67798 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2023 / Notices 

made to the same tables in Section 3.A 

of the C&S Form.) 

• To accommodate the request 

proposing additional instructions for 

questions the NPS will create annotated 

versions of the forms to provide 

additional guidance. 

As part of our continuing effort to 

reduce paperwork and respondent 

burdens, we invite the public and other 

Federal agencies to comment on new, 

proposed, revised, and continuing 

collections of information. This helps us 

assess the impact of our information 

collection requirements and minimize 

the public’s reporting burden. It also 

helps the public understand our 

information collection requirements and 

provide the requested data in the 

desired format. 

We are especially interested in public 

comment addressing the following: 

(1) Whether or not the collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

agency, including whether or not the 

information will have practical utility. 

(2) The accuracy of our estimate of the 

burden for this collection of 

information, including the validity of 

the methodology and assumptions used. 

(3) Ways to enhance the quality, 

utility, and clarity of the information to 

be collected. 

(4) How might the agency minimize 

the burden of the collection of 

information on those who are to 

respond, including through the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology, e.g., permitting 

electronic submission of response. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include or 

summarize each comment in our request 

to OMB to approve this ICR. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

email address, or other personal 

identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Abstract: The Land and Water 

Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as 

amended (LWCF Act) (54 U.S.C. 200305 

et. seq.) was enacted to help preserve, 

develop, and ensure access for the 

public to outdoor recreation 

opportunities. Among other programs, 

the LWCF Act provides funds for and 

authorizes federal assistance to the 

States for planning, acquisition, and 

development of needed land and water 

areas and facilities for outdoor 

recreation purposes. In accordance with 

the LWCF Act, the National Park 

Service (we, NPS) administers the 

LWCF State Assistance Program, which 

provides matching grants to States, 

LWCF grants are provided to states 

(including the 50 states; the 

Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the 

Northern Mariana Islands; the District of 

Columbia; and the Territories of Guam, 

the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American 

Samoa) on a matching basis for up to 50 

percent of the total project-related 

allowable costs. Grants to eligible 

insular areas may be for 100 percent 

assistance. Payments for all projects are 

made to the state organization that is 

authorized to accept and administer 

funds paid for approved projects. Local 

units of government participate in the 

program as sub-grantees of the state 

with the state retaining primary grant 

compliance responsibility. The 

following updates are included as 

revisions to this collection: 

1. New Requirement—Standard Form 

SF–429. In accordance with DOI’s 

regulations at 2 CFR 1402, the SF–429 

Real Property Status Report Cover Sheet 

and Attachment B, Request to Acquire, 

Furnish, or Improve, is required for 

projects requesting LWCF assistance for 

land acquisition. For post-grant 

completion stewardship reporting, the 

Cover Sheet and Attachment A, General 

Reporting are required. 

Title of Collection: Land and Water 

Conservation Fund State Assistance 

Program. 

OMB Control Number: 1024–0031. 

Form Number: NPS Forms 10–902A, 

10–903, 10–904, 10–904A, 10–905 and 

Standard Form SF429. 

Type of Review: Revision of a 

currently approved collection. 

Respondents/Affected Public: States 

Governments; the Commonwealths of 

Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana 

Islands; the District of Columbia; and 

the territories of Guam, U.S. Virgin 

Islands, and American Samoa. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Respondents: 423. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 7,797. 

Total Estimated Number of Annual 

Burden Hours: 56,249. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain a benefit. 

Frequency of Collection: On occasion. 

Total Estimated Annual Nonhour 

Burden Cost: None. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor and a person is not required to 

respond to a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. 

The authority for this action is the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 

Phadrea Ponds, 

Information Collection Clearance Officer, 

National Park Service. 

[FR Doc. 2023–21680 Filed 9–29–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–52–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

Notice of Availability of the 2024–2029 

National Outer Continental Shelf Oil 

and Gas Leasing Proposed Final 

Program and Final Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management (BOEM), Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of availability. 

