 WPA/CPA Multisale EIS; OCS 
EIS/EA BOEM 2012-019); Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 
2013-2014; Western Planning Area Lease Sale 233; Central Planning Area 
Lease Sale 231, Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (WPA 
233/CPA 231 Supplemental EIS; OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2013-0118); Gulf of 
Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2014-2016; Western Planning Area 
Lease Sales 238, 246, and 248, Final Supplemental Environmental Impact 
Statement (WPA 238, 246, and 248 Supplemental EIS; OCS EIS/EA BOEM 
2014-009); and Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2015 and 
2016; Western Planning Area Lease Sales 246 and 248, Final Supplemental 
Environmental Impact Statement (WPA 246 and 248 Supplemental EIS; OCS 
EIS/EA BOEM 2015-008).
    The WPA 248 Supplemental EIS will supplement the NEPA documents 
cited above for the proposed lease sale in order to consider new 
circumstances and information arising from, among other things, the 
Deepwater Horizon explosion, oil spill, and response. It will focus on 
updating the baseline conditions and any new information on the 
potential environmental effects of oil and natural gas leasing, 
exploration, development, and production in the WPA identified through 
the Area Identification procedure as the proposed lease sale area. In 
addition to the no action alternative (i.e., canceling the proposed 
lease sale), other alternatives may be considered for the proposed WPA 
lease sale, such as deferring certain areas from the proposed lease 
sale area.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by April 29, 2015 to the address 
specified above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the WPA 248 
Supplemental EIS, the submission of comments, or BOEM's policies 
associated with this notice, please contact: Mr. Gary D. Goeke, Chief, 
Environmental Assessment Section, Office of Environment (GM 623E), 
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 
Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394, telephone 
504-736-3233.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 27, 2012, the Secretary of the 
Interior approved as final the Proposed Final OCS Oil & Gas Leasing 
Program: 2012-2017 (Five-Year Program). This Supplemental EIS will 
consider the one remaining WPA lease sale for this 2012-2017 Five-Year 
Program. The proposed WPA lease sale area encompasses virtually all of 
the WPA's 28.58 million acres, with the exception of whole and partial 
blocks within the boundary of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine 
Sanctuary.
    This Federal Register notice is not an announcement to hold the 
proposed lease sale, but it is a continuation of information gathering 
and is published early in the environmental review process in 
furtherance of the goals of NEPA. Once the NEPA process and WPA 248 
Supplemental EIS is completed, the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS content 
will be summarized in presale documentation prepared during the 
decisionmaking process for WPA Lease Sale 248. If, after completion of 
the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS, the Department of the Interior's 
Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management decides to hold 
the lease sale, then the lease sale area identified in the final Notice 
of Sale may exclude or defer certain lease blocks from the area 
offered. However, for purposes of the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS and to 
adequately assess the potential impacts of an areawide lease sale, BOEM 
will consider all unleased blocks that may be offered in proposed WPA 
Lease Sale 248.
    Scoping Process: This Notice of Intent (NOI) serves to announce the 
scoping process for identifying issues and alternatives to consider in 
the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS. Throughout the scoping process, Federal, 
State, Tribal,

[[Page 16694]]

and local governments and the general public have the opportunity to 
help BOEM determine significant resources and issues, impacting 
factors, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigating measures to 
be analyzed in the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS and to provide additional 
information. BOEM will also use the NEPA commenting process to initiate 
the Section 106 consultation process of the National Historic 
Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470f), as provided for in 36 CFR 
800.2(d)(3).
    Pursuant to the regulations implementing the procedural provisions 
of NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), BOEM will hold public scoping 
meetings in Texas and Louisiana on the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS. The 
purpose of these meetings is to solicit comments on the scope of the 
WPA 248 Supplemental EIS. BOEM's scoping meetings will be held at the 
following places and times:
     Houston, Texas: Tuesday, April 14, 2015, Houston Airport 
Marriott at George Bush Intercontinental, 18700 John F. Kennedy 
Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77032, one meeting beginning at 1:00 p.m. 
CDT; and
     New Orleans, Louisiana: Thursday, April 16, 2015, Bureau 
of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood 
Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123, one meeting beginning at 
1:00 p.m. CDT.
    Cooperating Agency: BOEM invites other Federal, State, Tribal, and 
local governments to consider becoming cooperating agencies in the 
preparation of the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS. We invite qualified 
government entities to inquire about cooperating agency status for the 
WPA 248 Supplemental EIS. Following the guidelines 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 decisionmaking authority of any other agency 
involved in the NEPA process. Upon request, BOEM will provide potential 
cooperating agencies with a written summary of ground rules for 
cooperating agencies, including time schedules and critical action 
dates, milestones, responsibilities, scope and detail of cooperating 
agencies' contributions, and availability of predecisional information. 
BOEM anticipates this summary will form the basis of a Memorandum of 
Agreement between BOEM and any cooperating agency. Agencies should also 
consider the ``Factors for Determining Cooperating Agency Status'' in 
Attachment 1 to CEQ's January 30, 2002, Memorandum for the Heads of 
Federal Agencies: Cooperating Agencies in Implementing the Procedural 
Requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. These documents 
are available at the following locations on the Internet: http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/cooperating/.html; and http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/cooperating/.html.
    BOEM, as the lead agency, will not provide financial assistance to 
cooperating agencies. Even if an organization is not a cooperating 
agency, opportunities will exist to provide information and comments to 
BOEM during the normal public input stages of the NEPA/EIS process. For 
further information about cooperating agencies, please contact Mr. Gary 
D. Goeke at 504-736-3233.
    Comments: All interested parties, including Federal, State, Tribal, 
and local governments, and other interested parties, may submit written 
comments on the scope of the WPA 248 Supplemental EIS, significant 
issues that should be addressed, alternatives that should be 
considered, potential mitigating measures, and the types of oil and gas 
activities of interest in the proposed WPA 248 lease sale area.
    Written scoping comments may be submitted in one of the following 
ways:

1. In an envelope labeled ``Scoping Comments for the WPA 248 
Supplemental EIS'' and mailed (or hand delivered) to Mr. Gary D. 
Goeke, Chief, Environmental Assessment Section, Office of 
Environment (GM 623E), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Gulf of 
Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, 
Louisiana 70123-2394;
2. Through the regulations.gov web portal: Navigate to http://www.regulations.gov and search for ``Oil and Gas Lease Sales: Gulf 
of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf; Western Planning Area Lease Sale 
248'' (Note: It is important to include the quotation marks in your 
search terms). Click on the ``Comment Now!'' button to the right of 
the document link. Enter your information and comment, then click 
``Submit''; or
3. Through BOEM's email address: wpa248@boem.gov.

    Petitions, although accepted, do not generally provide useful 
information to assist in the development of alternatives, resources, 
and issues to be analyzed, or impacting factors. BOEM does not consider 
anonymous comments; please include your name and address as part of 
your submittal. BOEM makes all comments, including the names and 
addresses of respondents, available for public review during regular 
business hours. Individual respondents may request that BOEM withhold 
their names and/or addresses from the public record; however, BOEM 
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. If you wish your name 
and/or address to be withheld, you must state your preference 
prominently at the beginning of your comment. 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.

    Authority:  This NOI is published pursuant to the regulations 
(40 CFR 1501. 7) implementing the provisions of NEPA.

     Dated: March 25, 2015.
Abigail Ross Hopper,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2015-07325 Filed 3-27-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
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