62418 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 195 / Friday, October 8, 2010 / Notices 

Availability of DEIS for Review 

The DEIS will be available to view at 

Holtville Branch—Meyer Memorial 

Library, 101 E. 6th Street, Holtville, CA 

92250 and at the City of Calexico— 

Camarena Memorial Library, 850 

Encinas Avenue, Calexico, CA 92231. 

General information for the Holtville 

Branch—Meyer Memorial Library can 

be obtained by calling (760) 356–2385 

and the City of Calexico—Camarena 

Memorial Library by calling (760) 768– 

2170. An electronic version of the DEIS 

can also be viewed at: http:// 

www.manazanita.com/eis.html. 

To obtain a compact disk copy of the 

DEIS, please provide your name and 

address in writing or by voicemail to 

John Rydzik, Chief of the Division of 

Environmental, Cultural Resources 

Management and Safety, at the 

telephone number provided in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 

this notice. Individual paper copies of 

the DEIS will be provided upon 

payment of applicable printing expenses 

by the requestor for the number of 

copies requested. 

Public Comment Availability 

Written comments, including the 

names and addresses of respondents, 

will be available for public review at the 

BIA address shown in the ADDRESSES

section, during regular business hours, 

8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except holidays. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

e-mail 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. 

Authority 

This notice is published pursuant to 

section 1503.1 of the Council of 

Environmental Quality regulations 

(40 CFR parts 1500 through 1508) 

implementing the procedural 

requirements of NEPA of 1969, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 4371 et seq.), the 

Department of the Interior Manual (516 

DM 1–6) and is in the exercise of 

authority delegated to the Assistant 

Secretary—Indian Affairs by 209 DM 8. 

Dated: September 28, 2010. 

Larry Echo Hawk, 

Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs. 

[FR Doc. 2010–25417 Filed 10–7–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–W7–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 

Regulation and Enforcement 

[Docket No. BOEM–2010–0036] 

Notice of Intent To Conduct a Review 

of Categorical Exclusions for Outer 

Continental Shelf Decisions 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Regulation and 

Enforcement (BOEMRE), Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Conduct a 

Review of BOEMRE Outer Continental 

Shelf (OCS) Categorical Exclusions 

under the National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA). 

SUMMARY: The Department of the 

Interior (DOI), Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Regulation and 

Enforcement (BOEMRE) is announcing 

its intent to conduct a broad review of 

its categorical exclusions (CEs) for Outer 

Continental Shelf (OCS) decisions. This 

review is being conducted in 

accordance with section 102 of the 

National Environmental Policy Act of 

1969 (NEPA), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 

4332; the Council on Environmental 

Quality (CEQ) Regulations for 

Implementing the Procedural Provisions 

of NEPA, 40 CFR parts 1500–1508 (Nov. 

1978); the CEQ Draft Guidance on 

Establishing and Applying Categorical 

Exclusions under NEPA (February 18, 

2010); and consistent with 

recommendations provided by CEQ in 

their ‘‘Report Regarding the Minerals 

Management Service’s National 

Environmental Policy Act Policies, 

Practices, and Procedures as They 

Relate to Outer Continental Shelf Oil 

and Gas Exploration and Development’’ 

(August 16, 2010). Furthermore, this 

notice provides the public an 

opportunity to comment on the issues 

that should be addressed by BOEMRE 

during the review of its CEs and their 

application to OCS decisionmaking. The 

BOEMRE will use and coordinate a 

commenting process to ensure public 

involvement. 

Authority: The National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 

1969, as amended, established a 

national policy to protect the 

environment and also established the 

President’s Council on Environmental 

Quality (CEQ). CEQ regulations at 40 

CFR 1507.3 require Federal agencies to 

adopt procedures to implement NEPA, 

to consult with CEQ during their 

development, to provide an opportunity 

for public review, and to revise 

procedures as necessary to ensure full 

compliance with the purposes and 

provisions of the Act. The CEQ 

regulations are available at http:// 

ceq.hss.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/ 

toc_ceq.htm. 

