Notice2026-03973
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Oil and Gas Lease Sales in the Northern, Central, and Southern California Program Areas
Primary source
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Published
February 27, 2026
Issuing agencies
Interior DepartmentOcean Energy Management Bureau
Abstract
Consistent with the U.S. Department of the Interior (Department or DOI) regulations and handbook implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announces its intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) (Unique Identification Number DOI-BOEM-PC-2026- 0001-EIS) for proposed oil and gas lease sales in the Northern, Central, and Southern California Program Areas (California Oil and Gas PEIS). This notice of intent (NOI) serves to announce the scoping process BOEM will use to identify significant issues and potential alternatives for consideration in the California Oil and Gas PEIS. On November 20, 2025, DOI published the first of three proposals during the development of the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program (11th National Program). The Secretary's Draft Proposed Program for the 11th National Program includes one proposed lease sale in the Northern California Program Area, two proposed lease sales in the Central California Program Area, and three proposed lease sales in the Southern California Program Area. Because the first California lease sale is tentatively scheduled to occur near the beginning of the 11th National Program and given the long lead time needed to prepare for a proposed sale, BOEM must initiate the lease sale planning process and prepare the PEIS simultaneously with the development of the 11th National Program.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 39 (Friday, February 27, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 39 (Friday, February 27, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9881-9883]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-03973]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
[Docket No. BOEM-2025-0681]
Notice of Intent To Prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement for Proposed Oil and Gas Lease Sales in the Northern,
Central, and Southern California Program Areas
AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact
statement; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: Consistent with the U.S. Department of the Interior
(Department or DOI) regulations and handbook implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
(BOEM) announces its intent to prepare a programmatic environmental
impact statement (PEIS) (Unique Identification Number DOI-BOEM-PC-2026-
0001-EIS) for proposed oil and gas lease sales in the Northern,
Central, and Southern California Program Areas (California Oil and Gas
PEIS). This notice of intent (NOI) serves to announce the scoping
process BOEM will use to identify significant issues and potential
alternatives for consideration in the California Oil and Gas PEIS. On
November 20, 2025, DOI published the first of three proposals during
the development of the 11th National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil
and Gas Leasing Program (11th National Program). The Secretary's Draft
Proposed Program for the 11th National Program includes one proposed
lease sale in the Northern California Program Area, two proposed lease
sales in the Central California Program Area, and three proposed lease
sales in the Southern California Program Area. Because the first
California lease sale is tentatively scheduled to occur near the
beginning of the 11th National Program and given the long lead time
needed to prepare for a proposed sale, BOEM must initiate the lease
sale planning process and prepare the PEIS simultaneously with the
development of the 11th National Program.
DATES: BOEM will consider comments from all interested parties
including Federal, State and local governments, and the general public,
may submit written comments by March 30, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Information regarding the scoping process for the PEIS is
available on the BOEM website at: <a href="https://www.boem.gov/CA-OGPEIS">https://www.boem.gov/CA-OGPEIS</a>.
Written comments can be submitted through the <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> web
portal: Navigate to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and search for Docket
BOEM-2025-0681, or ``Pacific Region Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil
and Gas Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, California Program
Areas'', and click on the ``Comment'' button. Enter your information
and comment, and then click ``Submit.''
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the California Oil
and Gas PEIS, the submission of comments, or BOEM's policies associated
with this notice, please contact Susan Zaleski, Acting Regional
Supervisor, Office of Environment, BOEM, Pacific OCS Region, 760 Paseo
Camarillo, Suite 102, Camarillo, CA 93010, (805) 384-6328 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#691a1c1a0807471308050c1a0200290b060c04470e061f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bac9cfc9dbd494c0dbd6dfc9d1d3fad8d5dfd794ddd5cc">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed lease sale areas in the Draft
Proposed Program include all available OCS blocks in the Northern,
Central, and Southern California Program Areas. The Northern, Central,
and Southern California Program Areas are located offshore of the State
of California and consist of 11,876 whole and partial lease blocks
covering roughly 26.2 million hectares (approximately 65 million acres)
of the Pacific Ocean. On January 27, 2026, the Calls for Information
and Nominations (Call) for the proposed lease sales offshore Southern
California (91 FR 3537) and Central California (91 FR 3534) were
published in the Federal Register. Information regarding the Calls,
including maps of the proposed Program Areas, are available on the BOEM
website at: <a href="https://www.boem.gov/California-oil-and-gas-leasing">https://www.boem.gov/California-oil-and-gas-leasing</a>.
Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action:
The purpose of the Proposed Action is to provide access to OCS
lease blocks that may contain economically recoverable oil and gas
reserves. After additional reviews and authorizations, the Proposed
Action would facilitate potential exploration, development and
production on the leased blocks. A lease sale would provide a bidding
opportunity to obtain a lease with conditional rights to explore,
develop, and produce oil and natural gas.
The need for the Proposed Action is to further the orderly
development of OCS oil and gas resources in accordance with the Outer
Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1953 (OCSLA), as amended (43 United
States Code [U.S.C.] 1331 et seq.). A proposed OCS lease sale offshore
California may lead to oil and gas exploration, development, and
production. Oil and gas from the California OCS could help meet
national energy needs, in accordance with Executive Order (E.O.) 14154,
Unleashing American Energy (January 20, 2025) and E.O. 14156, Declaring
a National Energy Emergency (January 20, 2025).
Proposed Action and Preliminary Alternatives
The Proposed Action (Alternative A) evaluated in this PEIS (Unique
Identification Number DOI-BOEM-PC-2026-0001-EIS) is to hold an oil and
gas lease sale on the OCS offshore California offering all lease blocks
for the three California Program Areas. The analysis will cover leasing
and steps through exploratory drilling. The PEIS will also address at a
high-level the effects from reasonably foreseeable development and
production activities. This PEIS is expected to be used to inform the
decision for the first California lease sale proposed in the 11th
National Program. It also is expected to be used, and supplemented as
appropriate, for individual decisions on future proposed California
lease sales. BOEM will have more specific information at the
Development and Production Plan stage and will also conduct an
Environmental Impact Statement at that stage, should any leases reach
development and the lessees submit one or more plans.
In this PEIS, BOEM expects to consider two alternatives to the
Proposed Action: Alternative B, the No Action Alternative and
Alternative C, an Existing Infrastructure lease sale. Alternative B (No
Action) is the cancellation of a single proposed California lease sale.
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Alternative C (Existing Infrastructure). Under Alternative C, a
California lease sale would include only lease blocks that could be
developed from existing infrastructure. The only existing
infrastructure offshore California is in the Southern California
Program Area, where oil and gas activities have been permitted since
the 1920's. There have been over 1,650 exploratory and development
wells drilled in the Southern California Program Area as a result of
leasing from past OCS programs.
Under this Alternative, the lease sale area would be reduced to an
area expected to result in the leases that could be issued near or
adjacent to existing infrastructure, allowing lessees to use existing
infrastructure to develop nearby newly leased fields. Under Alternative
C, the lease sale area would be within a reasonable range of the
existing infrastructure in the Southern California Program Area, and
while there would be additional wells expected, other infrastructure
could be tied into existing offshore infrastructure (e.g., pipelines
for transport to shore and for processing), likely reducing the need
for new infrastructure in state submerged waters or to reach the coast
for onshore transport and processing.
Summary of Potential Impacts
Potential impacts to resources may include adverse or beneficial
impacts on air quality; water quality; vegetation and wetlands; benthic
communities and habitats; fishes and invertebrates; marine and coastal
birds; marine mammals; terrestrial mammals; economic factors; and
cultural, historical, and archaeological resources. These potential
impacts will be analyzed in the California Oil and Gas PEIS.
Based on a preliminary evaluation of these resources, BOEM expects
potential impacts on the resources listed above from routine air
emissions, discharges and wastes, bottom disturbance, noise, coastal
land use or modification, lighting and visual impacts, offshore habitat
modification or space use, and socioeconomic changes. Additional
impacts may occur from accidental events, such as unintentional
releases into the environment, response activities, or strikes and
collisions.
