MMS sets public meetings on five-year program

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The Minerals Management Service will hold public hearings on the draft environmental impact statement for the Department of the Interior’s proposed outer continental shelf oil and gas five-year program, 2002-2007.

Hearings on the proposals for offshore oil and gas lease schedules will be held in Anchorage, Kenai/Soldotna, Homer, Kodiak, Kotzebue, Nome and Barrow. Public comment will be taken on the draft environmental impact state issued in October.

Lease sales proposed in the Alaska Region include three in the Beaufort Sea, two in Cook Inlet, two in the Chukchi Sea/Hope Basin and one in Norton Sound.

MMS said the proposed sales provide companies the opportunity to search for new sources of oil, but also offer areas believed to contain excellent potential for natural gas.

The Alaska hearings are all scheduled from 7-9 p.m.:

Anchorage, Dec. 3, Wilda Marston Theater

Soldotna, Dec. 4, Kenai Peninsula Borough Conference Room

Kotzebue, Dec. 4, Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly Room

Homer, Dec. 5, City Council Chamber, 491 E. Pioneer Ave.

Nome, Dec. 5, Northwest Campus University of Alaska

Kodiak, Dec. 7, Kodiak Island Borough Assembly Chambers.

Barrow, Dec. 7, North Slope Borough Assembly Room.

MMS said it will hold a teleconferenced hearing in early January for villages that border the proposed sale areas.

Comments will be accepted through Jan. 24.

The final EIS and the proposed final program are slated for release in April.