29996 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 103 / Friday, May 28, 2010 / Notices 

STATUS: Closed. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: 

Enforcement Matters. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Sauntia S. Warfield, 202–418–5084. 

Sauntia S. Warfield, 

Assistant Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2010–13084 Filed 5–26–10; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6351–01–P 

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

TIME AND DATE: 11 a.m., Friday, June 11, 

2010. 

PLACE: 1155 21st St., NW., Washington, 

DC, 9th Floor Commission Conference 

Room. 

STATUS: Closed. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: Surveillance 

Matters. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Sauntia S. Warfield, 202–418–5084. 

Sauntia S. Warfield, 

Assistant Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2010–13079 Filed 5–26–10; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6351–01–P 

CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY 

COMMISSION 

Sunshine Act Meetings 

TIME AND DATE: Wednesday, June 2, 

2010; 2 p.m.–4 p.m. 

PLACE: Hearing Room 420, Bethesda 

Towers, 4330 East West Highway, 

Bethesda, Maryland. 

STATUS: Closed to the Public. 

Matters To Be Considered 

Compliance Status Report 

The Commission staff will brief the 

Commission on the status of compliance 

matters. 

For a recorded message containing the 

latest agenda information, call (301) 

504–7948. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Todd A. Stevenson, Office of the 

Secretary, U.S. Consumer Product 

Safety Commission, 4330 East West 

Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814 (301) 

504–7923. 

Dated: May 25, 2010. 

Todd A. Stevenson, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2010–13064 Filed 5–26–10; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 6355–01–P 

COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL 

QUALITY 

Review of MMS NEPA Policies, 

Practices, and Procedures for OCS Oil 

and Gas Exploration and Development 

AGENCY: Council on Environmental 

Quality. 

ACTION: Notice of Review and Request 

for Public Comment. 

SUMMARY: On May 17, 2010, the Council 

on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 

informed the Department of the Interior 

(DOI) that CEQ was conducting a 30 day 

review National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) policies, practices, and 

procedures for the Minerals 

Management Service (MMS) decisions 

for Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil 

and gas exploration and development. 

This review of MMS NEPA policies, 

practices and procedures is being 

conducted as a result of the oil spill 

from the Deepwater Horizon well and 

drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The 

purpose of this review is to ascertain 

how MMS applies NEPA in its 

management of Outer Continental Shelf 

oil and gas exploration and 

development and make 

recommendations for revisions. The 

scope of the review is intended to be 

holistic, i.e. from leasing decisions to 

drilling and production. 

In line with CEQ’s effort to engage the 

public in the NEPA process and the 

President’s Open Government Initiative, 

this notice is also a solicitation for 

public comment on the review process 

undertaken by CEQ as well as on 

current MMS NEPA policies, practices, 

and procedures regarding Outer 

Continental Shelf oil and gas 

exploration and development. Public 

participation in this review effort will 

benefit this specific review process, the 

MMS NEPA implementation, CEQ’s 

overall effectiveness in overseeing 

NEPA, and the environmental and 

social consequences of government 

activity. 

DATES: Comments should be submitted 

as soon as possible on the CEQ review, 

recognizing that the review is to be 

completed June 17, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: All relevant information 

related to MMS NEPA procedures and 

the review process is available at http:// 

www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/initiatives/

nepa. Comments on the procedures and 

review should be submitted 

electronically at the above URL or to 

hgreczmiel@ceq.eop.gov or in writing to 

Associate Director for NEPA Oversight, 

Council on Environmental Quality, 722 

Jackson Place NW., Washington, DC 

20503. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Horst Greczmiel, Associate Director for 

NEPA Oversight, Council on 

Environmental Quality, at (202) 395– 

5750. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

NEPA and Offshore Drilling 

Enacted in 1970, NEPA mandates that 

Federal agencies consider the 

environmental impacts of their 

proposed actions during all stages of 

decision making, from planning to 

implementation. NEPA is a fundamental 

decision-making tool used to harmonize 

our economic, environmental, and 

social aspirations and is a cornerstone of 

our Nation’s efforts to protect the 

environment. NEPA applies to every 

stage of Federal decision making related 

to offshore oil and gas exploration and 

development. When an agency proposes 

an action, it must determine if the 

action has the potential to affect the 

quality of the human environment. 