The Department of the Interior NEPA 

procedures were promulgated as 

regulations and published in the 

Federal Register on October 15, 2008 

(73 FR 61292). They can be found at 

(http://www.doi.gov/oepc/nepafr/docs/

Federal%20Register%20October%

2015,%202008%20NEPA.pdf). These 

regulations identify categories of actions 

taken throughout the Department that 

under normal circumstances do not 

have, and are not expected to have, 

significant individual or cumulative 

environmental impacts; therefore, the 

Bureau is not required to prepare an 

environmental assessment or 

environmental impact statement. These 

regulations also identify the 

extraordinary circumstances which 

nullify the use of the CE in particular 

circumstances. The CEQ regulations 

define ‘‘categorical exclusion’’ at 40 CFR 

1508.4: 

‘‘Categorical exclusion’’ means a category of 

actions which do not individually or 

cumulatively have a significant effect on the 

human environment and which have been 

found to have no such effect in procedures 

adopted by a Federal agency in 

implementation of these regulations 

(§ 1507.3) and for which, therefore, neither 

an environmental assessment nor an 

environmental impact statement is required. 

An agency may decide in its procedures or 

otherwise, to prepare environmental 

assessments for the reasons stated in Sec. 

1508.9 even though it is not required to do 

so. Any procedures under this section shall 

provide for extraordinary circumstances in 

which a normally excluded action may have 

a significant environmental effect. 

The Minerals Management Service 

(MMS, now BOEMRE) identified 

additional categories of actions 

designated as CEs, which include those 

related specifically to OCS activities. 

BOEMRE’s CEs (Departmental Manual 

at 516 DM 15.4) can be found at 

http://elips.doi.gov/app_dm/act_

getfiles.cfm?relnum=3625 and are listed 

below: 

A. General 

(1) Inventory, data, and information 

collection, including the conduct of 

environmental monitoring and 

nondestructive research programs. 

(2) Actions for which MMS has 

concurrence or co-approval with 

another Bureau if the action is a 

categorical exclusion for that Bureau. 

B. Internal Program Initiatives 

(1) All resource evaluation activities 

including surveying, mapping, and 

geophysical surveying which do not use 

solid or liquid explosives. 


erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 195 / Friday, October 8, 2010 / Notices 62419 

(2) Collection of geologic data and 

samples including geologic, 

paleontologic, mineralogic, 

geochemical, and geophysical 

investigations which does not involve 

drilling beyond 50 feet of consolidated 

rock or beyond 300 feet of 

unconsolidated rock, including 

contracts therefor. 

(3) Acquisition of existing geological 

or geophysical data from otherwise 

private exploration ventures. 

(4) Well logging, digital modeling. 

inventory of existing wells, and 

installation of recording devices in 

wells. 

(5) Establishment and installation of 

any research/monitoring devices. 

(6) Test or exploration drilling and 

downhole testing included in a project 

previously subject to the NEPA process. 

(7) Insignificant revisions to the 

approved 5-year leasing program. 

(8) Prelease planning steps such as the 

Call for Information and Area 

Identification. 

C. Permit and Regulatory Functions 

(1) Issuance and modification of 

regulations, Orders, Standards, Notices 

to Lessees and Operators. Guidelines 

and field rules for which the impacts are 

limited to administrative, economic, or 

technological effects and the 

environmental impacts are minimal. 

(2) Approval of production 

measurement methods, facilities, and 

procedures. 

(3) Approval of off-lease storage in 

existing facilities. 

(4) Approval of unitization 

agreements, pooling, or 

communitization agreements. 

(5) Approval of commingling of 

production. 

(6) Approval of suspensions of 

operations and suspensions of 

production. 

(7) Approval of lease consolidation 

applications, lease assignments or 

transfers, operating rights, operating 

agreements, lease extensions, lease 

relinquishments, and bond 

terminations. 

(8) Administration decisions and 

actions and record keeping such as: 

(a) Approval of applications for 

pricing determinations under the 

Natural Gas Policy Act. 

(b) Approval of underground gas 

storage agreements from a presently or 

formerly productive reservoir. 

(c) Issuance of paying well 

determinations and participating area 

approvals. 

(d) Issuance of drainage 

determinations. 

(9) Approval of offshore geological 

and geophysical mineral exploration 

activities, except when the proposed 

activity includes the drilling of deep 

stratigraphic test holes or uses solid or 

liquid explosives. 

