Notice2022-14524
Notice of Availability of the 2023-2028 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program and Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
Primary source
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Published
July 8, 2022
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentOcean Energy Management Bureau
Abstract
BOEM is announcing the availability of, and requests comments on, the Proposed Program for the 2023-2028 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (2023-2028 Program, National OCS Program, or Program), as well as the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the 2023-2028 Program (Draft Programmatic EIS).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 130 (Friday, July 8, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 130 (Friday, July 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40859-40863]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-14524]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[BOEM-2022-0031]
Notice of Availability of the 2023-2028 National Outer
Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program and Draft
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: BOEM is announcing the availability of, and requests comments
on, the Proposed Program for the 2023-2028 National Outer Continental
Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program (2023-2028 Program, National OCS
Program, or Program), as well as the Draft Programmatic Environmental
Impact Statement for the 2023-2028 Program (Draft Programmatic EIS).
DATES: Comments should be submitted by October 6, 2022 to the address
specified in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. Dates of virtual
public meetings to be held between now and October 6, 2022 will be
posted on <a href="https://www.BOEM.gov/National-OCS-Program">https://www.BOEM.gov/National-OCS-Program</a>.
ADDRESSES: Comments on the Proposed Program or Draft Programmatic EIS
may be submitted in one of the following ways:
1. Through the <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> web portal: Navigate to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> and under the Search tab, in the space provided,
type in Docket ID: BOEM-2022-0031 to submit comments and to view other
comments already submitted. Information on using <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>,
including instructions for accessing documents, submitting comments,
and viewing the docket after the close of the comment period, is
available through the links
[[Page 40860]]
under the box entitled, ``Are you new to this site?''
2. Mailed in an envelope labeled ``Comments for the 2023-2028
National OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Proposed Program'' and mailed or sent
by delivery service to Ms. Kelly Hammerle, Chief, National OCS Oil and
Gas Leasing Program Development and Coordination Branch, Leasing
Division, Office of Strategic Resources, Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management (VAM-LD), 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, VA 20166-9216,
telephone (703) 787-1613.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the 2023-2028
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. For
information on the 2023-2028 Draft Programmatic EIS, submission of
comments related to potential environmental impacts, or Cooperating
Agency status, please contact Jennifer Bosyk, Chief, Branch of
Environmental Coordination, at (703) 787-1834.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: BOEM is responsible for administering the
leasing program for oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental
Shelf (OCS) and advising the Secretary of the Interior on the National
OCS Program. The three analytical phases required to develop a new
National OCS Program are the (1) Draft Proposed Program (DPP); (2)
Proposed Program; and (3) Proposed Final Program (PFP). The 2023-2028
Program (originally proposed as the Draft 2019-2024 Program), once
approved, will follow the 2017-2022 Program. The Proposed Program is
the second 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 2023-2028 National OCS Program.
The DPP was published on January 9, 2018, with a 60-day comment
period and proposed a lease sale schedule of 47 lease sales in all four
OCS regions. It included 25 of the 26 OCS planning areas and proposed
19 lease sales in the Alaska Region (three in the Chukchi Sea, three in
the Beaufort Sea, two in Cook Inlet, and one sale each in the 11 other
available planning areas in Alaska), seven lease sales in the Pacific
Region (two each for Northern California, Central California, and
Southern California, and one for Washington/Oregon), 12 lease sales in
the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Region (ten regionwide lease sales for the
portions of the Central, Western, and Eastern GOM planning areas that
are not currently under moratorium, and two sales for the remaining
portions of the Central and Eastern GOM planning areas after the
Congressional moratorium against leasing was set to expire), and nine
lease sales in the Atlantic Region (three sales each for the Mid- and
South Atlantic, two for the North Atlantic, and one for the Straits of
Florida). The Proposed Program analysis and the companion Draft
Programmatic EIS analyze the full lease sale schedule presented in the
DPP for the purpose of informing the Secretary prior to advancing the
Proposed Program.
Following the January 2018 publication of the DPP, BOEM received
more than 2 million comments from stakeholders, including governors,
Federal agencies, state agencies, local agencies, energy and non-energy
industries, Tribal governments, non-governmental organizations,
including environmental advocacy groups, and the general public (see
Appendix A of the Proposed Program 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, this Proposed
Program offers up to ten potential sales in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM)
Region Program Area 1 (which contains the Western GOM Planning Area,
most of the Central GOM Planning Area, and a small portion of the
Eastern GOM Planning Area), and one potential lease sale in the
northern portion of the Cook Inlet Planning Area offshore Alaska. Two
Subarea Options have been identified that will be analyzed in the PFP
and Final Programmatic EIS: a 15-mile no leasing buffer offshore
Baldwin County, Alabama, and a targeted leasing approach in the GOM
Program Area 1. There are no potential lease sales scheduled for
planning areas in the Pacific Region, Atlantic Region, GOM Program Area
2 (which contains most of the Eastern GOM Planning Area), or Alaska
Region (other than Cook Inlet). During the development of the National
OCS Program, once a defined area is included in the National OCS
Program, it becomes known as a program area. Program areas are
therefore the portions of the original 26 OCS planning areas that
remain under consideration for leasing during the National OCS Program
development process.
The schedule shown in Table 1 reflects the potential lease sales
for the 2023-2028 Proposed Program. Figures 1 and 2 depict the program
areas included in the 2023-2028 Proposed Program.
The size, timing, location, and number of potential lease sales in
this Proposed Program will be robustly analyzed in the PFP and Final
Programmatic EIS and may be further narrowed or excluded. The Secretary
is requesting public and stakeholder input on the Proposed Program to
inform the PFP and Final Programmatic EIS analyses.
