[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 98 (Monday, May 21, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28001-28002]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-12743]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Preparation of an Environmental Assessment for Proposed Lease 
Sale 182 in the Central Gulf of Mexico (2002)

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service.

ACTION: Preparation of an environmental assessment.

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SUMMARY: The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is beginning preparation 
of an environmental assessment (EA) for proposed lease Sale 182 
(scheduled for March 2002) in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. 
In August 1996, MMS issued a Call for Information and Nominations/
Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS (Call/NOI) for the five proposed 
Central Gulf of Mexico sales in the current 5-year leasing program. In 
1997, MMS prepared a single environmental impact statement (EIS) for 
all five sales. The multisale Final EIS, filed in November 1997, 
included an analysis of a single, ``typical'' sale, and a cumulative 
analysis that included the effects of holding all five sales, as well 
as the cumulative effects of the long-term development of the planning 
area. The MMS stated in the EIS that an EA would be prepared for each 
lease sale after the first sale covered in the EIS (Sale 169).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Minerals Management Service, Gulf of 
Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 
70123-2394, Mr. Alvin Jones, telephone (504) 736-1713.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The preparation of this EA is the first step 
in the prelease decision process for Sale 182. The proposal and 
alternatives for Sale 182 were identified by the Director of MMS in 
November 1996 following the Call/NOI and were analyzed in the Central 
Gulf multisale EIS, which is available from the Gulf of Mexico OCS 
Region's Public Information Office at 1-800-200-GULF. The proposed 
action analyzed in the multisale EIS was the offering of all available 
unleased acreage in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. The EA 
will also analyze alternatives to defer blocks south and within 15 
miles of Baldwin County, Alabama, and to defer blocks containing 
topographic features with sensitive biological resources, as well as 
the no action alternative. The analysis in the EA will reexamine the 
potential environmental effects of the proposal and alternatives based 
on any new information regarding potential impacts and issues that was 
not available at the time the Final EIS was prepared.

[[Page 28002]]

    After completion of the EA, MMS will determine whether to prepare a 
Finding of No New Significant Impact (FONNSI) or a supplemental EIS. 
The MMS will then prepare and send consistency determinations to the 
affected States to determine whether the proposed sale is consistent 
with federally-approved State coastal zone management programs, and 
will send a proposed Notice of Sale to the Governors for their comments 
on the size, timing, and location of the proposed sale. The tentative 
schedule for the steps in the prelease decision process for Sale 182 is 
listed below:
    <bullet> Comments due to MMS no later than 30 days from the 
publication date of this Notice;
    <bullet> EA/FONNSI or Supplemental EIS, October 2001;
    <bullet> Consistency Determinations sent to States, October 2001;
    <bullet> Proposed Notice of Sale sent to Governors, November 2001;
    <bullet> Final Notice of Sale in Federal Register, February 2002;
    <bullet> Sale, March 2002.

Public Comment

    The MMS requests interested parties to submit comments regarding 
any such new information or issues that should be addressed in the EA 
to Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Office of 
Leasing and Environment, Attention: Regional Supervisor (MS 5400), 1201 
Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394 no later than 
30 days from the publication date of this Notice.

    Dated: April 27, 2001.
Chris C. Oynes,
Regional Director, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region.
[FR Doc. 01-12743 Filed 5-18-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-U