[Federal Register: July 26, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 142)]
[Notices]
[Page 44546]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26jy04-73]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service
Alaska Region, Outer Continental Shelf, Beaufort Sea Planning
Area, Oil and Gas Lease Sale 195 (2005)
AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.
ACTION: Notice of Availability of an Environmental Assessment (EA) and
Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI).
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SUMMARY: The Minerals Management Service has prepared an environmental
assessment for proposed Alaska Region Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)
Beaufort Sea Planning Area Lease Sale 195. In this EA, OCS EIS/EA MMS
2004-028, MMS reexamined the potential environmental effects of the
proposed action and its alternatives based on any new information
regarding potential impacts and issues that were not available at the
time the Alaska Region OCS Beaufort Sea Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease
Sales 186, 195, and 202, Final Environmental Impact Statement, Volumes
I through IV (multiple-sale EIS) was completed in February 2003. The
MMS also prepared a Finding of No Significant Impact.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Minerals Management Service, Alaska
OCS Region, 949 East 36th Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska 99508-4364, Mr.
Fred King, telephone (907) 271-6696.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Proposed Beaufort Sea Planning Area Lease
Sale 195 is the second Beaufort Sea Planning Area lease sale scheduled
in the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program: 2002-2007
(5-Year Program). The multiple-sale EIS analyzed the effects of three
lease sales considering resource estimates, project exploration and
development activities, and impact-producing factors for each of the
proposed Beaufort Sea Planning Area lease sales. The resource estimates
and level of activities projected for proposed Lease Sale 195 remains
essentially the same as examined in the multiple-sale EIS. No new
significant impacts were identified for proposed Lease Sale 195 that
were not already assessed in the multiple-sale EIS. As a result, MMS
determined that a supplemental EIS is not required and prepared a
FONSI.
EA Availability: To obtain a copy of the EA and FONSI, you may
contact the Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS Region, Attention:
Ms. Nikki Lewis, Resource Center, 949 East 36th Avenue, Room 330,
Anchorage, Alaska, 99508-4363, telephone (907) 271-6438 or 1-800-764-
2627. You may also view the EA on the MMS website at http://www.mms.gov/alaska
.
Written Comments: Interested parties may submit their written
comments on this EA/FONSI until 30 days after the publication of this
notice, to the Regional Director, Alaska OCS Region, Minerals
Management Service, 949 East 36th Avenue, Room 308, Anchorage, Alaska
99509-4363, or by electronic mail to akeis@mms.gov. Our practice is to
make comments, including names and home addresses of respondents
available for public review. An individual commenter may ask that we
withhold their name, home address, or both from the public record, and
we will honor such a request to the extent allowable by law. If you
submit comments and wish us to withhold such information, you must
state so prominently at the beginning of your submission. We will not
consider anonymous comments, and we will make available for inspection
in their entirety all comments submitted by organizations or businesses
or by individuals identifying themselves as representatives of
organizations or businesses.
Dated: July 2, 2004.
Thomas A. Readinger,
Associate Director for Offshore Minerals Management.
[FR Doc. 04-16904 Filed 7-23-04; 8:45 am]