SUMMARY: BOEM is announcing the 

availability of the Proposed Final 

Program (PFP) for the 2024–2029 

National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) 

Oil and Gas Leasing Program (2024– 

2029 Program, National OCS Program, 

or Program), as well as the Final 

Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement for the 2024–2029 Program 

(Final Programmatic EIS). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

information on the 2024–2029 Program 

process or BOEM’s policies associated 

with this notice, please contact Ms. 

Kelly Hammerle, Chief, National OCS 

Oil and Gas Leasing Program 

Development and Coordination Branch, 

at (703) 787–1613 or Kelly.Hammerle@

boem.gov. For information on the 2024– 

2029 Final Programmatic EIS, please 

contact Jennifer Bosyk, Chief, Branch of 

Environmental Coordination, at (703) 

787–1834 or Jennifer.Bosyk@boem.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: BOEM is 

responsible for administering the 

leasing program for oil and gas 

resources on the OCS and advising the 

Secretary of the Interior on the National 

OCS Program. The PFP is the last in a 

series of three proposals made by the 

Secretary, pursuant to section 18 of the 

OCS Lands Act, before final action may 

be taken to approve the 2024–2029 

National OCS Program. The three 

analytical phases used to develop a new 

National OCS Program are the (1) Draft 

Proposed Program (DPP); (2) Proposed 

Program; and (3) PFP. 

The first proposal, the DPP, was 

published on July 3, 2017 (82 FR 

30886), and was followed by a 60-day 

comment period. The second proposal, 

the Proposed Program, was published 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2023 / Notices 67799 

on January 8, 2018 (83 FR 829). A notice 

of availability announcing the Proposed 

Program was published in the Federal 

Register on July 8, 2022, initiating a 90- 

day public comment period (87 FR 

40859). Following publication of the 

Proposed Program, BOEM received 

more than 760,000 comments from 

interested parties including governors, 

Federal agencies, State agencies, local 

agencies, energy and non-energy 

industries, Tribal governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the 

general public (see Appendix A of the 

PFP document for more information). 

After careful consideration of the OCS 

Lands Act section 18(a) factors, as well 

as input from governors and the public, 

the Secretary’s final proposal, the PFP, 

includes three potential lease sales in 

the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Program Area 

(which contains the Western GOM 

Planning Area and the portions of the 

Central and Eastern GOM planning 

areas not currently under Presidential 

withdrawal—see Figure 1). An option 

for a potential lease sale in the northern 

portion of the Cook Inlet Planning Area 

was identified in the Proposed Program 

and analyzed as part of the PFP. Based 

on careful consideration of section 18 

requirements and factors, no Cook Inlet 

sale is included in the PFP. 

In the PFP, the Secretary has decided 

to require that all leases issued under 

the 2024–2029 Program will include, as 

lease stipulations, programmatic 

mitigation measures to protect 

topographic features and pinnacle 

trends. Applying these stipulations at 

the National OCS Program development 

stage is consistent with current practice 

and continues the effective protection of 

these biologically sensitive areas, 

should they be offered in the three 

potential lease sales scheduled under 

this PFP. 

The schedule shown in Table 1 

reflects the potential lease sales for the 

2024–2029 PFP. Figure 1 depicts the 

program area included in the 2024–2029 

PFP. 

TABLE 1—2024–2029 PROPOSED PROGRAM LEASE SALE SCHEDULE

Count Sale No. Year OCS region and program area 

1 ........................................ 262 2025 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area. 

2 ........................................ 263 2027 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area. 

3 ........................................ 264 2029 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area. 

The Secretary’s final proposal, as 

described in the PFP, is the proposed 

action evaluated in the Final 

Programmatic EIS. BOEM has elected to 

prepare the Programmatic EIS to help 

describe and analyze the potential 

environmental impacts that could result 

from leasing, exploration, production, 

and decommissioning associated with 

lease sales under the National OCS 

Program for 2024–2029. The National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration 

and the National Park Service are 

Cooperating Agencies on the Final 

Programmatic EIS. 

