BOEM publishes annual progress report

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, has published its first publicly available annual progress report on the agency’s five-year outer continental shelf oil and gas lease sale program. The agency is inviting public comments on the report, which is available in the oil and gas leasing section of the BOEM website at www.boem.gov.

The lease sale program includes lease sales for the Gulf of Mexico and for the federal waters of Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

Annual progress reports have in the past been part of BOEM’s internal review process. But early this year, as part of an initiative to enhance its lease sale program and make the program more transparent, the agency announced that it would make the reports available to the public.

“BOEM is committed to transparent operations and is seeking to include input from as many stakeholders as possible,” said BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau when announcing the release of the new report on Oct. 31. “We believe public engagement is essential to the future of this program and look forward to the public’s input on the program.”

The report includes the current schedule of outer continental shelf lease sales; statistics from sales that have been held; an overview of recent oil industry activities in outer continental shelf leases; information about environmental and safety studies; and information about recent and upcoming regulatory developments.

The public can comment on the report by mail, or through an Internet link provided with the Federal Register notice for the report, BOEM says.

—Alan Bailey