The
NewsRoom
Release #: 3104
Date: July 26, 2004
No New Effects Identified for Next Federal
Beaufort Sea Sale
No new significant
environmental impacts exist for a planned Beaufort Sea Sale in March
2005; concludes a Minerals Management Service environmental review.
The review evaluated new information available since its earlier
analysis for the September 2003 Beaufort Sea sale. The Environmental
Assessment for the next federal oil and gas lease sale in the Beaufort
Sea, Sale 195, is available from the MMS for public review through
August 25, 2004. Sale 195 is tentatively scheduled for March 30,
2005.
In February 2003, MMS
completed a comprehensive multiple-sale environmental impact statement
which evaluated potential environmental effects of three proposed
sales in the Beaufort Sea—Sale 186, held in September 2003, Sale 195,
scheduled for March 30, 2005, and Sale 202, scheduled for March 2007.
MMS prepared an EA for proposed Sale 195 that examined the new
information and data that became available since the EIS was
completed The MMS found that the potential effects of proposed Sale
195 fall within the ranges evaluated in the EIS, and found no new
significant impacts.
“This approach is used by
other Federal agencies and the State of Alaska to determine the level
of effects for a series of sales on issues which rarely change,” said
MMS Regional Director John Goll. “We and the public can more easily
key in on any new information or issues. Our proposed sale still
includes a series of requirements that we have used successfully in
the past to safeguard the bowhead whale subsistence hunt that occurs
annually in the Beaufort.”
After the 30-day review
period, the next step in the Sale 195 process will be the issuance of
a proposed Notice of Sale in October 2004. At the same time, MMS will
seek the Governor’s recommendations on the sale, and will submit a
Coastal Zone Consistency Determination to the State. The final Notice
of Sale is scheduled for early in 2005 with the sale tentatively
scheduled for March 30, 2005.
The area evaluated covers
1,875 blocks from the Canadian Border to Barrow, Alaska, and seaward
from the State of Alaska boundary. The EA evaluates the removal of
four areas from the sale, primarily areas in which the bowhead whale
is hunted by the villages of Barrow, Nuiqsut, and Kaktovik.
Since 1979, MMS has written
eight EIS's and held eight lease sales in the Beaufort Sea. MMS
oversees an extensive environmental, social, and economic studies
program that evaluates the impacts of offshore oil and gas development
in the arctic. Some of the ongoing Beaufort Sea studies include
monitoring of the Northstar and Liberty development project areas,
under-ice currents, oil spill risk from oil production and
transportation in the arctic, and changes in trace metal
concentrations.
Copies of the assessment are
available in paper or CD-ROM from MMS Alaska OCS Region, Office of
Public Information, 949 East 36th Avenue, Room 308,
Anchorage, AK 99508-4363. Requests for copies also may be submitted
via email at akwebmaster@mms.gov or by phone at 1-800-764-2627. The
document is available on the internet
www.mms.gov/alaska.
The Minerals Management Service is the federal
agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the
nation’s oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the Outer
Continental Shelf in Federal offshore waters. The agency also
collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal
and American Indian lands. MMS disbursed more than $8 billion
in FY 2003 and more than $135 billion since the agency was created in
1982. Nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and
Water Conservation Fund annually for the acquisition and development
of state and Federal park and recreation lands.
Relevant Web Sites
MMS Main Website
MMS OMM Alaska Website
Media Contacts
Robin Cacy
(907) 271-6070
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department of the Interior |