Please go to https://www.boem.gov/ 

oil-gas-energy/national-program/ for 

additional information about the Final 

Programmatic EIS and the National OCS 

Program for 2024–2029. 

Next Steps in the Process: BOEM will 

submit the PFP and Final Programmatic 

EIS to the President and Congress at 

least 60 days prior to Secretarial 

approval of the 2024–2029 Program. 

Authority: This Notice of Availability 

for the 2024–2029 PFP is published in 

accordance with section 18 of the OCS 

Lands Act and its implementing 

regulations (30 CFR part 556 subpart B). 

This Notice of Availability for the 2024– 

2029 Final Programmatic EIS is 

published pursuant to the regulation (40 

CFR 1506.20 and 43 CFR 46.415) 

implementing the provisions of the 

National Environmental Policy Act. 

Elizabeth Klein, 

Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management. 

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
67800 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 189 / Monday, October 2, 2023 / Notices 

[FR Doc. 2023–21678 Filed 9–29–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–C 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

[Docket No. BOEM–2023–0013] 

Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf 

Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of delay of sale. 

SUMMARY: With this notice, the Bureau 

of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is 

announcing the rescheduling of Gulf of 

Mexico Lease Sale 261. Instead of 

holding the sale on September 27, 2023, 

as originally planned, BOEM will open 

and publicly announce bids received for 

blocks offered in the sale on November 

8, 2023, in accordance with the order 

issued by the United States Court of 

Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on 

September 25, 2023. Additional 

information regarding the sale and a 

new Final Notice of Sale (NOS) package 

will be available on BOEM’s website at 

least 30 days prior to the sale date at 

https://www.boem.gov/oil-gas-energy/ 

leasing/lease-sale-261. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The 

New Orleans Office Lease Sale 

Coordinator, Greg Purvis, at 

BOEMGOMRLeaseSales@boem.gov or 

504–736–1729. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 

25, 2023, BOEM published in the 

Federal Register the Final NOS for 

Lease Sale 261. See 88 FR 58310. In that 

Final NOS, BOEM announced that the 

sale would be held on September 27, 

2023. Two lawsuits then challenged the 

Final NOS in the U.S. District Court for 

the Western District of Louisiana, and 

plaintiffs in those cases sought 

preliminary injunctions to force BOEM 

to (1) include lease blocks previously 

excluded to protect the Rice’s whale and 

(2) remove provisions in Stipulation No. 

4, ‘‘Protected Species’’ that BOEM had 

added to protect the Rice’s whale from 

certain oil and gas activities while 

BOEM engaged in a reinitiated 

consultation under the Endangered 

Species Act. On September 21, 2023, six 

days before the planned sale, the district 

court issued a preliminary injunction 

(Case No. 2:23–CV–01157) requiring 

BOEM to include the previously 

excluded blocks and modify the 

stipulation by removing the new Rice’s 

whale protections. The court also 

ordered BOEM to hold the sale on or 

before September 30, 2023. On 

September 22, 2023, the government 

filed an emergency motion in the U.S. 

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 

requesting an extension of time to allow 

BOEM to take the administrative steps 

necessary to hold the modified sale and 

provide the statutorily required notice 

to the public of the revised sale terms. 

On September 25, 2023, the Fifth Circuit 

issued an order (Case No. 23–30666) 

directing BOEM to hold Lease Sale 261 

as required by the district court, but 

permitting BOEM until November 8, 

2023, to hold the sale. The Fifth 

Circuit’s order stated that no further 

extensions will be granted. 

BOEM is returning all bids submitted 

by bidders under the previously issued 

Final NOS and is rescheduling Lease 

Sale 261 for November 8, 2023. Bidders 

wishing to participate in Lease Sale 261 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1EN02OC23.004</GPH>

Figure 1: Proposed Final Program Map - Gulf of Mexico Program Area 

c:::J Planning Areas 

• GOM Program Area 

BOEM 

~=~ 

2024-2029 National Outer Continental Shelf 

Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Final ProgramArea