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The NewsRoom
Release: #.3570
Date: October 20,
2006
MMS to Hold Public Hearings on Proposed
Chukchi Sea Draft EIS
Agency
Schedules Four Meetings in Area
ANCHORAGE
– MMS will hold public hearings on the
draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for Proposed
Chukchi Sea Sale 193, tentatively scheduled for November
2007. The DEIS was announced in the Federal Register on
October 16, 2006. MMS will hold public hearings on the
North Slope in conjunction with hearings on the Proposed
2007-2012 5-Year Program DEIS and in Anchorage.
Public
hearings are scheduled for:
Wainwright,
Monday, November 13th, at the Robert James
Community Center
Point Lay,
Tuesday, November 14th, at the Point Lay
Community Center
Point Hope,
Wednesday, November 15th, at the Qalgi Center
Barrow,
Thursday, November 16th, at the Inupiat Heritage
Center
Anchorage,
Wednesday, December 6th, at the Centerpoint
Building
3801 Centerpoint Drive, First Floor Conference Room.
All
meetings will be held from 7 – 10 p.m.
The DEIS
evaluates a proposed OCS lease sale in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea,
tentatively scheduled for November 2007. The DEIS analysis
focuses on the potential environmental effects of activities
related to the sale, including seismic surveying, and
exploration, development and production activities in the
sale area. The MMS issued a Call for Information and
Nominations in February 2005, asking industry to nominate
focused areas of interest under a special interest sale
process. The MMS decided to proceed with a conventional
area-wide sale because of broad industry interest in the
area.
In addition
to the proposed action, the DEIS analysis several
alternatives, including a “no lease sale alterative” and two
alternatives that defer areas to protect both the wildlife
and the subsistence harvest. The first deferral alternative
removes 1,649 blocks from the sale area while the second
alternative removes 795 blocks from the sale area. Both
proposed deferrals remove critical habitat for marine
mammals and spectacled and Stellar’s eiders, and protect
subsistence hunting areas from the potential impacts of
development. The Secretary of the Interior will select the
final alternative, which will be included in the Proposed
Notice of Sale.
Lease
stipulations will be included in any leases issued as a
result of Sale 193. The proposed stipulations being
considered for the sale were developed with input from many
interested parties, and are designed to allow companies to
explore for oil and gas while protecting the environment.
In addition to MMS’s existing regulations that extensively
cover safety, drilling and pollution prevention, the
proposed stipulations are intended to address environmental
effects that may occur because of development of the area’s
oil and gas resources. These stipulations call for
protection of biological resources, including
spectacled and Steller’s eiders, use
of pipelines rather than tankers, and methods to minimize
interference with subsistence whaling and other subsistence
harvesting activities.
The Chukchi Sea
Planning Area is located offshore Alaska from Point Barrow
south to Point Hope. It covers about 34 million acres and
extends from about 15 to 200 miles offshore. The
proposed sale area does not include the near-shore “polynya”
area that is excluded from the current 2002-2007 MMS 5-Year
Program.
Water depths range from 95 feet to approximately 262 feet.
A small portion of the northeast corner of the area
slightly west of Point Barrow drops to a depth of
approximately 9,800 feet.
Two sales
have been held in the Chukchi Sea Planning Area. Sale 109
was held in 1988 with 350 leases issued. Sale 126 was held
in 1991 with 28 leases issued. All of the leases have
expired.
To request a copy of the DEIS or for more
information about the hearing schedule, write to the
Minerals Management Service at 3801 Centerpoint Drive, Suite
500, Anchorage, Alaska, 99503, or by email at
akwebmaster@mms.gov,
or call toll-free at 1-800-764-2627. The DEIS is available
on CD-ROM, two-volume hard copy, or on the MMS webpage at
www.mms.gov/alaska.
The DEIS is available for viewing at libraries throughout
the state. The comment period ends
on December 19, 2006.
Comments on the DEIS may be submitted
electronically on the MMS Public Connect website at
https://ocsconnect.mms.gov/pcs-public/, to
akeis@mms.gov or sent to the Minerals Management
Service, Leasing and Environment Office, 3801 Centerpoint
Drive, Suite 500, Anchorage, Alaska, 99503.
Relevant Web
Site:
MMS
Main Website
Media Contact:
Robin Cacy
(907) 334-5208
1-800-764-2627
MMS:
Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department
of the Interior
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