Agencies then apply one of three levels 

of NEPA analysis. They may: Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

when the agency projects the proposed 

action has the potential for significant 

environmental impacts; apply a 

Categorical Exclusion (CE) when the 

agency has previously established a CE 

based on its determination that 

proposed action falls within the 

categories of actions described in the CE 

which the agency has found do not 

typically result in individually or 

cumulatively significant environmental 

effects or impacts; or the agency 

prepares an Environmental Assessment 

(EA) to determine whether it can make 

a Finding of No Significant Impact or 

proceed to prepare an EIS. 

Under the Outer Continental Shelf 

Lands Act, MMS has implemented a 

process for oil and gas development 

consisting of the following stages: (1) 

Preparing a nationwide 5-year oil and 

gas development program, (2) planning 

for and holding a specific lease sale, (3) 

approving a company’s exploration 

plan, and (4) approving a company’s 

development and production plan. 

MMS is required to apply NEPA during 

each of these stages, beginning with the 

initial planning of outer continental 

shelf leasing and ending with a decision 

on a specific well. The sequence of 

NEPA analyses is informed by the CEQ 

Regulations Implementing the 

Procedural Requirements of the 

National Environmental Policy Act, 40 

CFR parts 1500–1508 available at 

http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/ceq_regulations/ 

regulations.html. Specifically, 40 CFR 

1502.20, discusses ‘‘tiering,’’ a strategy 

used to avoid repetitive discussions of 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 103 / Friday, May 28, 2010 / Notices 29997 

the same issues, and to prevent 

unnecessary duplication of work by 

reviewers, as the NEPA reviews progress 

from a broad program to a site specific 

action. In the case of the Gulf of Mexico 

leases, MMS prepared several tiered 

NEPA analyses (see NEPA 

environmental review documents 

available at http://www.mms.gov/5- 

year/2007–2012BackgroundDocs.htm 

and http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/ 

regulate/environ/nepa/ 

nepaprocess.html). 

Environmental Impact Statements 

(EIS), the most intensive level of 

analysis, were prepared at two decision 

points. First, in April 2007, MMS 

prepared a broad ‘‘programmatic’’ EIS on 

the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas 

Leasing Program for 2007–2012. Also, in 

April 2007, MMS prepared an EIS for 

the Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas 

Lease Sales in the Western and Central 

Planning Areas, the ‘‘multi-sale’’ EIS. 

In October 2007, MMS completed 

another NEPA analysis, an 

Environmental Assessment (EA), under 

the multi-sale EIS, for Central Gulf of 

Mexico Lease Sale 206. This is the sale 

in which the lease was issued for the 

location that includes the Deepwater 

Horizon well. MMS previously 

approved BP’s development operations 

based on a programmatic EA that MMS 

prepared in December 2002. 

Finally, for the Deepwater Horizon 

well, MMS applied its existing 

Categorical Exclusion Review (CER) 

process prior to the decision to approve 

the Exploration Plan that included the 

drilling of the Deepwater Horizon well. 

The Categorical Exclusion used by MMS 

for Deepwater Horizon was established 

more than 20 years ago. Under section 

11 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

Act, 43 U.S.C. section 1340, MMS had 

30 days to complete its environmental 

review and act on the application to 

permit drilling. The Administration, in 

its supplemental budget request sent to 

Congress on May 12, 2010, seeks to 

extend that 30-day timeline; however, 

this review will consider the existing 

statutory requirements applicable to 

MMS decisions for OCS oil and gas 

exploration and development. 

The Role of CEQ in the NEPA Process 

NEPA charges the Council on 

Environmental Quality (CEQ) with the 

authority and responsibility to guide 

Federal agencies on their 

implementation of the Act. In 1978, 

CEQ issued regulations implementing 

the procedural provisions of NEPA. 

These regulations apply to all Federal 

agencies and establish the basic 

framework for all NEPA analyses 

(available at http://ceq.hss.doe.gov/ 

ceq_regulations/regulations.html). The 

regulations require Federal agencies to 

establish their own NEPA implementing 

procedures (see 40 CFR 1507.3), and to 

ensure that they have the capacity, in 

terms of personnel and other resources, 

to comply with NEPA (see 40 CFR 

1507.2). 

