MMS to use single EIS for Beaufort Sea, possibly Cook Inlet sales

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

On Sept. 19 the U.S. Minerals Management Service announced its intention to use a single Environmental Impact Statement for its three upcoming Beaufort Sea oil and gas lease sales proposed under its draft 2002-2007 five year program.

John Goll told PNA the agency is also considering using a multi-sale EIS for its two upcoming Cook Inlet sales. Goll is MMS's Alaska regional director.

The process will incorporate planning and analysis for Beaufort Sea sales 186, 195 and 202, tentatively scheduled for 2003, 2005 and 2007, respectively. The Cook Inlet sales, 191 and 199, are slated for 2004 and 2006, respectively.

It is the first time MMS has issued a multi-sale call for Alaska although Goll said it used a similar process in its 1997-2002 five year program for the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico.

“We hope the multi-sale EIS will eliminate a lot of paperwork and eliminate the need to revisit the same issues three times. The issues rarely change,” Goll said.

If the issues do change, “then the multi-sale approach will make it easier for the public and us to key on those new issues and their effects,” he said.

The agency is not planning to use a single EIS for its 2004 and 2007 Chukchi Sea sales.

“We’re not certain whether the Chukchi will have one or two — or zero sales,” Goll said. “Our proposed five year program is not finalized yet. Public comment for it closes Sept. 27. We’ve not had a sale up there (Chukchi Sea) since the early 1990s. It’s more of a frontier area. If we were to have a sale up there we might need to be looking at the issues both times — we might do two environmental impact statements.”

The Beaufort Sea planning area is offshore Alaska’s northern coast, extending from about 3 nautical miles to approximately 60 nautical miles offshore in water depths ranging from approximately 25 to 200 feet. Water depths in a small portion of the sale area north of Harrison Bay drop to about 3,000 feet. The area covers about 9.9 million acres.

Comments on the agency’s Sept. 19 Call for Information and Nominations and Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement must be received by Nov. 5 and should be sent to the MMS Alaska OCS Region, 949 East 36th Ave., Room 308, Anchorage 99508 or submitted via e-mail to [email protected].

If you have any questions, call MMS at 907 271-6070 or toll-free at 1-800-764-2627.