Opinion ID: 398884
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Development of the 1980-1985 Leasing Program.

Text: 37 The leasing program challenged in this litigation was developed over a 20-month period. The major stages in this development were preparation of two Draft Proposed Programs (March and May 1979), a Proposed Program (June 1979), a Proposed Final Program (April 1980), and a Final Program (June 1980). An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was also prepared, the draft of which was issued in August 1979 and the final statement in January 1980. 38 Development of the first Draft Proposed Program began in October 1978, when the Secretary, pursuant to section 18(c)(1), requested information from interested Governors, federal agencies, and private parties. Pursuant to section 18(c)(2), the Secretary then submitted his first Draft Proposed Program, proposing 26 sales over five years, to the Governors of affected states in early March 1979. 44 39 In April 1979, President Carter delivered his second Energy Message to the nation and directed the Secretary to increase the amount of proposed acreage over that contained in the first Draft Proposed Program. 45 Shortly thereafter the Secretary directed his staff to develop alternative leasing schedules to meet the President's directive, 46 resulting in the development of the second Draft Proposed Program in May, 1979. In June 1979, the Secretary submitted his proposed Program, calling for a total of 30 sales and an acceleration of leasing in frontier areas, to the Governors of affected states and other interested persons. 47 Extensive Comments were then received by Secretary Andrus on the Proposed Program. 40 In August, 1979, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement was issued on the Proposed Program. In January 1980, the staff of the House Ad Hoc Select Committee on the OCS issued a study entitled Offshore Oil and Gas in the Five-Year Leasing Program and Implementation of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments of 1978. 48 In this study, which was endorsed by the Committee Chairman and ranking member, the Committee staff recommended a leasing schedule involving more sales and earlier entry into frontier areas than the Secretary's June 1979 Proposed Program. 49 The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FES) was also issued in January, 1980. 41 Materials to assist the Secretary in making his decision on the Final Program were then assembled in February 1980 and submitted to the Secretary. These included, among other things, a Secretarial Issue Document (SID), describing 12 alternative leasing schedules and pertinent decisional information; 50 the Federal Environmental Impact Statement; and a summary of the comments received on the Proposed Program, and on the draft and final environmental impact statements. 42 The Secretary then decided upon a Proposed Final Program, which he transmitted to the President and Congress, as required by section 18(d)(2), on April 4, 1980. The program scheduled 36 proposed lease sales for the period from June 1980 through May 1985, covering virtually the entire Outer Continental Shelf, with the exception of the Florida Straits, the Southern Aleutian Shelf in Alaska, and the area seaward of the Washington and Oregon coasts. All these excluded areas possessed a very low industry rating for hydrocarbon potential. 51 43 During the 60-day statutory period that the program was before Congress, oversight hearings were held by the House Ad Hoc Select Committee on the OCS. The committee chairman and the ranking minority member both expressed the view that the leasing was inadequate because it was not as aggressive as the Select Committee Staff had recommended in its January 1980 report. 52 44 On June 16, 1980, after the expiration of the 60-day congressional consideration period specified in section 18(d)(2), the Secretary approved the Final Program. Its leasing schedule is essentially the same as that contained in the April 1980 Proposed Final Program, specifying 11 proposed sales in the Gulf of Mexico, 6 in the Atlantic, 4 off California, 10 off Alaska, and 5 reoffering sales. 53