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

MMS to Hold Scoping Meetings on Multisale EIS

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) will hold scoping meetings in four Gulf Coast cities in October to collect information and public input for nine proposed areawide oil and gas lease sales in the Central and Western Planning Areas (CPA and WPA) of the Gulf of Mexico.  The public will be asked for comments on the range of actions, alternatives, and impacts to be considered in the draft environmental impact statement (EIS).  The sales are proposed CPA Sales 185, 190, 194, 198, and 201, and proposed WPA Sales 187, 192, 196, and 200.  These sales are scheduled for 2003-2007 in the draft proposed Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program:  2002-2007.

"These nine offshore lease sales will constitute a significant part of the national energy strategy," explained Gulf of Mexico Regional Director Chris Oynes.  "Leases from previous sales in the CPA and WPA now produce about 28 percent of all domestically produced oil and gas."

The scoping meetings will be held at the following places and times:

• Monday, October 15, 2001, The Victorian Condo-Hotel and Conference Center, 6300 Seawall Boulevard, Galveston, Texas, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
   
  
• Tuesday, October 16, 2001, Houston Airport Marriott, 18700 Kennedy Boulevard, Houston, Texas, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
  
  
• Thursday, October 18, 2001, Ramada Plaza Hotel, 600 S. Beltline Highway, Mobile, Alabama, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
  
  
• Monday, October 22, 2001, Minerals Management Service, 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Written comments may be sent to Mr. Joseph Christopher, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (MS 5410), 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394.  Comments should specifically address factors related to the scope of the draft EIS, and are due by November 1, 2001.  A Federal Register Notice of Intent to Prepare an EIS on these sales was published on September 12, 2001.

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 $8 billion last year and more than $110 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-

MMS's Website Address: http://www.mms.gov