Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 12 / Thursday, January 21, 2021 / Notices 6365 

100506(c), the boundary of Congaree 

National Park is modified to include one 

adjoining tract containing a total of 

216.13 acres of land, more or less. This 

boundary revision is depicted on Map 

No. 178/171,144, dated September 2020. 

54 U.S.C. 100506(c) provides that, 

after notifying the House Committee on 

Natural Resources and the Senate 

Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, the Secretary of the Interior 

is authorized to make a boundary 

revision upon publication of notice in 

the Federal Register. The Committees 

have been notified of this boundary 

revision. This boundary revision and 

subsequent acquisition will ensure 

preservation and protection of the park’s 

scenic and historic resources. 

Lance Hatten, 

Acting Regional Director, Interior Region 2. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01162 Filed 1–19–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–52–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

[Docket No. BOEM–2021–0001] 

Gulf of Mexico, Outer Continental Shelf 

(OCS), Oil and Gas Lease Sale 257 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of a record 

of decision. 

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 257. 

This Record of Decision identifies 

BOEM’s selected alternative for 

proposed Lease Sale 257, 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 helen.rucker@

boem.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 

2018 GOM Supplemental EIS, BOEM 

evaluated five alternatives for proposed 

Lease Sale 257. We have summarized 

these alternatives below, noting some 

additional blocks that may be excluded 

due to their lease status at the time of 

this decision: 

Alternative A—Regionwide Outer 

Continental Shelf (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: 

Western Planning Area (WPA); 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 

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 boundary of 

the Flower Garden Banks National 

Marine Sanctuary as of the July 2008 

Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain 

Areas of US OCS from Leasing 

Disposition; 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 lease 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 the 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 257 and at www.boem.gov/Sale257. The proposed regionwide lease sale 

area encompasses about 91.93 million 

acres (ac), with approximately 79.7 

million ac available for lease. As 

described in the 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 lease 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, with 

approximately 53 million ac 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 exceptions: Whole and partial 

blocks within the boundary of the 

Flower Garden Banks National Marine 

Sanctuary as of the July 2008 

Memorandum on Withdrawal of Certain 

Areas of US OCS from Leasing 

Disposition; blocks where the lease 

status is currently under appeal; and 

whole or partial blocks that have 

received bids in previous lease 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, with approximately 26.9 million ac 

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 


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6366 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 12 / Thursday, January 21, 2021 / Notices 

additional exclusions. Under 

Alternative D, the decisionmaker could 

exclude from leasing any available, 

unleased blocks in Alternative A subject 

to any one 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 (less than 4%, even if blocks subject 

to all three stipulations were excluded). 

Therefore, Alternative D could reduce 

offshore infrastructure and activities in 

these sensitive areas because Alternative 

D would most likely 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 the lease 

stipulations in Alternative A, as 

discussed below. 

Alternative E—No Action: This 

alternative is not holding proposed 

regionwide Lease Sale 257 and is 

identified as the environmentally 

preferred alternative. Alternative E was 

not selected because, if it were, the 

needed domestic energy sources and the 

subsequent positive economic impacts 

from exploration and production, 

including employment, would not be 

realized. Not holding a single lease sale 

would also not significantly change the 

overall activity levels in the GOM (i.e., 

on blocks leased in previous lease sales) 

and the associated environmental 

impacts in the near term; however, it 

would avoid the incremental 

contribution of the proposed regionwide 

lease sale to the cumulative effects of 

ongoing activity. Avoidance of this 

incremental contribution, however, is 

outweighed by the potential negative 

economic and socioeconomic impacts of 

choosing Alternative E. 

Lease Stipulations—Eleven lease 

stipulations have been adopted for 

Lease Sale 257, including a new 

stipulation, related to the processing of 

certain post-lease permits, and 

described below. The 2018 GOM 

Supplemental EIS describes 10 of these 

11 lease stipulations, which are 

included in the Final Notice of Sale 

Package. 

In the Record of Decision for the 

2017–2022 Outer Continental Shelf Oil 

and Gas Leasing: Proposed Final 

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, 

BOEM is adopting the Topographic 

Features Stipulation and Live Bottom 

Stipulation and applying them to 

designated lease blocks in proposed 

Lease Sale 257. Due to a proposed 

expansion of the Flower Garden Banks 

National Marine Sanctuary, this 

additional language notifies lessees that, 

should their lease block in the future be 

included in a national marine sanctuary, 

their operations may be subject to 

additional requirements and regulations 

from the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration and that a 

permit from that agency may be 

required in certain instances. 

The additional nine lease stipulations 

considered for proposed regionwide 

Lease Sale 257 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 Below 

Seabed Operations Stipulation; 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; and the 

Timeframe for Decisions on an 

Application for Permit to Drill and an 

Application for Permit to Modify 

Stipulation. The Protected Species 

Stipulation has been recently updated 

due to the completion of the 

Endangered Species Act consultation 

with the National Marine Fisheries 

Service and the issuance of a Biological 

Opinion in March 2020, addressing OCS 

oil- and gas-related activities in the Gulf 

of Mexico, including this lease sale. The 

Timeframe for Decisions on an 

Application for Permit to Drill and an 

Application for Permit to Modify 

Stipulation was first adopted in Lease 

Sale 256. This stipulation is 

administrative in nature and addresses 

the processing and timing of decisions 

for Applications for Permit to Drill and 

Applications for Permit to Modify by 

the Bureau of Safety and Environmental 

Enforcement (BSEE). It does not alter 

any underlying requirements for those 

applications and therefore would not be 

expected to change any environmental 

effects reasonably foreseeable as a result 

of this lease sale and any related postlease activities. As noted, BOEM is 

adopting these nine stipulations as lease 

terms where applicable and they are 

enforceable as part of the lease. 

Further, Appendix B of the Gulf of 

Mexico OCS 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 BSEE may 

require as a result of their plan and 

permit review processes for the Gulf of 

Mexico OCS region. 

After careful consideration, BOEM 

selected the preferred alternative 

(Alternative A) from the 2018 GOM 

Supplemental EIS, with certain 

additional blocks excluded due to their 

status, for proposed Lease Sale 257. 

BOEM is also adopting 11 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 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.). 

Michael A. Celata, 

Regional Director, New Orleans Office, 

Department of the Interior Regions 1, 2, 4, 

and 6, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 

[FR Doc. 2021–01251 Filed 1–19–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 

Notice of Lodging of Proposed 

Consent Decree Under the Clean Air 

Act 

On January 14, 2021, the Department 

of Justice lodged a proposed Consent 


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