Notice2023-00485
Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales 259 and 261: Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 13, 2023
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentOcean Energy Management Bureau
Abstract
BOEM announces the availability of a final supplemental environmental impact statement, Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales 259 and 261: Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS). The GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS provides an analysis of potential environmental impacts of the proposed action and four alternatives and identifies BOEM's preferred alternative.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 9 (Friday, January 13, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 9 (Friday, January 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2371-2372]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-00485]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2023-0007]
Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease Sales 259 and 261: Final
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability of a final environmental impact
statement.
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SUMMARY: BOEM announces the availability of a final supplemental
environmental impact statement, Gulf of Mexico OCS Oil and Gas Lease
Sales 259 and 261: Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement
(GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS). The GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261
SEIS provides an analysis of potential environmental impacts of the
proposed action and four alternatives and identifies BOEM's preferred
alternative.
DATES: BOEM will issue a final record of decision no sooner than
February 13, 2023.
ADDRESSES: The GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS with appendices is
available for review on BOEM's website at <a href="https://www.boem.gov/GoM-Sales-259-and-261-SEIS">https://www.boem.gov/GoM-Sales-259-and-261-SEIS</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Helen Rucker, Chief, Environmental
Assessment Section, Office of Environment, 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd. (MS
GM 623E), New Orleans, LA 70123-2394, or by telephone at 504-736-2421.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS will
inform both lease sales, which the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
(IRA) (Pub. L. 117-169, enacted August 16, 2022) directs BOEM to hold
by the end of March 2023 and September 2023, respectively. While
section 50264(a)(3)-(4) of the IRA requires BOEM to hold these lease
sales, the IRA does not impact the bulk of BOEM's normal leasing
process, including the resolution of particular questions going to the
scope of the sales and the terms of the resulting leases. BOEM has
prepared the GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS to inform its leasing
decisions.
[[Page 2372]]
On October 7, 2022, the notice of availability for the draft SEIS
was published in the Federal Register (87 FR 61014), beginning a 45-day
public comment period that ended November 21, 2022. During that time,
BOEM also held two public hearings. BOEM received a total of 75,918
public comments through the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal (<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>, Docket No. BOEM-2022-0144) and 14 comments during
the public hearings. Following the close of the public comment period,
BOEM considered all comments received in preparing the Lease Sales 259
and 261 SEIS as appropriate. Detailed responses to the comments are
provided in appendix C of the GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS. The GOM
Lease Sales 259 and 261 SEIS analyzes the potential environmental
impacts that could result from an individual Gulf of Mexico oil and gas
lease sale. Additionally, it identifies BOEM's preferred alternative as
Alternative D combined with Alternative A. Alternative D combined with
Alternative A would offer for lease available unleased blocks within
all three of BOEM's Gulf of Mexico (GOM) planning areas in the lease
sale area that are not under Presidential withdrawal, not adjacent to
or beyond the United States Exclusive Economic Zone in the area known
as the northern portion of the Eastern Gap, and not within the boundary
of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary as of the July
2008 ``Memorandum on Modification of the Withdrawal of Areas of the
United States Outer Continental Shelf From Leasing Disposition.'' BOEM
may also exclude from leasing any available unleased whole or partial
blocks subject to one or more of the following stipulations: (1)
Topographic Features Stipulation; (2) Live Bottom Stipulation; and (3)
Blocks South of Baldwin County, Alabama, Stipulation. BOEM will
announce more information concerning GOM Lease Sales 259 and 261 in its
final notice of sale and record of decision for each sale.
Authority: The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 43 CFR 46.415.
Amanda Lefton,
Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2023-00485 Filed 1-12-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4340-98-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on January 13, 2023.
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