(10) Approval of an offshore lease or 

unit exploration. development/ 

production plan or a Development 

Operation Coordination Document in 

the central or western Gulf of Mexico 

(30 CFR 250.2) except those proposing 

facilities: (1) In areas of high seismic 

risk or seismicity, relatively untested 

deep water, or remote areas, or (2) 

within the boundary of a proposed or 

established marine sanctuary, and/or 

within or near the boundary of a 

proposed or established wildlife refuge 

or areas of high biological sensitivity; or 

(3) in areas of hazardous natural bottom 

conditions; or (4) utilizing new or 

unusual technology. 

(11) Approval of minor revisions of or 

minor variances from activities 

described in an approved offshore 

exploration or development/production 

plan, including pipeline applications. 

(12) Approval of an Application for 

Permit to Drill (APD) an offshore oil and 

gas exploration or development well, 

when said well and appropriate 

mitigation measures are described in an 

approved exploration plan, 

development plan, production plan, or 

Development Operations Coordination 

Document. 

(13) Preliminary activities conducted 

on a lease prior to approval of an 

exploration or development/production 

plan or a Development Operations 

Coordination Plan. These are activities 

such as geological, geophysical, and 

other surveys necessary to develop a 

comprehensive exploration plan, 

development/production plan, or 

Development Operations Coordination 

Plan. 

(14) Approval of Sundry Notices and 

Reports on Wells. 

(15) Rights-of-ways, easements, 

temporary use permits, and any 

revisions thereto that do not result in a 

new pipeline corridor to shore. 

D. Royalty Functions.—Does Not Apply 

Purpose of This Review of OCS 

Categorical Exclusions: MMS reviewed 

and revised its CEs several times since 

their development dating back to the 

late 1970s and now BOEMRE is 

initiating another cycle of review as 

proposed herein. To ensure full 

compliance with NEPA and the 

regulations implementing NEPA, 

BOEMRE is announcing its intent to 

conduct a broad review of its CEs for 

OCS decisions. This notice requests the 

public as well as Federal, State, and 

local government agencies, and other 

interested parties to comment on the 

appropriateness of and suggest revisions 

to existing BOEMRE CEs, as well as 

highlight issues that should be 

addressed by BOEMRE during the 

review of its CEs and their application 

to OCS decisionmaking. The BOEMRE 

will use and coordinate a commenting 

process to ensure public involvement. 

DATES: Submit written comments no 

later than November 8, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: The public as well as 

Federal, State, and local government 

agencies, and other interested parties 

are requested to send their written 

comments regarding issues that should 

be addressed by BOEMRE during the 

review of its CEs and their application 

to decisionmaking for OCS activities in 

one of the following ways: 

1. In written form enclosed in an 

envelope labeled ‘‘Comments on the 

Review of Categorical Exclusions for 

Outer Continental Shelf Decisions’’ and 

mailed (or hand carried) to James F. 

Bennett, Chief, Environmental 

Assessment Branch, Environmental 

Division (MS 4042), Bureau of Ocean 

Energy, Regulation and Enforcement, 

Headquarters, 381 Elden Street, 

Herndon, Virginia 20170. 

2. Electronically: go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. In the entry titled 

‘‘Enter Keyword or ID,’’ enter docket ID 

BOEM–2010–0036 then click search. 

Follow the instructions to submit public 

comments and view supporting and 

related materials available for this 

collection. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, e-mail address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment, including your 

personal identifying information 

submitted, will be made publicly 

available. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

more information on the review of 

BOEMRE CEs for OCS activities, you 

may contact James F. Bennett, Chief, 

Environmental Assessment Branch, 

Environmental Division (Mail Stop 

4042), Bureau of Ocean Energy, 

Regulation and Enforcement, 

Headquarters, 381 Elden Street, 

Herndon, Virginia 20170. You may also 

contact Mr. Bennett by telephone at 

(703) 787–1660. 

Dated: September 20, 2010. 

Robert P. LaBelle, 

Acting Associate Director for Offshore Energy 

and Minerals Management. 

[FR Doc. 2010–25377 Filed 10–7–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P 


erowe on DSK5CLS3C1PROD with NOTICES