[Federal Register: June 14, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 114)]
[Notices]
[Page 32860-32862]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14jn07-66]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Chukchi Sea Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193 and Seismic
Surveying Activities in the Chukchi Sea
AGENCY: Minerals Management Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS).
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SUMMARY: The proposed federal action addressed in this FEIS (OCS EIS/EA
MMS 2007-026) is to offer for lease
[[Page 32861]]
areas in the Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) that might
contain recoverable oil and gas resources. This lease sale would
provide qualified bidders the opportunity to bid on certain blocks in
the Chukchi Sea OCS to gain conditional rights to explore, develop, and
produce oil and natural gas. This FEIS is the National Environmental
Policy Act (NEPA) analysis to enable the MMS to make informed decisions
on the configuration of the lease sale and the applicable mitigation
measures. In the FEIS, the potential direct, indirect, and cumulative
environmental impacts of the sale, including estimated exploration and
development and production activities related to the sale, on the
physical, biological, and human environments in the Chukchi Sea area
are analyzed. The FEIS also provides NEPA evaluation for exploration
activities in the Chukchi Sea, including seismic survey geophysical
permitting (30 CFR part 251), ancillary activities (30 CFR 250.207),
and exploration plans (30 CFR 250.214). In addition, the FEIS provides
information that the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)
may possibly use for issuance of Incidental Harassment Authorizations
to the seismic-survey industry to take marine mammals by harassment,
incidental to conducting prelease and ancillary on-lease oil and gas
seismic surveys in the Chukchi Sea. To address its NEPA
responsibilities, the NMFS is a cooperating agency (as that term is
defined in 40 CFR 1501.6).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Minerals Management Service, Alaska
OCS Region, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 500, Anchorage, Alaska
99503-5823, Ms. Deborah Cranswick, telephone (907) 334-5267.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In this FEIS, the MMS has examined the
potential environmental effects of the Proposed Action and its
alternatives. The Proposed Action (Alternative I) is to conduct Chukchi
Sea OCS Lease Sale 193 in 2008. The resource estimates and scenario
information included in this FEIS analysis are presented as a range of
activities that could be associated with the sale, including
exploration seismic surveying, on-lease ancillary activities,
exploration and delineation drilling, development and production of OCS
oil and gas resources, and lease abandonment. The Proposed Action would
offer for lease approximately 6,156 whole and partial blocks (about 34
million acres) identified as the program area in the 2002-2007 5-Year
Program. Although Sale 193 was scheduled under the 2002-2007 5-Year
Program, it is being held under the 2007-2012 5-Year Program to
accommodate the time required to complete the EIS analyses and process.
The proposed Sale 193 area excludes up to a 50-mile-wide corridor along
the coast, the polynya or spring lead system. Water depths in the sale
area vary from about 95 feet (ft) to approximately 262 ft. A small
portion of the northeast corner of the area deepens to approximately
9,800 ft.
Alternative II (No Lease Sale) is equivalent to cancellation of the
Proposed Action as scheduled in the approved 5-Year Program. The
opportunity for development of the estimated oil and gas resources that
could have resulted from the Proposed Action would be precluded or
postponed, and any potential environmental impacts resulting from the
Proposed Action would not occur or would be postponed.
Alternative III (Corridor I Deferral) is the Proposed Action
excluding an area comprising approximately 1,765 whole or partial
blocks along the coastward edge of the sale area. This alternative
would attempt to reduce potential impacts to subsistence hunting as
well as various wildlife species and associated habitats.
Alternative IV (Corridor II Deferral) is the Proposed Action
excluding an area comprising approximately 795 whole or partial blocks
along the coastward edge of the sale area. This alternative was
developed as a result of the 1987 Biological Opinion for the Chukchi
Sea as recommended by the NMFS.
The MMS also examines potential environmental effects of prelease
seismic survey geophysical permitting. The FEIS includes an analysis of
two alternatives for exploration seismic surveys: Alternative A and
Alternative B. All permitted seismic surveys would be subject to the
standard stipulations for geological and geophysical (G&G) permit
activities, additional measures to mitigate seismic-surveying effects,
and the mitigation and monitoring requirements of the selected
alternative (Alternative 6) from the Final Programmatic Environmental
Assessment (PEA) Arctic Ocean Outer Continental Shelf Seismic Surveys--
2006, dated June 2006 (USDOI, MMS, 2006a). Alternative A would allow
pre-Sale 193 seismic surveying in the entire proposed Sale 193 area
(the area under Alternative I). Alternative B would prohibit pre-Sale
193 exploration seismic surveys in the 795 whole or partial blocks in
Corridor II Deferral area (Alternative IV) along the coastward edge of
the proposed Sale 193 area. The Corridor II Deferral area was developed
from the recommended conservation measures in the 1987 Biological
Opinion from NMFS. The southern end of the corridor was expanded to
encompass a portion of the Ledyard Bay Critical Habitat Area that lies
within the proposed Sale 193 area.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded in its March 28, 2007,
Biological Opinion for Chukchi Sea Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sale
193 and Associated Seismic Surveys and Exploratory Drilling that, based
on the information available at this time, the action would not
jeopardize the continued existence of the spectacled or Steller's
eider, or destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat. The
NMFS concluded in its Arctic Region Biological Opinion, dated June
2006, that leasing and exploration activities are not likely to
jeopardize the continued existence of the threatened, endangered, or
candidate species under its jurisdiction; however, the potential
additive effects of oil and gas activities associated with exploration,
production, and transportation throughout the Chukchi Sea and
neighboring Beaufort Sea is of concern. The NMFS concluded further that
activities associated with seismic surveys in the Chukchi Sea may
adversely affect but not jeopardize the continued existence of any
species listed under the ESA that are under the jurisdiction of the
NMFS.
FEIS Availability: To obtain a copy of the final FEIS, you may
contact the Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, Attention:
Resource Center, 3801 Centerpoint Drive, 500, Anchorage,
Alaska 99503-5823, telephone 1-800-764-2627, or by e-mail at
akwebmaster@mms.gov. You may also view the FEIS on the MMS Web site at
http://www.mms.gov/alaska.
Written Comments: Interested parties may submit their written
comments on this FEIS until 30 days after the publication of this
notice, to the Regional Director, Alaska OCS Region, Attention: Sale
193 Coordinator, Minerals Management Service, 3801 Centerpoint Drive,
500, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-5823, or by e-mail to
akeis@mms.gov. Before including your address, phone number, e-mail
address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, be
advised that your entire comment-including your personal identifying
information-may be made publicly available at any time. While you can
ask us in your comment to withhold from public review your personal
identifying information, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do
so. We will not
[[Page 32862]]
consider anonymous comments, and we will make available for inspection
in their entirety all comments submitted by organizations or businesses
or by individuals identifying themselves as representatives of
organizations or businesses.
Dated: June 4, 2007.
Walter D. Cruickshank,
Acting Director, Minerals Management Service.
[FR Doc. E7-11517 Filed 6-13-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P