BOEM also seeks feedback and input on additional data sources,
reasonable assumptions and methodological approaches which could help
BOEM quantitatively and/or qualitatively estimate how demand for OCS
oil and gas and energy market substitutions might differ in the future
under various climate pathways that would be required to reach net zero
domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, as President Biden and the
parties to the Paris Agreement have staked out as objectives.
Chapter 5 of the Proposed Program describes BOEM's current approach
to analyzing net benefits. Section 5.3.4 provides a qualitative
description of the likely impacts and changes to the net benefits that
could result under a hypothetical net-zero scenario. BOEM seeks input
and feedback on this approach as it continues to refine its analysis
going forward.
This Proposed Program will be analyzed to inform the Secretary's
PFP, which will be published with a Final Programmatic EIS and be
provided to the President and Congress. Upon consideration of the PFP
and Final Programmatic EIS, and comments received as part of the
National OCS Program development process, the Secretary will approve a
2023-2028 Program, determining the program areas to be potentially
leased in the 2023-2028 timeframe.
Table 1--2023-2028 Proposed Program Lease Sale Schedule
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Count Sale No. Year OCS region and program area
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1............................................. 262 2023 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
2............................................. 263 2024 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
3............................................. 264 2024 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
[[Page 40861]]
4............................................. 265 2025 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
5............................................. 266 2025 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
6............................................. 267 2026 Alaska: Cook Inlet Program Area.
7............................................. 268 2026 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
8............................................. 269 2026 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
9............................................. 270 2027 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
10............................................ 271 2027 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
11............................................ 272 2028 Gulf of Mexico: GOM Program Area
1.
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The Proposed Program is the proposed action evaluated in the Draft
Programmatic EIS. BOEM has elected to prepare the Draft Programmatic
EIS to help address certain environmental components outlined in
Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act. The National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and the National Park Service are Cooperating Agencies
on the Draft Programmatic EIS. BOEM analyzed several environmentally
important areas in the Draft Programmatic EIS for possible exclusion
from the 2023-2028 Program and is soliciting public comment on these or
other areas that should be considered for exclusion.
Please go to <a href="https://www.boem.gov/National-OCS-Oil-and-Gas-Leasing-Program-for-2023-2028/">https://www.boem.gov/National-OCS-Oil-and-Gas-Leasing-Program-for-2023-2028/</a> for additional information about the Draft
Programmatic EIS and the National OCS Program for 2023-2028.
Public Comment: All interested parties, including Federal, state,
Tribal, and local governments, oil and gas producers, and others, can
submit written comments on the Proposed Program and the Draft
Programmatic EIS, including any significant issues that should be
addressed in the PFP and Final Programmatic EIS. Comments that provide
scientific information, geospatial or other data, or other evidence to
support your input are most useful, and such information can be
provided as attachments to comments.
BOEM will protect privileged or proprietary information that you
submit in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and OCS
Lands Act requirements. To avoid inadvertent release of such
information, interested parties should mark all documents and every
page containing such information with ``Confidential--Contains
Proprietary Information.'' To the extent a document contains a mix of
proprietary and nonproprietary information, interested parties should
mark clearly the portions of the document that are proprietary and
those that are not. Exemption 4 of FOIA applies to trade secrets and
commercial or financial information that you submit that is privileged
or confidential. Section 18 of the OCS Lands Act also states that the
``Secretary shall maintain the confidentiality of all privileged or
proprietary data or information for such period of time as is provided
for in this subchapter, established by regulation, or agreed to by the
parties'' (43 U.S.C. 1344(g)).
Please be aware that BOEM's practice is to make all other comments,
including the names and addresses of individuals, available for public
inspection. Before including your address, phone number, email address,
or other personal identifying information in your comment, please be
advised that your entire comment, including your personal identifying
information, may be made publicly available at any time. Even if BOEM
withholds your information in the context of this Program development
process, your submission is subject to the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA), and if your submission is requested under the FOIA, your
information will only be withheld if a determination is made that one
of the FOIA's exemptions to disclosure applies. Such a determination
will be made in accordance with the Department's FOIA regulations and
applicable law.
In order for BOEM to consider withholding from disclosure your
personal identifying information, you must identify, in a cover letter,
any information contained in the submittal of your comments that, if
released, would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of your
personal privacy. You must also briefly describe any possible harmful
consequence(s) of the disclosure of information, such as embarrassment,
injury or other harm. Note that BOEM will make available for public
inspection, in their entirety, all comments submitted by organizations
and businesses, or by individuals identifying themselves as
representatives of organizations or businesses.
Public Meetings: BOEM will hold a series of virtual public meetings
to provide information and the opportunity for public comment on the
Proposed Program and the Draft Programmatic EIS. BOEM's public meetings
will be held online using an open house format, with several
information stations, hosted by BOEM subject matter experts, each of
which will focus on different aspects of BOEM's Proposed Program and
Draft Programmatic EIS analysis. The virtual open house format allows
members of the public to view information, discuss the 2023-2028
National OCS Program and the Draft Programmatic EIS with BOEM staff,
and to receive instructions about how to provide comments on the
documents.
Virtual public meetings will be scheduled between now and October
6, 2022. Specific dates and times, will be posted on https://
www.boem.gov/National-OCS-Program.
Authority: This Notice of Availability for the 2023-2028 Proposed
Program 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 2023-2028 Draft Programmatic EIS is
published pursuant to the regulations (40 CFR 1506.6 and 43 CFR 46.435)
implementing the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.
Amanda Lefton,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
BILLING CODE 4340-98-P
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[FR Doc. 2022-14524 Filed 7-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4340-98-C
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on July 8, 2022.
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