CEQ periodically issues guidance and 

other documents, such as guides and 

handbooks for NEPA. CEQ also 

convenes meetings with Federal NEPA 

contacts to present CEQ’s interpretation 

of NEPA requirements and focus on 

how agencies can improve their NEPA 

analyses and documents. Through case 

law, the Federal courts and the Supreme 

Court have established that the agencies 

can rely on CEQ’s interpretation of, and 

guidance on, NEPA. 

Agencies establish their own NEPA 

implementing procedures which tailor 

the CEQ requirements to a specific 

agency’s authorities and decisionmaking 

processes. MMS must comply with the 

Department of the Interior NEPA 

regulations (available at http://www.doi.

gov/oepc/nepafr.html) and the MMS 

NEPA implementing procedures found 

in the Department of the Interior’s 

Director’s Manual 516 at Chapter 15 

(available at http://elips.doi.gov/app_

DM/act_getfiles.cfm?relnum=3625). CEQ 

provides assistance when agencyspecific procedures, such as these DOI 

and MMS NEPA implementing 

procedures, are developed. An agency’s 

NEPA procedures are not official until 

CEQ reviews the proposed procedures 

and determines that they are in 

conformity with NEPA and the CEQ 

regulations. Any subsequent revisions 

or changes to the agency procedures are 

subject to the same oversight process 

with CEQ. Periodically, CEQ also 

reviews the agency’s NEPA 

implementing regulations and 

procedures. CEQ does not review every 

application of a Categorical Exclusion, 

every agency project, or the NEPA 

review for every agency project. The 

CEQ review will review the NEPA 

analyses conducted for the Deepwater 

Horizon well as well as the overall 

NEPA process MMS uses for OCS oil 

and gas exploration and development. 

Discussion of the Request for Public 

Comment 

NEPA itself emphasizes public 

involvement in government actions 

affecting the environment by requiring 

that the environmental impacts or 

effects associated with proposed actions 

be assessed and publicly disclosed. 

NEPA is steeped in the principle that 

public accountability and oversight 

makes government more effective. 

Public access to and participation in 

specific agency NEPA actions 

illuminates areas where agency 

reviewers may have overlooked or 

misinterpreted portions of a submitted 

EIS or EA. 

Public participation in this review 

process allows CEQ to similarly tap into 

the collective wisdom of industry, 

academia, state, local, and tribal 

governments, and the rest of the private 

sector. CEQ is soliciting comments, 

questions, and other input about a 

number of specific issues focused on the 

NEPA review of OCS oil and gas 

exploration and development: 

1. What are substantive issues and at 

what level should they be analyzed in 

each of the tiered NEPA submissions, 

from National 5-Year Oil and Gas 

Program to an individual well permit? 

2. Does this sequence of permitting 

stages (and associate NEPA 

submissions) allow for comprehensive 

evaluation of all relevant issues? 

3. What have been past industry and 

agency experiences with the use of 

categorical exclusions for OCS oil and 

gas activities? 

4. Has the use of the CER process been 

an effective tool for reducing 

unnecessary paperwork without 

compromising the robustness of the 

NEPA analysis for OCS oil and gas 

activities? 

5. To what degree has public 

engagement been a part of MMS NEPA 

practice, particularly as it deals with 

categorical exclusions? 

6. What resources are available in 

Federal, tribal, state, and local 

government agencies with a stake in 

OCS oil and gas exploration and 

development to participate in NEPA 

reviews? 

In addition to input on the above 

issues, general comments and questions 

are also welcome. Information relevant 

to this MMS NEPA policy review can be 

found on the CEQ Web site at http:// 

www.whitehouse.gov/ceq/initiatives/

nepa. 

Public comments are requested as 

soon as possible in light of the June 17, 

2010, deadline for the CEQ review. 

Dated: May 25, 2010. 

Nancy Sutley, 

Chair, Council on Environmental Quality. 

[FR Doc. 2010–13111 Filed 5–27–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3125–W0–P 


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