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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 119 (Friday, June 20, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35378-35380]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-14104]

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

[MMAA 104000]

Central Planning Area Lease Sales 241 and 247, and Eastern 
Planning Area Lease Sale 226

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

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI) to Prepare a Supplemental Environmental 
Impact Statement (EIS).

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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 EIS for 
proposed Central

[[Page 35379]]

Planning Area (CPA) Lease Sales 241 and 247, and Eastern Planning Area 
(EPA) Lease Sale 226 in the Gulf of Mexico (CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 
Supplemental EIS). Proposed Lease Sale 241 is the next proposed lease 
sale in the Gulf of Mexico's CPA off the States of Louisiana, 
Mississippi, and Alabama. Proposed Lease Sale 226 is the next proposed 
lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico's EPA off the States of Alabama and 
Florida. The CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 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 (OCS EIS/EA 
BOEM 2012-019) (2012-2017 WPA/CPA Multisale EIS); 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 (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2013-0118) (WPA 233/CPA 
231 Supplemental EIS); and Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 
2015-2017; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 235, 241, and 247, Final 
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2014-010) 
(CPA 235, 241, and 247 Supplemental EIS). The 2012-2017 WPA/CPA 
Multisale EIS was completed in July 2012. The WPA 233/CPA 231 
Supplemental EIS was completed in April 2013. The CPA 235, 241, and 247 
Final Supplemental EIS was completed in March 2014. The CPA 241 and 
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS will also update the environmental and 
socioeconomic analyses in the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas 
Leasing Program: 2012-2017; Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2012-030) (Five-Year Program EIS) and Gulf 
of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales: 2014 and 2016; Eastern Planning 
Area Lease Sales 225 and 226, Final Environmental Impact Statement (OCS 
EIS/EA BOEM 2013-200) (EPA 225/226 EIS). The Five-Year Program EIS was 
completed in July 2012. The EPA 225/226 EIS was completed in October 
2013.
    A Supplemental EIS is deemed appropriate to supplement the NEPA 
documents cited above for the proposed lease sales in order to consider 
new circumstances and information arising from, among other things, the 
Deepwater Horizon explosion, oil spill, and response. The CPA 241 and 
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS analysis will focus on updating the 
baseline conditions.
    The CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS analysis will focus on 
any new information on the potential environmental effects of oil and 
natural gas leasing, exploration, development, and production in the 
CPA and EPA identified through the Area Identification procedure as the 
proposed lease sale areas. In addition to the no action alternative 
(i.e., canceling a proposed lease sale), other alternatives may be 
considered for the proposed CPA and EPA lease sales, such as deferring 
certain areas from the proposed lease sale areas.

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). The Five-Year Program includes 
the two remaining CPA lease sales (Lease Sales 241 and 247) and the 
remaining EPA lease sale (Lease Sale 226) that will be considered in 
the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS. Proposed CPA Lease Sale 
241 and EPA Lease Sale 226 are tentatively scheduled to be held in 
2016, and proposed CPA Lease Sale 247 is tentatively scheduled to be 
held in 2017. The proposed CPA lease sale area encompasses about 63 
million acres of the total CPA area of 66.45 million acres (excluding 
whole and partial blocks deferred by the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security 
Act of 2006 and 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). The proposed EPA lease sale area covers 
approximately 657,905 acres and includes those blocks previously 
included in the EPA Lease Sales 224 and 225 Area and a triangular-
shaped area south of this area bordered by the CPA boundary on the west 
and the Military Mission Line (86[deg]41' W. longitude) on the east. 
The area is south of eastern Alabama and western Florida; the nearest 
point of land is 125 miles (201 kilometers) northwest in Louisiana.
    This Federal Register notice is not an announcement to hold a 
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. The comments received during the 
scoping comment period will help form the content of the CPA 241 and 
247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS and will be summarized in presale 
documentation prepared during the decisionmaking process for CPA Lease 
Sale 241 and EPA Lease Sale 226. If, after completion of the CPA 241 
and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS, the Secretary of the Interior decides 
to hold the lease sales, then the lease sale areas identified in the 
final Notices of Sale may exclude or defer certain lease blocks from 
the area offered. However, for purposes of the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 
Supplemental EIS and to adequately assess the potential impacts of an 
areawide lease sale, BOEM is assuming that all unleased blocks may be 
offered in proposed CPA Lease Sale 241 and EPA Lease Sale 226, and in 
the remaining proposed CPA Lease Sale 247, which is tentatively 
scheduled to be held in 2017.
    In order to ensure a greater level of transparency during the Outer 
Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) stages and tiered NEPA processes of 
the Five-Year Program, BOEM established an alternative and mitigation 
tracking table, which is designed to track the receipt and treatment of 
alternative and mitigation suggestions. Section 4.3.2 of the Five-Year 
Program EIS presented a list of deferral and alternative requests that 
were received during the development of the Five-Year Program EIS, but 
they were determined to be more appropriately considered at subsequent 
OCSLA and NEPA stages. These deferral and alternative requests were 
previously addressed in the 2012-2017 WPA/CPA Multisale, EPA 225/226 
EIS, and other supplemental EIS documents for these planning areas and 
were deemed inappropriate for further analysis at the time. In this and 
future NEPA analyses, BOEM will continue to evaluate whether these or 
other deferral or alternative requests warrant additional consideration 
as appropriate. A key principle at each stage in the NEPA process is to 
identify how the recommendations for deferral and mitigation requests 
are being addressed and whether new information or circumstances favor 
new or different analytical approaches in response to these requests.
    Scoping Process: This NOI also serves to announce the scoping 
process for identifying issues for the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 
Supplemental EIS. Throughout the scoping process, Federal, State, 
Tribal, and local governments and the general public have the 
opportunity to help BOEM determine significant resources and issues, 
impacting factors, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigation 
measures to be analyzed in the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental 
EIS. BOEM will also use the NEPA commenting process to initiate the 
Section 106 consultation process of the National Historic Preservation 
Act (16

