U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region NEWS RELEASE

MMS to Prepare Environmental Assessment and to Hold Public Scoping
Meeting on Applications for Commercial Waste Disposal

The Minerals Management Service announced today that it is preparing a programmatic environmental assessment (EA) for applications from Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas operators to inject normal exploration and production (E&P) waste from OCS operations into salt caverns and caprock at Main Pass Block 299.  The block is located 16 miles offshore, east of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

MMS will hold a public scoping meeting on the applications at the MMS Regional Office in New Orleans on February 21, 2002.

After preparation of the environmental assessment, MMS will make a decision on whether or not to approve any part of the proposal.

Freeport-McMoRan Sulphur LLC (Freeport) has presented the MMS Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Region with a detailed proposal to inject OCS-generated, RCRA-exempt E&P waste into the salt caverns and caprock that underlie the existing Main Pass Block 299 sulphur and salt Lease OCS-G 9372. E&P waste would be received in bulk or in cuttings boxes/portable tanks by offshore supply vessel or self-propelled barge at Main Pass Block 299 from single and multiple offshore operating locations where the waste is generated. The waste would be either directly injected or injected after being temporarily stored and processed to extract recyclable materials or to enhance injection capability. The wastes are RCRA exempt; that is, they are wastes from the exploration, development, and production of crude oil, natural gas, and geothermal energy that are exempted from regulation as hazardous wastes under RCRA Subtitle C (53 FR 25477) by a July 6, 1988, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulatory determination.

The Main Pass Block 299 platform complex associated with the proposed waste disposal operations was constructed to support the development and production of sulphur and oil and gas reserves present in the formations above the Main Pass Block 299 salt dome structure. New equipment to be installed to accommodate waste injection would consist of a waste pump unit, air compressor, storage tanks, tank cleaning pumps, a tank cleaning vacuum system, waste pumps and dryers, and a waste air compressor, as well as additional piping on the platform. Sulphur production was discontinued in August 2000 because of unfavorable economics attributable to the combined effect of low sulphur prices and high natural gas prices.

If Main Pass Block 299 is used, waste injection activities could span an anticipated 26 years starting in 2002. The anticipated volume of OCS-generated, RCRA-exempt E&P wastes that could be injected at Main Pass Block 299 is estimated to be 119 million barrels. The combined estimated disposal capacity of the caverns and barren/leached caprock is approximately 2.6 billion barrels. Freeport estimates the typical waste streams to be injected would consist of approximately 16 percent solids, 77 percent liquids, and 7 percent hydrocarbons.

MMS is conducting technical, engineering, inspection compliance, and environmental reviews of the proposal, and will prepare a programmatic EA to make sure that the operation would comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The EA will analyze information provided by Freeport with respect to disposal into the caprock and salt caverns underlying Main Pass Block 299. Alternatives will include the proposed action with additional mitigations and no action (i.e., disapproval of the applications). The analyses in the EA will examine the potential environmental effects of the activities described by Freeport and alternatives including the potential environmental benefits over current offshore waste management practices. Current offshore waste management practices for E&P wastes that do not meet the standards for overboard discharge in accordance with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit include onshore disposal or disposal offshore in waste injection wells (in accordance with MMS Notice to Lessees 99-G22). E&P wastes that do meet the standards for overboard discharge in accordance with a NPDES permit are typically discharged into OCS waters. The EA is scheduled to be completed in late April 2002.

As announced in the Federal Register on February 7, 2002, a public scoping meeting will be held on February 21, 2002, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Room 111, off South Clearview Parkway in Jefferson. At the meeting, MMS and Freeport will provide information on the applications and the public will be given an opportunity to ask questions and provide input on issues that should be addressed in the EA. MMS will accept comments to be considered in preparing the environmental assessment if these are received by March 11, 2002. Comments should be sent to Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Office of Leasing and Environment, Attention: Regional Supervisor, Mail Stop 5410, 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70123-2394.

MMS 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 Indian leases. These revenues totaled nearly $10 billion in 2001 and more than $119 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

-MMS-GOM-