In accordance with the Department's NEPA implementing regulations
and handbook, BOEM does not plan to issue a draft PEIS for public
comment and will not hold any public meetings. Public comments on
preparation of the California Oil and Gas PEIS will be accepted during
the 30-day scoping comment period. After the California Oil and Gas
PEIS is completed, BOEM will make the PEIS available on its website and
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will publish a notice of
availability. If the 11th National Program includes Northern, Central,
or Southern California lease sales and, at the conclusion of the lease
sale process the Secretary or their designee decides to hold a sale, a
Record of Decision and Final Notice of Sale will be issued at least 30
days prior to each California lease sale.
Scoping Process
This NOI does not announce a decision to hold a lease sale, but
serves to commence the information gathering process for identifying
issues and potential alternatives for consideration in the California
Oil and Gas PEIS. Comments received during the scoping period will
inform the scope and content of the California Oil and Gas PEIS.
Throughout the scoping process, Federal, Tribal, State, and local
governments, and the general public have the opportunity to provide
input to BOEM in determining significant resources, issues, impacting
factors, reasonable alternatives, and potential mitigation measures to
be analyzed in the PEIS, and to provide additional information. BOEM
will consider alternatives, exclusion, and/or mitigation suggestions
identified during the comment period initiated by this NOI in the
preparation of the PEIS. BOEM will also use the NEPA comment process to
seek public involvement and to initiate, as warranted, the Section 106
consultation process under the National Historic Preservation Act
(NHPA) (54 U.S.C. 300101 et seq.), as provided for in 36 CFR
800.2(d)(3). As part of its compliance with NHPA Section 106 and its
implementing regulations (36 CFR part 800), BOEM seeks comment and
input from the public and consulting parties regarding the
identification of historic properties and potential effects within the
Program Areas.
Cooperating Agencies
BOEM, as the lead agency, invites qualified government entities,
such as Federally Recognized Tribes, other Federal agencies, and State,
and local governments, to consider becoming cooperating agencies for
the preparation of the California Lease Sale PEIS. Following the
guidelines in Section 1.7 of the DOI NEPA Handbook and DOI's NEPA
implementing regulations at 43 CFR part 46, qualified agencies and
governments are those with ``jurisdiction by law or special
expertise.'' Potential cooperating agencies should consider their
authority and capacity to assume the responsibilities of a cooperating
agency and remember that an agency's role in the environmental analysis
neither enlarges nor diminishes the final decision-making authority of
any other agency involved in the NEPA process. Upon request, BOEM will
provide potential cooperating agencies with a written summary of
guidelines for cooperating agencies, including time schedules and
critical action dates, milestones, responsibilities, scope and detail
of cooperating agencies' contributions, and availability of pre-
decisional information. BOEM anticipates this summary will form the
basis for a Memorandum of Understanding between BOEM and any
cooperating agency. BOEM, as the lead agency, will not provide
financial assistance to cooperating agencies. For additional
information about cooperating agencies, please contact Susan Zaleski,
Acting Regional Supervisor, Office of Environment, BOEM (805) 384-6328
or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#4a393f392b2464302b262f3921230a28252f27642d253c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="463533352728683c272a23352d2f062429232b68212930">[email protected]</span></a>.
Request for Comments
All interested parties, including Federal, State, and local
governments, and the general public, may submit written comments on the
scope of the California Oil and Gas PEIS, significant issues,
reasonable alternatives, potential mitigation measures, and the types
of oil and gas activities of interest in the proposed lease sale areas.
Federally recognized tribal nations wishing to comment may choose when
and how to convey their input, including through the comment process
described here, and they may also choose to request government-to-
government consultation.
Comments that you submit in response to this NOI are a matter of
public record. You should be aware that your entire comment--including
your address, phone number, email address, or other personally
identifiable information included in your comment--may be made publicly
available at any time. Even if BOEM withholds your personally
identifiable information in the context of this NOI, your comment is
subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552). Your
information will only be withheld if a determination is made that one
of the FOIA exemptions to disclosure applies. Such a determination will
be made in accordance with the Department's FOIA implementing
regulations (43 CFR part 2) and applicable laws.
In order for BOEM to consider withholding from disclosure your
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personally identifiable 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 consequences 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.
Authority: This NOI is published pursuant to DOI's regulations (43
CFR part 46) implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA, as amended
(42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.).
Matthew Giacona,
Acting Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
[FR Doc. 2026-03973 Filed 2-26-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4340-98-P
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