[[Page 35380]]

U.S.C. 470f), as provided for in 36 CFR 800.2(d)(3).
    Pursuant to the regulations implementing the procedural provisions 
of NEPA, BOEM will hold public scoping meetings in Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida on the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 
Supplemental EIS. The purpose of these meetings is to solicit comments 
on the scope of the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS. BOEM's 
scoping meetings will be held at the following places and times:

 Panama City, Florida: Tuesday, July 8, 2014, Hilton Garden Inn 
Panama City, 1101 U.S. Highway 231, Panama City, Florida, 32405, two 
meetings, the first beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT and the second beginning 
at 6:00 p.m. CDT;
 Mobile, Alabama: Wednesday, July 9, 2014, Hilton Garden Inn 
Mobile West, 828 West I-65 Service Road South, Mobile, Alabama 36609, 
two meetings, the first beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT and the second 
beginning at 6:00 p.m. CDT;
 Gulfport, Mississippi: Thursday, July 10, 2014, Courtyard 
Marriott, Gulfport Beachfront, 1600 East Beach Boulevard, Gulfport, 
Mississippi 39501, two meetings, the first beginning at 1:00 p.m. CDT 
and the second beginning at 6:00 p.m. CDT;
 New Orleans, Louisiana: Monday, July 14, 2014, 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; and
 Larose, Louisiana: Monday, July 14, 2014, Larose Regional Park 
and Civic Center, 307 E 5th Street, Larose, Louisiana 70373, one 
meeting beginning at 6:00 p.m. CDT.

    Cooperating Agency: BOEM invites other Federal, State, Tribal, and 
local governments to consider becoming cooperating agencies in the 
preparation of the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS. We invite 
qualified government entities to inquire about cooperating agency 
status for the CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 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 for 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/cooperatingagenciesmemorandum.html; and http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/cooperating/cooperatingagencymemofactors.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 CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 Supplemental EIS, 
significant issues that should be addressed, alternatives that should 
be considered, potential mitigation measures, and the types of oil and 
gas activities of interest in the proposed CPA 241 and 247/EPA 226 
lease sale areas.
    Written scoping comments may be submitted in one of the following 
ways:
    1. In an envelope labeled ``Scoping Comments for the CPA 241 and 
247/EPA 226 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; Central Planning Area Lease Sales 241 
and 247/Eastern Planning Area Lease Sale 226''. (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. BOEM's email address: cpa241-epa226@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.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by July 21, 2014 to the address 
specified above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the CPA 241 and 
247/EPA 226 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.

    Authority:  This NOI is published pursuant to the regulations 
(40 CFR 1501.7) implementing the provisions of NEPA.

    Dated: May 30, 2014.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2014-14104 Filed 6-19-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
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